From the late 1950s to just after the Cuban Missile Crisis, eastern England was home to 60 American-built and jointly operated Thor missiles, each with a 1.4 megaton nuclear warhead with 70 times the destructive power of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. Their deployment to the UK had the mild-mannered name Project Emily. There were 20 RAF missile bases, under joint RAF/USAF control. Each had three one-off Thor liquid-fuelled rocket launchpads, laid out in a very distinctive pattern. Most have disappeared completely, a few remain, and two have been given Grade-II or II* listed status.
Contemporary Photographs
I first became aware of the Thor sites during a Breckland Society project on Military History, 1900-1949. Afterwards, I felt we had omitted one of the area’s most interesting periods, the Cold War, and we were successful in a Lottery bid for a follow-up project, during which we documented much about the history of the Thor bases.
Former RAF Polebrook, Northants.
Shepherd’s Grove, Suffolk
