Fire Across the Desert: Woomera and the Anglo-Australian Joint Project 1946-1980

Foreword
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Part I: The Years of Establishment
1 - Genesis: The Origins of the Joint Project
Wartime Prelude
Britain Faces the Guided Missile Age
Eyes Turn To Australia
The Evetts Mission
Evetts’s Recommendations
The Partners Agree—in Principle
Plans Are Laid . . . and the Team Assembled
2 - The project takes root in Australia
Evetts in Charge
Early Administration of the Project
The Cancellation ‘Crisis’
Priorities are Reset
Securing the First Scientific Staff, 1947-50
Footing the Bill 1: The Dalton Formula and the Sandys Agreement
3 - Living and working at Salisbury in the early years
Transformation of a Munitions Factory
Homes for the Workers
4 - In the firing line 1: The Pastoralists
Safety: A Paramount Consideration
The First Proposals
Homestead Warning
The Shelters Proposed
The Shelters Constructed
5 - In the firing line 2: The Aborigines
Early Concerns
Enter Dr Duguid: Humanitarian or Communist Dupe?
The Government Acts to Allay Fears
The Controversy Summed Up
6 - The work of the Native Patrol Officers
Aboriginal Settlement Along The Range Line in 1947
The Patrol Officers Appointed
Trouble at the Giles Meteorological Station
The NPOs Under Review, 1968–74
7 - Guarding the secrets: The Security System
A Highly Irregular Case
Australia Addresses British Apprehensions
The American Embargo, 1948–49
The Security Machinery at Work, 1950–80
Security and Civil Liberties
8 - Woomera rises, 1947–54
Physical Setting
Black Banning Woomera, 1947–48
Bringing Water to Woomera
From Paper Plans to Bricks and Mortar
The Village Completed
9 - Flying for the project: Transport and Trials
The RAAF Presence
Finding a Home for the Air Component
The Woomera Airlift
Trials Flying
Moving to Edinburgh—and Reorganising
Linking the Partners
10 - Dropping bombs in the clear desert air
Introduction
Origin of the Bomb Ballistics Project in 1946
The Shopping List for Australia, 1947–48
Finding a Place for a Bombing Range
Woomera’s First Trials: Parachutes
Building the Bomb Ballistics Team
Instrumenting the Range
Instrumentation Development
Settling into a Routine
Data Reduction, Analysis and Reporting
Reorganisation and Integration
VT Fuze Trials
Blue Boar and Red Rapier
11 - Early missile trials: The Test Vehicles
Background
RTV1 in Australia: Preparing the Way
First LRWE Rocket Trials: Port Wakefield
First Rocket Trials at Woomera: Range F
The Move to Range G
Organising for the Early Missile Trials
Test Vehicles Group and RTV1
Enter CTV5, and TV Group Reorganised
Another Name Change, and the Test Vehicles Fade Away
Airborne Recovery
Fairey VTO Models
Project E
Taking Stock of Progress
Part II: The Years of Achievement
12 - The joint project in its maturity, 1950–65
Consolidation and Amalgamation at Salisbury
British Reactions to the Amalgamation
Footing the Bill 2: The Erroll Agreement
An Overview of the Establishment in 1965
Footing the Bill 3: The Thorneycroft Agreement
13 - At home in Woomera
Living in a desert town
Life in the Woomera messes
The mess caste system
Power and authority in the village
Clubs, societies and the churches
The saga of the Woomera store
In and out of Woomera
14 - Instrumentation 1: The Eyes of the Range
Purpose of Range Instrumentation
Instrumenting the Ranges
Developing the Instrumentation
Organising the Instrumentation Staff
Optical Instrumentation
Askania Kinetheodolites
Contraves Kinetheodolites
Behaviour Cameras
Ballistic Cameras
Target Aircraft Cameras
Missile Cameras
Film Processing
Optical Research
15 - Instrumentation 2: The Ears of the Range
Electronic Instrumentation
Early Tracking Radar
Doppler
The MTS and X-Trackers
The Precision Radars: FPS-16 and Adour
The Tracking Data Centre
Telemetry
Early Telemetry Systems
Type 465 Telemetry
Processing Telemetry Data
Telemetry Replay at Salisbury
TAFE
Type 450 Telemetry
Project Telemetry Reappears
Consolidation
Run-down
16 - Instrumentation 3: The Nerves of the Range
Timing for the Missile Ranges
Sequencers and Hazardous Circuits
Communications
Line Communications and Telephones
Intercom
Radio Communications
Command Break-up
17 - The guided weapons
Introduction
The Genera of the Guided Weapons
Names and Numbers
The First Projects
How the Trials were Conducted at Woomera
The Little Missiles: Airborne Trials
Ground-to-Air Missiles: The Heavy Trio
Ground Strike Weapons
Australian Weapons
New Weapons for the Navy
The Army’s Rapier
18 - Jindivik and other hunted ones
From Hunter to Prey
The Birth of Jindivik
Flying Jindivik
First Trials
Meteor and Canberra Drones
Later History . . . and a Proposed Supersonic Target
Customers at Home and Abroad
The End at Woomera
19 - Processing the trials records
Introduction
Early Days: The ‘Computer Girls’
Dealing With a Deluge of Data
The WREDAC Era
WREDAC Replaced
Later Computing Facilities
20 - High flyers
The Sounding Rocket and the Upper Atmosphere
The Development of Skylark
Skylark Experiments
All-Australian Sounding Rockets
Hypersonic Research at Woomera
21 - Black Knight: The Rocket that Came and Stayed
Overview
Black Knight is Born
Controlling the Flight
Black Knight in Britain
Australia Prepares for Black Knight
The Woomera Installations
Range Instrumentation
First Firing Approaches
Black Knight’s Achievements
A Change of Direction: Project Gaslight
Interlude for the Trial Teams
Component Trials: Safety and Inertial Navigation
Into Project Dazzle
The Last of Black Knight: Crusade
22 - ‘Woomera was made for the weapon!’: The Rise and Fall of Blue Streak
Bad News for Parliament
The Design and Deployment of Blue Streak
Blue Streak at Woomera
Far Away at Talgarno
The Cancellation Bombshell in Australia
Notes and Sources
23 - Woomera’s heyday: The ELDO Program
A Satellite Launcher for Europe
Britain Takes the Initiative
ELDO Comes to Woomera
The Design Features of Europa I
The Trials of Europa: The First Phase
The Down-Range Station at Gove
The Trials of Europa: The Later Phases
ELDO Leaves Woomera
ELDO in Australia: What Were the Lessons?
The Joint Project after ELDO
Part III: The Years of Decline
24 - WRESAT: Australia Joins the Space Club
Birth of the Project
The Experiments
Designing and Building WRESAT
WRESAT’s Telemetry
WRESAT Safety
WRESAT Enters Orbit
WRESAT Euphoria
Experimental Findings
Significance of the Project
25 - Black Arrow: Britain’s Own Satellite Launcher
Overview
Black Prince: Short-Lived Contender for Orbital Glory
The Inception of Black Arrow
Design and Performance
Flight Controls and Instrumentation
On-Board Tracking, Telemetry and Safety
New Facilities for Black Arrow
The Test Shop
Standard Range Instrumentation
New Tracking and Telemetry Facilities
The Development Flight Program
The Brief Flight of Black Arrow R0
R1 Reaches the Indian Ocean
R2 Heads North
R3: Prospero In Orbit
The Last Duty: Disposals
Postscript: A Note on the Cancellation
26 - Run-down: The End of the Joint Project
Footing the Bill 4: The Stonehouse and Mason Agreements
Contraction at Salisbury
A New Role for Woomera
The Construction of Nurrungar
The Village and Nurrungar
Woomera at the End of the Project
27 - Epilogue
The Direct Benefits: to Britain
The Direct Benefits: to Australia
Indirect Benefits to Australia
Appendix: The History of the Joint Project History
Select Bibliography