More information : TL 967 422. The Bloodhound MkII Missile Site at RAF Barkston became operational on 1 March 1983 under 25 Squadron A Flight, on 1 October 1989 the operating unit changed to 85 Squadron D Flight. The missile site was closed about 1990. (1-1A)
The Bloodhound Missile Site is located in the northwest corner of Barkston Heath Airfield. The Bloodhound area is a self-contained area enclosed by a wire mesh fence and coils of barbed wire. The area was purpose-built for Bloodhound Mark II and comprises concrete roads linking the missile pads. The site consists of the standard range of buildings associated with Bloodhound Mark II comprising, a Picket Post or Guardroom, Squadron/Flight Headquarters, a corrugated iron Romney hut, two radar servicing buildings, two standby generator houses, a fuzing shed and a transformer building, there are also two static water pools. All the buildings are built of brick, the Squadron Offices and Radar Servicing Buildings have gabled roofs covered by thick tiles, the Generator Buildings and Transformer Building are also of brick with flat concrete roofs. The Fuzing shed, in the far northwest corner of the site, is of steel frame construction with a gently sloping pitched roof, its walls are covered by alternating metal and translucent sheeting. It is shielded from the main part of the site by a concrete and earthwork traverse and the shed is surrounded on three sides by a low earthwork bank. No Type 86 radar towers were visible nor any earthwork banks to protect the launch control cabins. These observations were made from a public footpath. (2) |