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Aviation History
1958
1958-1- - 0786.PDF
790 FLIGHT, 21 November 195!- SEASLUG THE MOST MISSILE IN THE LEAST SPACE By the Technical Editor SINCE the development of a ship-to-air missile system forthe Royal Navy began, many severe problems have been metand solved, and the resulting system is probably unsurpassed in effectiveness. Relatively few facts about it have been published,and this is an appropriate time to present an overall assessment of its history. From its earliest days the project has rejoiced in the name ofSeaslug. Nobody seems to know why, for the word does not accord with the later series of code-names in which weaponsystems were identified by objects associated with colours. Seaslug was first discussed shortly after World War 2, whena basic study into the problems of ship-to-air interception started at Westcott, which at that time was the Guided Projectiles Estab-lishment. By September 1948 it was clear to Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, Ltd., that they would become deeply involvedin the design, development and manufacture of the missile con- cerned. The company thereupon decided to set up an ad hocdivision—since known as the armaments division—and to centre its work at the company's premises at Whitley. The managingdirector of A.W.A., Mr. H. M. Woodhams, took this decision, and was responsible for the formation of the division. He was alsoresponsible for rebuilding the Whitley factory. At this time Mr. W. S. D. Lockwood, director and general manager, was worksmanager, and was responsible for the "ironmongery." Later in the programme there was a reorganization. Dr. Newman resignedfrom the company, Mr. Robertson retired from the position of staff administrative manager owing to ill-health, and Mr. G. T. White,chief planning engineer, was transferred to the armaments divi- sion as works manager, responsible to Mr. Lockwood, who sub-sequently became responsible to the managing director for the working of the whole division. Mr. C. Bayly, who had become the recognized authority onsolid-fuel motor design at I.C.I., was engaged as chief engineer and was actually responsible for the design of the Seaslug motor.In 1945 he transferred to Air Ministry Special Duties Branch Fig. 7. Separation of Seaslug's four boost motors. The control and guidance system comes into action automatically at this point and was attached to M.o.S. Armament Design Department,engaged on early design and development of monofuel and bifuel rocket motors. A year later he joined the Ministry of Supplyas a Senior Scientific Officer and moved to Westcott. In 1947 he was attached to the staff of Lt-Gen. (now Sir John) Evetts,and went to Australia where he was engaged on the setting up of the Long Range Weapons Establishment and Woomera Range.In Australia he planned all range facilities of a technical nature, and later ran the test vehicles group responsible for assembly,testing and flight trials of guided weapons. He resigned from the M.o.S. in 1951 and became rocket motor design manager withI.C.I, at Summerfield Research Station, before joining A.W.A. in 1955. Mr. A. Lightbody joined the company from R.A.E.in 1948 as chief aerodynamicist, but was subsequently transferred to the armaments division and is now responsible to the chiefengineer for all the technical effort. Mr. R. E. Young, chief of the electronics group, was one of the first to join the division. Whitley was progressively reconstructed and enlarged, and thisprocess has continued to the present time. A.W.A. received an instruction to proceed in collaboration with the General ElectricCompany and the Sperry Gyroscope Company, and this trium- virate has since led the Seaslug development programme. All three companies had to build up a design staff from scratch.At the outset, Armstrong Whitworth decided to send a nucleus of staff to the G.W. division of the R.A.E. Farnborough, whichwas then the fountain-head of all missile knowledge in Britain. While Whitley continued with the task of reconstruction, installa-tion of equipment and administration, the team of picked designers went to Farnborough on a five-month familiarization course sothat they should leain to speak the language of the new field of missiles; at the same time a smaller team went to Westcott for acourse on propulsion. Many of the A.W.A. men who went on these courses are stillwith the company; in particular it is appropriate to mention the names of Mr. A. Lightbody, who is now technical director;Mr. L. Wookey, deputy head of the design department; Mr. J. M. Johnston, missile-design group leader; Mr. A. J. Sherwin,development-group group leader; Mr. H. Barnes, trials-group group leader; and Mr. G. Shipman, trials deputy group leader. A design team nucleus had been formed at Whitley and anassessment and study programme got under way. In addition, the assembly and testing of a substantial number of RTV-1 tandem-boosted test vehicles was undertaken under contract to the R.A.E. to gain experience of system-testing and flight-trial techniques.At the same time Sperry's engineers got to grips with the prob- lems of flight control, and a further team at G.E.C. began to Fig. 2. The control-fin assembly of a Seaslug test vehicle mounted on a test stand. Various test leads can be seen plugged into the unit and the nozzle of the rocket motor is clearly visible, joined to the sustainer charge via a blast tube. Seaslug controls are produced by Sperry
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