More information : A Thor missile satellite station operational between 1959 and 1963, partially cleared to accommodate an industrial complex in the late C20.
The Thor Missile site at former RAF Breighton, East Yorkshire, is not designated for the following principal reasons:
* Intactness: Most of the characteristic structures of the Thor missile site have been truncated or removed, including the loss of two of the launch emplacements.
* Historic Interest: The fragmentary, physical survival of the Thor site at former RAF Breighton does not illustrate the international historic significance of Thor missile sites in England.
RAF Breighton was constructed between 1940-1941 as a bomber station with a unique configuration of runways demanded by its topographical position. It was officially opened in January 1942 as part of No.1 Group Bomber Command. The RAAF 460 Squadron flying Wellingtons arrived in January 1942, starting operations in March of that year. In the following six months, the Squadron took part in 61 operations, losing 29 aircraft. The runways and perimeter track were extended, enabling the Squadron to fly Lancasters. They fought with great distinction from Breighton until they were relocated to RAF Binbrook. In June 1943, the airfield was transferred to No. 4 Group Bomber Command and became home to 78 Squadron flying Halifax Bombers. The Squadron took part in many of the major bombing raids on Europe including the attack on the top secret rocket base at Peenemunder, and bombing gun emplacements on the French coast in support of the allied landings in June 1944. All told the Squadron lost 182 aircraft, and nearly 1400 men. A memorial to all those lost lies in Bubwith churchyard. After the war, RAF Breighton was used to store bombs and was then placed on a care and maintenance programme.
RAF Breighton found a new military purpose in 1959, when it became a satellite Thor missile site under the control of RAF Driffield, Yorkshire. Thor missiles were the first operational Intermediate-range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) system deployed by the West during the Cold War. With a range of 1,500 nautical miles, Thor missiles were approximately 20m (65ft) long and 2.5m (8ft) in diameter powered by propellant rocket fuel controlled by two motors. Developed by the United States (US) Government between 1955 -1959, the proposal to deploy Thor in Britain as well as the U.S was put before the British Government in 1957. At the time Britain was developing its own IRBM, Blue Streak, which would not be operational for some time. Final agreement to locate Thor in Britain was reached between the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, and President Eisenhower at the Bermuda Conference in 1957. The rockets were to be British property, manned by the RAF who would be trained for the task by the USAF, but the nuclear warheads would remain under US control. Macmillan reported to Parliament that the decision to use Thor against the Communist east would be made jointly by the two countries.
A total of 60 missiles were deployed at 20 sites in the East of England from 1958 under the codename 'Project Emily'. There were four main bases located on pre-war permanent airfields; RAF Feltwell, RAF North Luffenham, RAF Hemswell and RAF Driffield. At each base an adapted hangar was used to receive the missiles, store the servicing equipment and conduct inspection and maintenance. Usually located on the opposite side of the airfield, the Thor compounds at the main bases had a Surveillance and Inspection Building and a Classified Storage Building, partly surrounded by earthwork berms, where the warheads were inspected and stored. Every main base had four satellite stations, each with their own Squadron. The launch areas at the main and satellite stations were almost identical, although at the latter a smaller Classified Storage Building and Pyrotechnic Store was placed c 200m away from the nearest emplacement, protected by earthwork banks. The buildings and emplacements lay in an irregularly shaped compound surrounded by a pair of fences. Inside were crew huts, a squadron office and telephone exchange. Close to the main gate was the launch control area, an area of concrete on which the control trailer, generators and an oil tank were placed.
Exact siting of the missiles was essential to ensure the targets were reached. In addition to the precise, fixed location of the launch components each emplacement had a theodolite shed and a separate long-range theodolite set on a concrete pillar surrounded by brass survey points. At the opposite end of the emplacement two short-range theodolites were mounted on a metal platform near to the launcher erector which lay at the centre of each emplacement and was secured to a metal cage set in concrete. Here the missiles, which were stored horizontally on a trailer, were raised to a vertical position. The two fuels which powered the rocket, kerosene and liquid oxygen, were stored in fuel pits on either side of the erector and pumped separately through pipes suspended in concrete conduits. A separate liquid oxygen dump tank was located to the rear of the blast walls in case the fuel needed to be rapidly discharged from the missile. At the far end of each emplacement were two 'L' shaped blast walls.
Thor missiles could be brought to operational readiness in 15 minutes after receiving the authorised and authenticated order to launch. Strict understandings about the operational control of the missile included an agreed British and US launch through a dual key system and a veto for each Government. Although Thor deployment in Britain was an interim measure, their presence played an important part in the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, the most tense period of the Cold War, when fifty nine of the sixty missiles were made ready. Thor was phased out in England between April and August 1963, just short of their anticipated 4 year life-span, North Luffenham being the last site to close.
Contemporary with the Thor missile facility at RAF Breighton was the Bloodhound Mark 1 missile site operational between 1960 and 1964, located there partly to protect the Thor base. Following the withdrawal of both missile systems, the airfield at Breighton quickly reverted to agricultural use, although a number of World War II buildings remain, including a T2 hangar. In the late C20, much of the airfield site was converted into an industrial estate, but has retained a functional connection to the former RAF base, as one of the businesses on the site restores and exhibits vintage airplanes. (1) |