Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2011 | Page 54

interview

Island Life - February/March 2011
Photo: The Western test tower with a
Black Arrow installed awaiting a test
sequence at full rocket power

a reserved occupation and could not be
removed, so I never had the opportunity to
learn to fly.”
Instead he came out with a degree in
aeronautical engineering, and later spent
nearly four years as a post graduate at
Imperial College, attaining his Masters
degree.
He recalls: “At the time when it all beg an
on Black Knight I was senior stressman,
responsible for the strength and integrity
of everything that was made within the
company. There was an office of about
24 in the department, and all the aircraft
companies were on what was called Cost
Plus - in effect a branch of the Air Ministry.
“We were a secret establishment really, and
the Princess Flying Boat was part of the Cost
Plus. I came back from college to the Island
in 1953, and we were involved because
we had been working on an aircraft called
the SR53. It had a rocket engine and a gas
turbine engine, so we were into the business
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of rockets.
“The rocket had to have a very high rate
of climb to be able to intercept any Russian
supersonic bomber. We were working very
closely with the Royal Aircraft Establishment
at Farnborough who wanted to discover the
problems a rocket warhead would experience
re-entering the atmosphere.
“So the whole project was to fire a test
rocket vertically and then let it come down
to see what happened when it re-entered the
atmosphere. I was given the job of having
a brief look at the structure to determine
the weight, because when you launch the
rocket it has to perform, so the weight is
an important part of the structure. In fact,
Black Knight was not so much a weapon as a
research vehicle.
“It proved quite feasible so the project went
ahead. It was a rocket in its own right, but
used to protect the head of Blue Streak. The
rocket head gets very hot and has to protect
the weapon inside, so basically we were
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