So close and yet so far

In the 1940s and 1950s Britain led the world in scientific research. We gave America the secrets of Radar and supersonic flight. We received a sizeable bill for World War Two in return.

In fact Britain had advanced plans to set up a colony on Mars and had produced its first rocket by 1958. We could have been the first country in space but we bowed to political pressure from the other side of the Atlantic, and the project was scrapped. (This pattern would repeat itself a dozen years later with TSR2, the supersonic fighter).

Against this background it is heartening to discover a small reminder of our glory days. 

Here is all that remains of launch tower Delta 3 at a secret location in the West Midlands. The whole area is derelict and flooded now, but imagine the activity in those heady post war years as we laboured to make Dan dare a reality.



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