AstrotalkUK

Not for profit website/blog on astronomy, space and my writing

A public event to commemorate Manchester’s first rocket pioneers

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Manchester has a world renowned international airport, and if had a group of rocket engineers had had their way, could Manchester have had a spaceport to launch rockets, too?

A group of rocket engineers lead by Eric Burgess formed the Manchester Interplanetary Society in 1936. Working closely with the Sci Fi community, their headquarters were initially on Ashton New Road before moving to member  Harry Turner’s house near Plymouth Grove where the young Arthur C Clarke attended meetings.   Their ambitious choice in naming their society was reflected in the name of their bi-monthly publication – “The Astronaut” published a quarter of a century before Yuri Gagarin made the first flight in to space. It was probably the first time the word “Astronaut” and the idea of human spaceflight entered the Mancunian vernacular.

A brass plaque will be unveiled to a commemorate the Manchester Interplanetary Society on the original site they used to test launch rockets they designed and constructed seventy five years ago. If you would like to attend, download this ms word summary which includes a map.

When: 15:00 – 15:30 Monday 14th May 2012

Where: Clayton Vale, near the city of Manchester stadium.  Download leaflet. Postcode of the nearby Bay Horse Public House is M40 1GR.

Refreshments: will be available for small charge. Limited free parking.

Who is invited: Local astronomers, writers in science and sci fi, press, local politicians, members of the local community and members of Salford Astronomical Society & Manchester Astronomical Society and anyone with an interests in history of spaceflight.

Clayton Vale, a stone’s throw from the velodrome in East Manchester, is now a small picturesque park with the river Medlock running through its length.  In 1936 and 1937 it was undeveloped and used by the MIS members as launch site to test rockets they designed and built.  Their achievements were limited by the prevailing legislation which forced them to use inherently inefficient, solid rocket fuel. Their contemporary rocketry groups in Germany, the Soviet Union and the USA experienced huge success by using liquid fuels.

Clayton Vale March 1937 - The cine film was shown at local cinemas over the following weeks

On 14th May 1937, the key member of the MIS found themselves in court accused of making explosives. Explaining that they were testing propulsion techniques for rocket engines, the judge dismissed the case. About the same time, Philip Cleator, who had founded the British Interplanetary Society in Liverpool in 1933, lobbied the government to repeal the 1875 Explosives Act, without success.

At the Chingford home of R.A.Smith (then HQ of the British Interplanetary Society) on Sunday 17 July 1938 L to R: J.H. Edwards, Eric Burgess, Harry Turner, Guest of Honour Midshipman Robert C. Truax, USN, holding an experimental liquid-fuel rocket motor, R.A. Smith, Maurice Hanson & Arthur C. Clarke. Source: http://www.htspweb.co.uk/fandf/romart/het/footnotes/fanpix/bis1938.jpg

Eric Burgess wrote many books including one of the earliest dedicated to rocket propulsion. In one, Satellites and Spaceflight published in early 1957, he  published images taken with the 8” telescope currently used by the members of the Manchester Astronomical Society, which he had joined in 1936. He also published images of the Moon taken by the 18” telescope now in the observatory at Salford Astronomical Society but at the time located at Jodrell Bank.

Today Astronomical Societies in Manchester, Salford, Didsbury, Altrincham, Bolton, Heaton Park, Altrincham and others continue to inspire the northwest to look up and dream. Arthur C Clarke achieved international success for his science fiction and non-fiction. He wrote both in equal measure. In the 1950s, he permanently moved to Ceylon – today Sri Lanka.   About the same time Eric Burgess emigrated to America and worked for NASA and the space industry.

The inscription on the plaque reads

Ambitions of Spaceflight


Manchester Interplanetary Society

tested their early rockets here in Clayton Vale from 1936

Their legacy is alive today

14 May 2012

British Interplanetary Society

Manchester Astronomical Society

Salford Astronomical Society

The outbreak of World War two brought dramatic developments in rocket technology around the world and to the fortunes of the members of the MIS. In early 1945 as the war approached its end, Burgess, Clarke and others rapidly consolidated the disparate rocket societies around the UK in to a single unified organisation – The British Interplanetary Society – which continues to flourish to this day.

National Astronomy Meeting 2012

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Moon, Venus and Jupiter just after sunset 27 March 2012

A cram packed week – so much going on and the weather for the first half of this week is particularly cooperative for visitors to Manchester and observing the night sky.  The weather can’t possibly last. I chose to miss out a couple of the evening events and do some observing.

I was not able to get to all the talks I wanted (there really is so much going on!) but did the following three audio recordings

My thanks to all three and I will tweet once the podcasts are online. Now back to NAM2012..

 

 

 

 

Episode 50: 26th March 2012: Manchester first Rocket Scientists

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27th March 1937 - Foreground (left to right): Eric Burgess, Bill Heeley, Trevor Cusack, Harry Turner (Picture – Philip Turner)

Robert Goddard in America , Sergei Korolev in the Soviet Union and Herman Oberth in Germany are three names credit with the development of rocket propulsion during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Each led a very small group with more dedication then resources working on a shoestring budget usually in their own time after work. Their collective work eventually lead to Sputnik, the space race and one of mankind’s greatest technological achievement – Apollo 11 mission to the Moon in 1969.

During the inter war years, the northwest of England gave rise to organisations that nurtured the science of rockets and space travel. In 1933, Philip Cleater in Liverpool founded the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) to promote spaceflight, an institution which continues to exist to this day. A little known group established in 1936, called the Manchester Interplanetary Society (MIS) shared the lofty idea of space travel and had the ambition and talent to design, build and test rockets that could help to realise it.

The MIS founded by an ambitious and gifted sixteen year old Mancunian Eric Burgess in 1936.  Initially, Burgess used his own home, 683 Aston New Road as the headquarters but  moved to a founder member, Harry Turner’s house in Lonsdale Place not far Manchester City centre in the following year. Arthur C Clarke a member of both the science and sci-fi communities visited Harry in Manchester several times and promoted both.

Clayton Vale, a stone’s throw from the velodrome in East Manchester, is now a small picturesque park with the river Medlock running through its length.  On Saturday 27th March 1937 it was more of a slag heap for the nearby coal mine and local industry and a site used by the Manchester Interplanetary Society (MIS) to test launch rockets made by its members. Following five largely unsuccessful cardboard rocket launch attempts the sixth constructed from aluminium exploded injuring three, one requiring hospital attention.  The event was heavily featured in local and national press. Malcolm Wade, the MIS secretary said in the 29th March 1937 edition of the Daily Herald “If only the crowds had remained at a proper distance during Saturday’s trials instead of hustling around us, there would have been no accident.”

Most of the active members of the MIS received a summons to appear at the City Police Court on May 14. The charge against Harry Turner was that he “unlawfully did manufacture a certain explosive you not being allowed by section 4 and 39 of the Explosives Act, 1875 to do so“. Harry like most of the members was not eighteen so his father Henry is also named on the summons.  In the event, Eric Burgess successfully argued that they were not manufacturing explosives but conducting rocket propulsion experiments.  No one was found guilty. They agreed not to use Clayton Vale but another site in Glossop instead.

Pioneer 10 Plaque - the original idea from Eric Burgess

After the war Eric Burgess emigrated to America and worked for NASA and the space industry. He wrote many books including one of the earliest dedicated to rocket propulsion.

Perhaps Burgess’s most remarkable achievement is the least well known. Over dinner in November 1971 with Carl Sagan Burgess proposed that a message from humanity should accompany the Pioneer 10 destined for Jupiter in the following spring. Pioneer 10 would be the first man-made object to achieve solar system escape velocity and head in to interstellar space.  The plaque was designed by Carl Sagan and Frank Drake and successfully incorporated in to the mission in a very short time.  Although Burgess was informed about the plaque prior to launch, the image of a naked man and woman was so controversial in the 1970’s conservative America that NASA insisted on a news embargo until after launch.

Philip Turner

A plaque on display at the Smithsonian Institute in America recognises Eric Burgess’s contribution to space travel. In Manchester there is nothing to mark the unique achievements of Eric Burgess, Harry Turner, Malcolm Wade and others who were Manchester’s very first rocket scientists.

In this interview Philip Turner’s son, Philip talks about Harry but fist, Harry’s widow Marion on how she first met Harry.

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.9MB) | Embed

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BIS Northern Meeting York 19th May 2012

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A British Interplanetary Society  meeting with a difference. The venue is in the North of England – the historic city of York. You don’t have to be a BIS member – all with an interest in spaceflight are welcome. A day long event with five speakers on subjects that include Lunar dust, Soviet & German spaceflight, origins of the BIS and technical details behind the phenomenal success of the Apollo progam.

A summary below. Full details in the pdf indicated at the bottom of the page.

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Date: Saturday 19th May 2011
Venue: Denham Room : Priory Street Centre, York , Y01 6ET
Cost: £5.00 – Full day event – Seating capacity limited to 50
Tickets – Book online here

Confirmed speakers

Deadly Lunar dust (Dr John Cain  – UK Space Biomedicine Association). The first extraterrestrial material transported by man from an alien world to Earth was the almost 400kg of lunar rocks and dust. It is mysterious, fascinating but dangerous too. What were the hazards to the Apollo astronauts who brought it here and what has been learned by the scientist in the 40 years of laboratory experiments?

Origins of the BIS in the Northwest (Gurbir Singh – https://astrotalkuk.org). The BIS was founded in the northwest of England in 1933. The key players were Philip Cleater in Liverpool and from 1936 until the end of the war, Eric Burgess in Manchester. How did they realise their ambitious vision of establishing an Interplanetary Society a quarter century before a satellite was actually put into orbit?

How Apollo flew to the Moon (David Woods – How Apollo flew to the Moon). The Apollo program that took two dozen men to the Moon between 1968 and 1972 succeeded because of ingenious technological solutions developed rapidly midst the haste of the cold war. The author of the book, “How Apollo flew to the Moon ” explains the details of one of mankind’s most remarkable technological achievements.

China’s Long March to the Cosmos  (Mike Hall – www. aelitauk.com) China was the third country to independently launch humans in to space. That was almost a decade ago. Further success has been swift, including a space walk and a woman in space. Current active programs include lunar orbiter, lunar lander, mission to Mars and a Space station. As we approach the 40th anniversary of the last men on the Moon, why is it that most experts believe that the next one will be Chinese?

German Rocket Development (Martin Dawson – York Astronomical Society). ‘Modern rocketry and spaceflight owe a lot to German rocket development of the 1920’s, ’30’s and ’40’s. Although born as a military weapon, scientists and engineers have turned this sword into a plough share. German rocketry is a story that should not be forgotten, it has highs and it has lows, but is always fascinating.

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Download this pdf for all the details. This document is version 02. I will keep it updated from time to time with a final (version 1.0) by end of April.