20 C O N T E X T 1 2 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 1 Anti-AircraftYnyslas, Ceredigion, during the 1940s and even used the sameType 901 beam-riding radar system. A recent project identified well-preserved evidence of this pioneering work (Parry and Groom 2010). The former Royal Aircraft Establishment’s Guided WeaponsTrials Unit at Aberporth, Ceredigion, built and commissioned a dedicated site in 1951-54 to develop, proof and evaluate the launching of the Sea Slug missile from Royal Naval ships. The solid propellant for the Gosling rocket motors was manufactured and assembled at the Royal Naval Propellant Factory (RNPF) Caerwent in Monmouthshire. The Royal Aircraft Establishment’s GuidedWeapons Trials Unit, Aberporth, was located on a purpose-built cliff terrace just above sea level. The primary focus of the facility was a ship-simulation firing platform, which comprised of a 20-metre square by 13-metre deep basin. The platform, a joint venture between the Navy and ArmstrongWhitworth, was the sole terrestrial UK location for the testing of Sea Slug, although sea trials were undertaken on HMS Girdle Ness. When flooded, the basin contained the Claussen Rolling Platform, an ovoid-shaped metal hull that floated on the surface of the water. It could be artificially manipulated by equipment housed in adjacent buildings to replicate the movement of a ship at sea and to model the reaction of the missile and its launch system in a marine environment.The missile launcher and associated guidance system were attached to the upper surface of the hemisphere. The site was approached by a purpose-built inclined railway, providing access to a series of levels, together with utilitarian surface buildings and subterranean rooms and service tunnels.The latter housed tracking and control systems designed to evaluate the flight of the missile. Given the remote nature of the site, it was also equipped with a dedicated guardhouse, heating and ventilation plant building, latrines and storage buildings including a magazine. When Sea Slug trials ceased in 1968, the installation was used for Sea Dart and SeaWolf missile trials. Most of the surface buildings were demolished in 2004, but their foundations and the subterranean rooms and service tunnels remain. Royal Naval Propellant Factory Caerwent was a wartime factory that produced high-quality cordite propellant for the Admiralty.After the war, with less demand for cordite, the site was chosen for experimental guided weapon scheme work on the Gosling solid-fuel rocket motor, which began in improvised wartime buildings in 1955. Methods of manufacture were investigated and standardised, and methods for the composition, coating and assembly of Gosling charges were established.The manufacture, preparation and assembly of rocket motors were undertaken in existing wartime buildings from 1956. Short charges were initially extruded on a 15-inch horizontal press in Press House 3. The charges were X-rayed for flaws.This work was supervised by Physics Laboratory staff and a Naval Ordnance inspecting officer.After cutting and end-trimming, the charges were ‘composited’, bend-tested and end-washered in one of the Blending Houses. Later, full length Gosling charges were extruded on a 22.5-inch horizontal press in Press House 1, a considerable technological achievement at the time.The complete charges were coated in a disused Tetryl Acetone Recovery building before assembly into the casings. A contemporary photograph of a solid-fuel rocket motor prior to firing in the guided weapon scheme static firing bay at RNPF Caerwent
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