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by fractalwrench 2878 days ago
The Isle of Wight test facility is free to visit, it's worth a look if you're in the area. There isn't a massive amount left - just the concrete structure and a lot of rabbits grazing the cliffs below.

However, there's enough left to make you slightly sad that the space race didn't end up in colonisation (yet). There are also a bunch of other features within less than a mile (an old military battery, The Needles, great views over The Solent, the colored sands of Alum Bay). Definitely underrated.
5 comments
fiftyacorn 2878 days ago
Theres a Black Knight rocket at Chambers Street Museum in Edinburgh

https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/collection-sea...

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m-i-l 2878 days ago
I was at the New Battery [0] in 2014 and they had tried to recreate the control room in the bunker with panels and equipment and figures made out of corrugated brown cardboard, which seemed terribly low budget and yet somehow quite appropriate to the setting.

[0] https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/the-needles-old-battery-and...

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julianz 2878 days ago
S02E01 of Coast has a visit to that area, if you can't visit it yourself. Great show.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast_(TV_series)

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mkohlmyr 2878 days ago
I've been to the batteries and I have absolutely no recollection of hearing of this bit of history. Perhaps I was too taken in by the landscape. Underrated indeed, a second visit is in order!
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BenjaminDyer 2878 days ago
Agreed, its a good place to explore! I live on the Isle of Wight, its full of interesting historical places. I'd like to discover the Nuclear bunker but yet to find it!
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arethuza 2878 days ago
This one?

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/v/ventnor/

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BenjaminDyer 2877 days ago
Thats the one!

I used to actually work in radar on the Isle of Wight, lots of people think of it as simply a place for tourists and old people. However, at least to recently, its the home of a lot of the worlds greatest radar and antenna designers. Sadly its all in decline now.

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arethuza 2876 days ago
I'm looking forward to the Corstorphine Hill bunker in Edinburgh opening to the public:

https://en-gb.facebook.com/BarntonQuarryRestorationProject/

It was the Scottish National HQ though I doubt it was that survivable as its location was fairly well known.

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