The group enjoyed an informative, well-structured and fully illustrated talk from Nick Cooke on the topic of Orford Ness. The history of this coastal area of Suffolk is fascinating from its initial use in 1913 for the testing of aircraft through its work on bomb ballistics; the experiments that led to RADAR; the later testing of aircraft components and the flight paths of air-launched rockets. The 1950s and early 60s saw Orford Ness hosting tests on the initiation mechanisms for atomic bombs. Huge labs were designed and installed to absorb and dissipate an explosion in the event of an accident (no nuclear material was involved). In the late 1960s the Cobra Mist project was set up to carry out several missions, including detection and tracking of aircraft and detection of missile and satellite vehicle launchings. In the 1970s the Ness' focus was on ordnance disposal before the National Trust took ownership in 1987.
