Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. Orford ... - English Heritage

sorties were flown from RAF Martlesham Heath, Suffolk. Here most of the airfield has
been built over, although its control tower is preserved as a museum (TM 24 NW 74),
and other buildings have been adapted to new uses.
Figure 5: Former RAF Martlesham Heath, preserved Air Traffic Control tower (c) English
Heritage
The first Blue Danube atomic bombs were issued to the RAF’s Bomber Command
Armament School at RAF Wittering in November 1953 (Wynn 1994, 92). However,
there was a considerable lapse of time before the weapons could be regarded as
operational. The first Valiant V-bomber arrived at RAF Wittering in June 1955 and
shortly afterwards a series of trials began to investigate the performance of the bomb’s
shape at different speeds and altitudes and to monitor internal equipment during flight.
Between June and November 1955 a total of 14 trial casings were dropped at Orford
Ness for the AWRE and RAE scientists, for economy, in number of instances ballistics
and electronics trials were combined (Wynn 1994, 96-97). During 1956 the Orford
Ness range was again used by RAF Wittering’s Valiants in preparation for the autumn
Buffalo trials at Maralinga, Australia, where one aircraft would make the first operational
air drop of a British atomic weapon. The facilities at Orford Ness were particularly
important for familiarising the bomber crews and RAE ground controllers with the
operating procedures required for the trial. Also in autumn 1956 Orford Ness was used
for the initial training flights for the autumn 1957 Grapple tests on Christmas Island, in
which Britain would detonate her first hydrogen bomb. Training sorties comprised high
level visual bombing runs from 25,000ft and 40,000ft using 100lb practice bombs, and
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