Launch Gallery

The Arrival of the First Thor Ballistic Missile to RAF Bom

Photograph of the delivery of first Thor Ballistic Missile to an RAF Base in Norfolk, 19th September 1958. Sixty-five feet long, it was carried to the site from a nearby American base on a 90 foot long transporter. The Thor's nuclear war-head was retained by the Americans and any British decision to launch this missile would have been subject to American approval. RAF Regiment guards can be seen in the foreground, ready to deter any naughty ideas

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

The Summer Car of the River: Motor-launching on the Thames

An illustration by C.E. Turner depicting the fashion for motor-boats or motor-launches during the 1920s among the upper classes, enabling peaceful travel away from the jumbled traffic of weekend roads'. The caption reads: There has been much talk of late of the neglect of the river. That ther is truth in the jeremiads of the boatmen cannot be denied; and needless to say, the motor-car has come in for the chief blame. It is hardly fair, however, to put everything down to this; for it is to be feared that the weather has also played a malignant part on occasion! Given sunny days, indeed, the waters of the Thames, more particularly, retain all their attractions, and it may be added that the motor-launch is gaining in popularity every year; is becoming, in fact, the car of the river. And to the motor launch must now be added the outboard motor-boat; that is to say, the comparatively small craft with detatchable motor and propellor. It may be prophesying rather far ahead, but it seems likely that, with the week-end roads a jumble of traffic, the rivers will be used more and more as a summer highway

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Capt Leroy Cooper, right, with Admiral Hills and Joachi?

Capt Leroy Cooper, right, with Admiral Hills and Joachim Kuettner at Cape Canaveral after witnessing the launch of a Mercury capsule carrying a chimpanzee on top of a Redstone launcher, 31 january 1961. Date: 1961

© The Royal Aeronautical Society (National Aerospace Library)/Mary Evans Picture Library

1961, 31, Admiral, Canaveral, Cape, Capsule, Capt, Carrying, Chimpanzee, Cooper, Hills, January, Joachim, Kuettner, Launch, Launcher, Leroy, Mercury, Redstone, Top, Witnessing