Bloodhound Equipment Disposition 1964 to 1982
Richard Vernon
I made a trip down to the National Archives, Kew July 2016 and, thanks to the 112 Sqn F450 annex files, have a pretty good idea of what kit was where within the UK and Cyprus at the time that 25 Sqn went to West Germany. Tying together the 112 Sqn Eng reports (which were very detailed and covered the whole history engineering-wise of the Sqn as a BH2 user), with the 25 Sqn F540 for 1969/70 which covered a major modification program on the LCP's and Type 86's in the UK done by a service work party at North Coates. In most case the Radars and LCP's were taken to North Coates and their movement was recorded either by missile section number or equipment serial number. The only serials not recorded were the equipment at Newton or Aberporth which involved the SWP doing the work on those sites and two T86 sections from 41 Sqn (MS 4 and 6) which were taken to North Coates.
The following list shows what I know from between 1964 and 1982
25 Sqn North Coates 1966 - 1968
MS1 - LCP BF 1004 - T87 B105
MS2 - LCP BF 1002 - T86 105
MS3 - LCP BF 1005 - T87 P103
25 Sqn North Coates 1968 - 1970
MS1 - LCP BF 1004 - T86 108 (Radar from 65 Sqn in late 1967)
MS2 - LCP BF 1002 - T86 110 (Radar from 65 Sqn in late 1967)
MS3 - LCP BF 1005 - T86 106 (Radar from 65 Sqn in late 1967)
MS4 - LCP BF 1014 - T86 105 (LCP from 112 Sqn Woodhall Spa in 1967) - Trials and Proving Section
25 Sqn 1970
MS 5 (Green) - BF 1005 - T86 108 (former MS 3 from North Coates)
MS 6 (Brown) - BF 1014 - T68 106 ((former MS 2 from North Coates)
MS 2 LCP BF 1024 - T86 107 (former MS 5 from 41 Sqn) Deployed from West Raynham in Aug 70, radar was swapped with MS 5 and deployed to A Flt in Nov 70.
MS1 from North Coates deployed to A Flt at Bruggen (LCP BF 1004)
41 Sqn MS 4 and MS 6 to Wildenrath (no details of LCP or Radar)
Radars were moved around the flights while in Germany and the former Aberporth T86 (110) was sent to Germany in 1972. There is also a Type 86 Serial No 114 recorded but that may be a typo.
33 Sqn
No details, but I've been informed that all of the T 87 returned from there were so badly corroded that they were all scrapped at the MU.
41 Sqn
No details on the radars bar MS 3's Type 87 which was sent to Cyprus (P117) in 1969 and MS 5's Type 86 which was 107. LCP's known to have been on the unit were BF 1006, BF 1020, BF 1023, BF 1024. BF1006 was most likely off one of the 65 Sqn mobile sections returned to the UK in late 67 and both it and BF1020 were taken to Cyprus in mid 1968 on an exercise and swapped with the 2 LCP;s there of 112 Sqn.
65 Sqn
The only bit of kit recorded on the whole F540 was their first T87 which was P101 on MS 3. The T86 serials are known as the radar went to 25 Sqn in late 1967. No idea of what LCP's and the other 2 Type 87 that stayed there or came back with the mobile sections, though BF1006 seems to be a good bet.
112 Sqn
As of Aug 66 the squadron had 4 radars but only 3 LCP's
MS 1 - T87 P108 LCP BF1013
MS 2 - T87 P116 LCP BF1025
MS 3 - T87 P109 LCP - Nil
MS 4 - T87 P107 LCP BF1014
The MS3 radar (109) was sent to Aberporth in Aug 1966 and when the squadron moved to Cyprus the only took MS 1 and 2. The radar from MS 4 was put into storage while the LCP went to 25 Sqn.
They swapped out LCPs twice during their stay on Cyprus the first time in 1968 when they got BF 1006 and BF 1020 from 41 Sqn (at this point all 3 of 41's T87 sections were still operational so BF 1020 was on one of the mobile sections). the second time was during the move to Paramali, when they got the third radar (P117) and LCP's BF 1003, BF 1023 and BF 1025 which they kept until disbandment.
RAF Newton
Not looked at their records yet, but their Type 86 did go through a modification program at BHSU in 1971/2. However the radar was recorded by its Indigo Corkscrew Model Number which was IC 9. The IC model numbering system started with the first prototype which was IC1. IC 3 and 4 were the development models used at Woomera for the 15 and 16 JSTU firings of BH2 and TB2. IC 4 then went to North Coates for 17JSTU trials and then became the Type 86 PDS radar at Edinburgh. IC 2 was used at Aberporth for TB 2 and BH2 firings while IC5 became the AD-10 PDS radar. The problem with the IC numbers is they include both the Army AD-10s and the Swedish PE-44's and the only correlation I have between the 2 is from the 25 Sqn records which tended to mix and match both IC model numbers and Type 86 serials. Know matches are IC13 - 105, IC14 - 106. IC15 - 107, IC16 - 108 and IC18 -110. This would mean that IC 9 was most likely 101. No info of the T87. LCP BF1013 did go there from North Coates in 1970, but there is no info on the LCP that was there before (most likely BF1001).
RAF Aberporth
Their T86 was 109 and it moved to RAFG in Oct 1973. The Type 87 radar they got from 112 Sqn was P109 and that was attached to LCP BF 1015. The ID of the LCP with the T86 was not recorded.
Bloodhound Support Unit (BHSU), RAF West Raynham
The original BHSU trials radar was the former MS4 from 25 Sqn at North Coates (T86 105 and LCP BF 1002). When the radar went to RAFG in 1972, the build up of 2 missile sections with Type 87's started. They were:-
MS 2 - T87 P120 and LCP BF1006
MS 3 - T87 P110 and LCP BF1013
85 Sqn
A revisit of the 85 Sqn ORB to get missile serial numbers turned up a real gem. The modification states of all the radars and LCP's on the squadron at the end of 1979, including the equipment earmarked for D Flt. The were as follows:-
A Flight
MS1 Green - T87 P120 LCP BF1006
MS2 Black - T87 P110 LCP BF1003
MS Eng / MS10 Gold/Yellow/Orange - T87 P108 LCP BF1023
B Flight
MS3 Brown - T87 P117 LCP BF 1025
MS4 Blue - T87 P116 LCP BF 1003
MS5 White - T87 P113 LCP BF 1020
C Flight
MS6 Yellow - P115 LCP BF1017
MS7 Purple - P118 LCP BF1016
D Flight
MS 8 Pink - T86 Mk2 112 LCP BF1002
MS9 Grey / Silver - T86 107 LCP BF1018
Before the ESF / MSF functions of 85 Sqn were transferred to the Bloodhound Eng Squadron at Raynham in Sep 1983, 3 LCP's held on the unit under C&M were modified up to the current modification state and were then transferred to Ferranti for the LCP Mk 2 upgrade. They were:-
BF1007
BF1012
BF1019
The last one of the list being the first to go in July 83.
Putting this all together with Bill Taylor's list from 1989 gives the following where you can see it is very probable that BF1022 started out at RAF West Raynham on one of the static T87 sections and likewise so did the other LCP on 25B when they deployed to RAFG:
LCP First Known/Suspected Location 1975 - 1983 End
1001 U/K Newton? Newton? 85B MS4 White
1002 25 Sqn NC MS2 85D MS 8 Pink 85B MS5 Blue
1003 U/K 65 Sqn T86 MS Seletar? 85B MS4 Blue
1004 25 Sqn NC MS1 25A 25A MS1 Osprey
1005 25 Sqn NC MS3 25C
1006 U/K 65 Sqn T86 MS Seletar? 85A MS2 Black 85C MS7 Yellow
1007 U/K 65 Sqn T86 MS Seletar? C&M WR 85A MS9 Silver
1008 U/K Aberporth? U/K / 25B? 85A MS2 Black
1009 65 Sqn T87 MS Seletar 170 Sqn SADC 170 Sqn SADC
1010 65 Sqn T87 MS Seletar 170 Sqn SADC 170 Sqn SADC
1011 65 Sqn T87 MS Seletar 170 Sqn SADC 170 Sqn SADC
1012 U/K C&M WR BMSMS
1013 112 Sqn MS 1 WS 85A MS1 Green 85C MS8 Purple
1014 112 Sqn MS 3 WS 25C BMSMS
1015 U/K Aberporth/33 Sqn BW? Aberporth 85A MS3 Orange
1016 U/K 33 Sqn BW? 85C MS6 Yellow 85B MS6 Brown
1017 U/K 33 Sqn BW? 85C MS7 Purple 25B MS3 Griffon
1018 U/K 33 Sqn BW? 85D MS9 Silver
1019 U/K 41 SqnT87 MS WR ? C&M WR First
LCP Mk 2 Mod
1020 41 Sqn T86 MS 5/6 WR 85B MS5 White 2 5C MS6 Merlin
1021 U/K 41 Sqn T87 MS WR ? U/K / 25B?
1022 U/K 41 SqnT87 MS WR ? 25B
1023 41 Sqn T86 MS 5/6 WR 85A MS 10 Orange 25B MS4 Kestrel
1024 41 Sqn T86 MS 4 WR 25A 25A MS2 Falcon
1025 112 Sqn MS 2 WS 85B MS3 Brown 25C MS5 Eagle
