Monument record 0660603000 - Government Research Establishment, Westcott

Guided Projectile Establishment (later Rocket Propulsion Department) set up on site by Ministry of Supply to study rocket propulsion. Linked to Royal Gunpowder Factory, Waltham Abbey. Became Rocket Propulsion Establishment in 1958. Later merged in 1973 with Waltham Abbey site and further reorganisation in 1977 created the Propellants, Explosives and Rocket Motor Establishment (PERME). Sites split in 1984 in lead up to privatisation of Royal Ordnance, Westcott passing to Royal Ordnance; further details (B3-4).
MPP Cold War remains assessment (B5).
The Government Research Establishment was set up in 1946 to study rocket propulsion. The site occupies a former wartime airfield that had previously been used by 11 OTU, Operational Training Unit, until its disbandment on 3rd August 1945. In 1946 Sir Aldwyn Crow and Sir William Cook founded the Guided Projectile Establishment a year later to become the Rocket Propulsion Department of the Royal Aircraft Establishment. In the early post-war years the establishment worked closely with the experimental station at the former Royal Gunpowder Factory, Waltham Abbey conducting research into liquid propellants for the British rocket programme. Realignments in the research programmes of the two establishments resulted in the transfer of all work connected with liquid propellants research to the Rocket Propulsion Department at Westcott in the early 1950s. The site at Westcott offering relative remoteness and a large open site necessary to ensure adequate spacing between the buildings that was lacking at Waltham Abbey.
Early research at Westcott concentrated on bipropellant rocket engines, research into solid fuel rocket propellants beginning in 1949. In 1952 an experimental filling factory was established to investigate techniques for the filling of new plastic propellants into rocket motor casings. In 1958 Westcott's links with the Royal Aircraft Establishment were cut when it became Rocket Propulsion Establishment. The links between Westcott and Waltham Abbey were reforged in 1973 when the establishments were merged, a further reorganisation in 1977 created the Propellants, Explosives and Rocket Motor Establishment (PERME). The sites were finally split in 1984 in the lead upto the privatisation of Royal Ordnance, Westcott passing
to Royal Ordnance.
Early post-war pioneering and design successes at Westcott included the RTV-1 (Research Test Vehicle) and RTV-2 `testbeds' for the study of guidance and control techniques powered by a single fuel mixture of liquid oxygen and alcohol. During the 1950s Westcott played an important part in the development of the RZ2 rocket motor for the Blue Streak programme Britain's only Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM). Though cancelled as a military programme in April 1960 it was later adopted as the launch vehicle for the Europa 1 rocket. Also produced at Westcott in support of the Blue Streak project was the solid propellant rocket motor, the Cuckoo. This was used as a second stage motor in Black Knight research rocket, designed to test the re-entry of ballistic missiles into the earth's atmosphere. Smaller missile programmes that were developed at Westcott include: ALARM an anti-radiation missile, Blowpipe, LAW-80 the naval Seawolf. One of the most successful products of the factory is the Raven motor used in the Skylark, a
sounding rocket introduced in 1956. This has been used in support of Britain's Upper atmosphere research programme and other international scientific programmes. Other rocket motors developed at Westcott include the Nuthatch and Stonechat. Research and development was also carried in support of the Spectre engine programme used for power assisted aircraft take off and the Stentor propulsion unit used in the Avro Blue Steel stand-off bomb.
The research work at Westcott was supported by a number of specialised and purpose built facilities, including installations for the test firing of rocket motors. Other areas of research included assessments of the service life of rockets under different climatic conditions, storage times and handling conditions. The extensive facilities allowing for the design of rockets from the drawing board to the production of test units prior to large scale manufacture. In the case of small production runs the entire project might be carried out at Westcott. In addition to research the establishment has production facilities to fill and seal liquid propellant motors that can then be supplied directly to the user.
The airfield is roughly triangular in shape although missing northern and eastern angles. It is defined on its western side by a dismantled railway line, off which a branch formerly led to serve the airfield and later the research establishment. The northern side is bounded by the A41 between Banbury and Aylesbury. The principal entrance to the factory is adjacent to Westcott Farm from Westcott village in the south-west corner of the airfield. Though a few buildings lie south of this line including the canteen, the majority of the establishment is to its north. The research establishment also continued to be served by air in the post-war period and the north-west to south-east runway was kept clear of buildings. The research establishment may be divided four functional areas; the Rocket Motor Facility, the test area and the central services area and a detached magazine area to the west of the site.
In the southwest corner of the airfield is the Rocket Motor Facility separated from the remainder of the site by a wire fence and designated as a `clean' area. The production facilities in this area were established for the filling of rocket motors with plastic propellants in the early 1950s and remain in use for this purpose. At the northern end of this group is the Non Destructive Test building S41. In this building specially designed facilities are housed for the testing of large rocket casings by X-ray, an ultrasonic immersion tank and in an ultrasonic machine designed to inspect the interior of rocket casings.
The rocket motor test facilities occupy by far the largest area of the site north of the southern taxiway. The test facilities may be divided into two principal groups; those associated with firing solid fuel rocket motors and those associated with liquid propellants. The earliest example of a solid fuel firing point is Group 6 number 345 constructed on a former airfield dispersal pad built in the early 1950s from steel piles and old railway lines. The
largest solid fuel firing points are at K Site, built at the western end of the former southwest to north-east runway. K1 is a vertical firing point in which a rocket motor could be mounted vertically and the plume of gases observed through the open roof. K2 is the horizontal firing point in which the motor was fired horizontally, the exhaust gases deflected by a wall of refractory concrete, with the provision of bolts for mounting steel plates.
The form of the liquid rocket motor firing points is governed by special precautions that are necessary in the handling of bipropellant rocket motor fuels. Although differing in detail, the firing points are generally arranged as three separate bays, the outer two containing in one bay the fuel and in the other the oxidant, and in the central chamber a rig for mounting a rocket motor. The firing of the rocket motor was overseen from a separate control room often physically detached from the firing point. Each stand was also provided with drains to carry unspent fuel and cooling water to the water treatment plant along the northern perimeter of the site. Other common features of the firing points include warning lights and flags, drencher systems and a high pressure gaseous nitrogen main. The liquid firing points are also provided with baths into which the technicians could plunge in the event of accidental fuel spillages. All the firing points in common with all the danger building on the site are protected by lightning conductors. The two largest liquid propellant firing points are P2 and P1 constructed during the 1950s as part of the development of the RZ2 motor for the Blue Streak programme.
In addition to the firing points, other specialised test structures include; a centrifugal firing point, radio attenuation structures and a unique facility in Britain, vacuum firing tanks. In these tanks it is possible to simulate underwater firings by increasing the pressure within the tank or by decreasing the pressure to simulate upper atmosphere firings. In the tanks used for the simulation of upper atmosphere firings one is used for solid rocket motors and the other for liquid fuel rocket motors.
The central services area lies at the southern tip of the site, south of a former airfield taxiway. The buildings in this area include former hangars, other single storey airfield buildings along with purpose built structures comprising; offices, workshops, a central photography laboratory and the central boiler house. The detached magazine area, formerly the airfield bomb dump, lies to the west of the former railway line forming the western boundary of the site. This area was not visited.
Westcott is one of a handful of sites in Britain associated with the development and manufacture of rockets for military uses and upper atmosphere research. The site and its structures have been associated with the majority of the post-war British programmes including the abortive British IRBM Blue Streak. Many other smaller and successful rockets have been developed here and these are outlined above (B4,B40-43).