TONDU - South Wales - Observation Bunker

yes of course lets get it photographed and protected
keep in contact and we can sort out visit, preferably Saturday or any evening after 5pm

Will try and locate the Ministry of Supply sign and post a photograph. Apologies for the slight duplication of info. I hadn't realised the first posting had been successful!
According to my recollection of conversations with my father (now long dead) tracer testing was with the RAF on a range on the Solway Firth in Dumfries & Galloway. Only once did he fly as an observer on a Lancaster Raid over Germany. The real thing was absolutely terrifying for a civilian. (Undoubtedly for the young aircrew as well). The tracers and incendiaries worked well under real test conditions!
In later life my father introduced me to the noble art of firework making! The results were always quite spectacular on November 5th! I'm not totally sure of the actual dates he was at Tondu House but he did his Ph.D in Aberystwyth during 1939-41 (evacuated from University College, London) and was on the staff at Leicester University by 1947.

mawganmad;125376 wrote:

I would be up for meeting up on the site, though can't make it within the next month.

Let me know when mawganmad, and I'll sort it.

Further to my Post # 30.

The document that I am reading is about the technical development of British IBs and is dated 1946. There are mentions of trials using a mortar and prototype IB trials by CSAR at Tondu particularly concerning the attack requirement on Japanese domestic structures. I think the original name PRD (Pyrotechnic Research Department) must have been changed to CSAR late war but can't find a positive definition of the abbreviation. Probably............**Armament Research?

Japanese domestic structures (it states) tend to have little furniture within the room and unless an IB came to rest against a wall a bomb could just burn out. An IB containing a small rocket motor exhausting through ports in the body was devised that would penetrate a roof and then 'squirt' around inside until it was stopped by a wall.

It implies that some tests of this device were conducted inside a Tondu building.

Still plodding through; it's hard work even for an Armourer! Interesting but technical with lots of drawings.

pumlumon

A report written by your father Stephen H Harvey is shown on this document (extract from a 227pp doc):

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As a new member of the group I was fascinated to read the info on the PRD (Pyrotechnic Research Department) at Tondu House. My father, Dr Stephen Harvey, worked there as a bomb designer from 1942-45. My mother also worked in the Dispensary at the ROF Bridgend (Brackla). Both were chemists in different ways. As a small boy, growing up in Leicester, I learnt a great deal of that top secret work in Tondu, but had never seen photographs of the trial range buildings until now. My father lodged at 1 Pandy Road, Aberkenfig, and George Browning became my Godfather. I have, in my possession, a Ministry of Supply sign from Tondu House, although demolition has removed the quaint old building itself. One peculiarity of the time was that in order to qualify for free First Class Travel on the GWR (when going up to Woolwich) my father had to carry a small pouch containing gunpowder with him on the train! So much for H & S. I should welcome any more info on this operation, including perhaps more information of the tracer trials and mock-up Japanese houses in the woodlands at Tondu![/QUOTE]

Hello, I am a new member to the site today after some very interesting reading about Tondu House. My grandfather was the engineering workshop manager there and my uncle, Dr William Ralph Maxwell was a rocket scientist. Uncle Max was seconded to Tondu from the Buckinghamshire area. I remember him speaking fondly of his time spent there, although he didnt really talk about his work. As children we were taken to Margam beach and shown a concrete hut from where he launched rockets.

He later worked at Westcott and became the President of the British Interplanatary Society, London. On July 11th, 1961, he presented Yuri Gagarin with his gold medal at a ceremony at Earl's Court, London.

Through work he travelled extensively but his favourite trip was to America to see the launch of an Apollo spacecraft.

On seeing ChrisJ's post, your godfather, George Browning was my Uncle George. My mother was a cousin to George's wife Dora. My mother remembers your father staying at Pandy Road, what a small world!

Thanks. I understand now. Helen is quoting Post 17 in her first post and then responding in her second, thus:

Hello, I am a new member to the site today after some very interesting reading about Tondu House. My grandfather was the engineering workshop manager there and my uncle, Dr William Ralph Maxwell was a rocket scientist. Uncle Max was seconded to Tondu from the Buckinghamshire area. I remember him speaking fondly of his time spent there, although he didnt really talk about his work. As children we were taken to Margam beach and shown a concrete hut from where he launched rockets.

He later worked at Westcott and became the President of the British Interplanatary Society, London. On July 11th, 1961, he presented Yuri Gagarin with his gold medal at a ceremony at Earl's Court, London.

Through work he travelled extensively but his favourite trip was to America to see the launch of an Apollo spacecraft.

On seeing ChrisJ's post, your godfather, George Browning was my Uncle George. My mother was a cousin to George's wife Dora. My mother remembers your father staying at Pandy Road, what a small world!

Helen, if you are reading this, thank you for your input. Interesting that you mention Margham beach. There was a number of aircraft practice bombing ranges located along the shore and an Air to Ground gunnery range on which was situated an unusual Marker Shelter constructed from concrete. I wonder if this if this is where your uncle carried out his experiments. There is a photograph of it here:

farm9.static.flickr.com/8207/8211261894_b4e71de61e_m.jpg

Thanks Peter for the photo of the hut on Margam Beach, it does look like the one I used to visit with my Uncle in the 1970's.

Helen

Thanks for the additional info Helen.

My father would have been working in the workshops under your grandfather, although he didn't talk much about his war work. His experience set him up to remain in munitions manufacture and then became a metalwork teacher. In addition, I left out a detail from the family story which I related in 2012; my father was driving the (supposedly) armed weapons to "Aberavon Beach," so I presume it would have actually been to the observation area at Margam. My surprise of his knowledge of rocketry stemmed from pictures of solid fuel rocket charges associated with NASA publicity. The shape of the solid fuel charge, and number of its combustion sites, determines the power (heat) output and its longevity - fast or slow burn etc., with obvious parallels to weapons.

Unlike other topics, there doesn't seem to be an 'official history' of the development British incendiary devices, probably because it is too controversial. The items in the CSAR document about Japanese dwellings were an eye opener.