Antar towing a rocket???

[Hair Bear]

I was looking at a completely unrelated site (Caravan Talk) where someone had posted a pic of a lowloader with a rocket on it! 1950's/60's, black and white, showed a white rocket with RAF roundel on a long trailer with what appeared to be a steered rear bogie controlled by a chap in a sort of low slung cab on the left side. The photo was certainly taken in the UK but a rear 3/4 view so the tractor unit wasn't easily identified. The pic has now vanished but does anyone recognise the description?

[radiomike7]

Thor missile?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&q=raf+missile+launcher+steering+rear+bogie&chips=q:raf+missile+launcher+steering+rear+bogie,online_chips:thor+missile&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwii6qWurPLbAhXmJ8AKHXH9Cz0Q4lYIKSgD&biw=1391&bih=661&dpr=1.15#imgrc=Qx3u4Ev1QGOnaM:&spf=1530050802972

 

Tractor was a Leyland Hippo.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=douglas+pgm+17+transporters&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=haNjoB9Y3GgkMM%3A%2CeUVyAVZqRO4YwM%2C_&usg=__9PdFxN-fqdKxUoavpRxeCkVucps%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpi663rfLbAhXMJMAKHV3eA0YQ9QEIWTAH#imgrc=haNjoB9Y3GgkMM:

Edited June 26, 2018 by radiomike7

[Tarland]

10 hours ago, Hair Bear said:

I was looking at a completely unrelated site (Caravan Talk) where someone had posted a pic of a lowloader with a rocket on it! 1950's/60's, black and white, showed a white rocket with RAF roundel on a long trailer with what appeared to be a steered rear bogie controlled by a chap in a sort of low slung cab on the left side. The photo was certainly taken in the UK but a rear 3/4 view so the tractor unit wasn't easily identified. The pic has now vanished but does anyone recognise the description?

Was this the picture you were thinking of?

Found here

http://www.harringtonmuseum.org.uk/memories-of-raf-harrington-1959-to-1963/

When this thread first started I did think Thor missle but they were never based in the South East, but on former airfields on the East Coast in Yorshire and Lincolnshire (if you ever fly into to Humberside airport you can see a couple of the former launch sites in the surrounding area)

[Richard Farrant]

7 minutes ago, Tarland said:

Was this the picture you were thinking of?

Found here

http://www.harringtonmuseum.org.uk/memories-of-raf-harrington-1959-to-1963/

When this thread first started I did think Thor missle but they were never based in the South East, but on former airfields on the East Coast in Yorshire and Lincolnshire (if you ever fly into to Humberside airport you can see a couple of the former launch sites in the surrounding area)

 

I thought the towing vehicle was an AEC Militant artic tractor unit but then saw that Radiomike had posted about the Leyland. That would make sense as most of the Leylands were in RAF service.

[Tarland]

11 minutes ago, Richard Farrant said:

I thought the towing vehicle was an AEC Militant artic tractor unit but then saw that Radiomike had posted about the Leyland. That would make sense as most of the Leylands were in RAF service.

Does this clarify things....?

[Richard Farrant]

59 minutes ago, Tarland said:

Does this clarify things....?

Thanks, came across that photo after posting

[Hair Bear]

Thanks all.

I am in awe of the ability to find the exact picture from my iffy description! To me until now, an Honest John rocket launcher was a dinky toy of a US weapon. I wouldn't ever have guessed they were not only in the UK but stationed within a mile of home.

Despite the fact this has wandered a little, I'm up for learning anything about rocketry and this thread certainly doesn't dissapoint.

Rob.