LOST AIRFIELDS | EPISODE 2 • RAF HARRINGTON "CARPETBAGGERS" AND THOR MISSILE SITE

Welcome to episode 2 of the Ted Coningsby series, Lost Airfields and we are at RAF Harrington in Northamptonshire. Built in September 1943, it was the home of the famous 801st Bomb Group who took part in the famous Operation Carpet Bagger, during the Cold War, Harrington was a Thor missile site, designed to deliver atomic warheads to the Soviet Union.
The Carpetbaggers missions were to fly B-24 Liberators with all armament removed (with some exceptions of top or tail turrets) and drop supplies to enemy occupied countries to resistance groups in France, Denmark, Norway, Belgium and Holland. Most of the sorties were flown to support patriots in northern France.. Bomb shackles were removed from the bomb bay and pretty much every space in the Liberator was utilised to carefully fit as many supplies as possible with special supply canisters. Oxygen bottles, radio gear or anything that could be removed to fit more supplies were carried.
The missions had to be done at night and at low level. The B-24s were not escorted by fighter aircraft. Special routes had to be chosen to avoid action from enemy aircraft. The aircraft would have to drop below 2,000ft to avoid detection by radar and avoid potential enemy threat attacks. The take offs from Harrington were done carefully and although night missions were standard, the moon played a major part in the success. The moon had to be out, making the ground visible to the navigator and bombardier.
After the war, Harrington fell into disuse but its fate was to be given new life for another sinister time. In 1955 the contract from the US Government for the development of an IRBM (Intermediate Range Ballistic missile) system went to the Douglas Aircraft Corporation, which by prodigious feats of design and engineering delivered the first SM - 75 Thor in October 1956 and despite an inauspicious start in the flight test programme and the system was declared operational in 1959. The plan was to deploy the Thor missiles to Britain and a proposal was put forward in 1957 and was even proposed that it would cost Britain nothing with the exception of the funds needed to prepare the site preparations and building work. To avoid political complications the weapons would be manned by the Royal Air Force, though the nuclear warheads would remain under American control.
The plan was to have twenty reformed RAF squadron and operating three missiles each. After its number, each squadron would carry the initials SM (Strategic Missile) - these are the only RAF squadrons ever to bear this designation. RAF Feltwell was the first to designated as 77SM and was reformed at Feltwell on 1 September 1958. In 1959 Harrington was also chosen to become a Thor missile sight, No. 218(SM).
Now that Harrington was a Thor missile sight, it was nearly involved in the worlds first ever nuclear war. In 1962, during the Cold War, the Soviet Union places missiles on the island of Cuba. In 1959, Castro had led the Communists in Cuba and had taken control. The Soviet Union had promised to support the communist and defend Cuba with their Soviet Weapons. Therefore as part of the agreement Soviet premier Khrushchev installed nuclear missiles on Cuba. The USA had also installed missiles in Turkey. The USA cut off supplies to the island and demanded that missiles to be removed. This was the closest the world has ever come to complete nuclear was with Thor sights potentially on standby. President John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev exchanged messages and both agreed to stand down; The US would never invade Cuba, Khrushchev to removed the missiles, withdrawal of missiles in Turkey. Both carried out their promises and nuclear was avoided and the crisis over by late November 1962
The nuclear missile site is now protected as a Grade II listed building as an example of Cold War architecture
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