A report on Rainbow Code

The Rainbow Codes were a series of code names used to disguise the nature of various British military research projects.

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AMES Type 85 at RAF Staxton Wold

AMES Type 85

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AMES Type 85 at RAF Staxton Wold
This image shows the effect of four carcinotron-carrying aircraft on a Type 80-type radar. The aircraft are located at roughly the 4 and 5:30 locations. The display is filled with noise any time the antenna's main lobe or sidelobes pass the jammer, rendering the aircraft invisible.
The 250 ft telescope at Jodrell Bank ran on a modified railway, visible here. A similar solution was adopted for Blue Riband.

The AMES Type 85, also known by its rainbow code Blue Yeoman, was an extremely powerful early warning (EW) and fighter direction (GCI) radar used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as part of the Linesman/Mediator radar network.

Handley Page HP-80 Victor K2 after landing, with drag parachute deployed

Handley Page Victor

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British jet-powered strategic bomber developed and produced by Handley Page during the Cold War.

British jet-powered strategic bomber developed and produced by Handley Page during the Cold War.

Handley Page HP-80 Victor K2 after landing, with drag parachute deployed
Handley Page HP-80 Victor K2 after landing, with drag parachute deployed
Painting of test Victor B1 XA918 by artist and former Handley Page employee Peter Coombs
Victor B1A XH588 at an East Anglian Battle of Britain day event, 1959
Victor B.2 at RAF Wittering undergoing pre-flight preparations
Victor K.2 of No. 55 Squadron RAF in 1985; note the deployed refuelling drogues.
Head-on view of a Victor during a ground taxi run, 2006
Victor landing at RNAS Yeovilton 1984; note airbrakes extended.
Rolls-Royce Conway RCo.17 Mk 201 on static display
Victor B.1 (XA922) on a landing approach, circa 1959
Victor K2 (XH669) refuelling a pair of English Electric Lightnings, September 1978
A Victor and a Vulcan at Richmond Air Show, New South Wales, 1964
Victor K2 (XL161) approaching RAF Abingdon, September 1979
Ventral plan of a Victor K.2
3-view of Victor B.1
3-view of Victor B.2
Victor B.1A (K.2P) XH648 preserved at the Imperial War Museum Duxford
3 view of Victor

A total of 24 were upgraded to B.1A standard by the addition of Red Steer tail warning radar in an enlarged tail-cone and a suite of radar warning receivers and electronic countermeasures (ECM) from 1958 to 1960.

Red Top missile

Red Top (missile)

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The third indigenous British air-to-air missile to enter service, following the de Havilland Firestreak and limited-service Fireflash.

The third indigenous British air-to-air missile to enter service, following the de Havilland Firestreak and limited-service Fireflash.

Red Top missile
Red Top mounted on the forward fuselage of a Lightning
Red Top on display at the RAF Museum Cosford.
Hawker Siddeley Red Top missile mounted on an English Electric Lightning at the RAF Museum at Hendon, London.
Map with Red Top operators in blue
Red Top on display at the Imperial War Museum Duxford.

Still known by its rainbow code "Blue Jay", Blue Jay Mk.

De Havilland Firestreak

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British first-generation, passive infrared homing air-to-air missile.

British first-generation, passive infrared homing air-to-air missile.

Lightning T4 trainer with a dummy Firestreak missile drill round (1964)
Map with Firestreak operators in blue
A Firestreak on its trolley. The fuse windows are visible adjacent to the red rubber bands used to protect them.
Firestreak at RAF Museum Cosford

Developed under the rainbow code "Blue Jay", Firestreak was the third heat-seeking missile to enter service, after the US AIM-4 Falcon and AIM-9 Sidewinder, both of which entered service the previous year.

Type 82 at RAF Lindholme

AMES Type 82

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Type 82 at RAF Lindholme
The Orange Yeoman prototype built at the RRDE in Malvern lacks the IFF antenna on top, but is otherwise typical of the operational systems. On the right is the transmitter, above it the lens, on the left is the reflector, and on the near side of the lens are the eleven receiver feed horns.
The Type 82 at RAF North Coates was mounted on a shorter platform than other production sites. Note the differences in layout from the prototype version at Malvern. The near end of the IFF antenna is the small triangle on top of the lens.

The AMES Type 82, also widely known by its rainbow codename Orange Yeoman, was an S-band 3D radar built by Marconi and used by the Royal Air Force (RAF), initially for tactical control and later for air traffic control (ATC).

The Type 80 radar at Metz in France run by the 61 AC&W Squadron of the Canadian 1st Air Division

AMES Type 80

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The Type 80 radar at Metz in France run by the 61 AC&W Squadron of the Canadian 1st Air Division
The Type 80 radar at Metz in France run by the 61 AC&W Squadron of the Canadian 1st Air Division
Some feeling of the immensity of the Type 80 can be seen in this photo of men standing beside the prototype at Bard Hill.
The main bearing of the Type 80 at Metz failed in March 1958 and had to be replaced. This was a non-trivial operation that took three months to complete.
This image shows the effect of four carcinotron-carrying aircraft on a Type 80-type radar. The aircraft are located at roughly the 4 and 5:30 locations. The display is filled with noise any time the antenna's main lobe or sidelobes pass the jammer, rendering the aircraft invisible.
The Type 82 had a complex antenna that allowed it to measure altitude as well.
This image shows the interior of the AMES Type 80 control room operated by the Canadian 1st Air Division in Metz, France. In the foreground are several of the Type 64 consoles, and in the background, the side-lit perspex plot board and tote boards showing known missions on the left and tracks on the right. The MRS used much of the same equipment, although the plot was replaced by the PDU.

The AMES Type 80, sometimes known by its development rainbow code Green Garlic, was a powerful early warning (EW) and ground-controlled interception (GCI) radar developed by the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) and built by Decca for the Royal Air Force (RAF).

Seaslug Mk. II missile

Seaslug (missile)

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First-generation surface-to-air missile designed by Armstrong Whitworth for use by the Royal Navy.

First-generation surface-to-air missile designed by Armstrong Whitworth for use by the Royal Navy.

Seaslug Mk. II missile
Seaslug on display at Wickenby Aerodrome, Lincolnshire, UK
Test firing from the trials ship HMS Girdle Ness (A387), circa 1961.
The Seaslug launcher mounted on the quarterdeck of HMS Glamorgan, circa 1972
The firing of the first Seaslug test missile from HMS Girdle Ness (A387). This version is based on the RAE's early GPV, and retains the rear-mounted boosters before they moved forward on the "long round".
Map with Seaslug operators in blue

The Seaslug Mark 2 was based on the aborted Blue Slug programme to develop an anti-ship missile using the Seaslug missile and guidance system.

Blue Envoy

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Blue Envoy (a Rainbow Code name) was a British project to develop a ramjet-powered surface-to-air missile.

Canberra T.4 WJ874 in 2005. It had been painted in 1999 to represent the first prototype VN799, first flown in 1949.

English Electric Canberra

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British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber.

British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber.

Canberra T.4 WJ874 in 2005. It had been painted in 1999 to represent the first prototype VN799, first flown in 1949.
Canberra T.4 WJ874 in 2005. It had been painted in 1999 to represent the first prototype VN799, first flown in 1949.
Canberra PR.9 XH135
The first Canberra B.2 prototype, VX165
Martin EB-57B
A Canberra TT Mk.18 of the Royal Navy landing at RNAS Yeovilton, 1985
Canberra B.2 WD940, 1951
Instrument panel of a Canberra cockpit, 2006
A flight of three RAF Canberra B.2s flying in formation during the 1950s
Canberra PR.3 of No. 540 Squadron RAF at London Heathrow in June 1953
Group of RAF Canberra B.15s of No. 45 Squadron at RAF Tengah, Singapore, 1963
An RAAF Canberra during maintenance, circa 1967
RAAF Canberra B.20 of No. 2 Squadron during a strike out of Phan Rang Air Base, Vietnam, March 1970
English Electric Canberra T.4
SAAF Canberra B.12 with inertial navigation and special sensors package over Transvaal
Canberra B-108 lost in the 1982 Falklands War
A former Canberra B.2 (WH876) used for development and trials work
Modified Canberra B.2 (WV787) at Newark Air Museum
Preserved PR.9 XH135 at Kemble Airport. Note the offset pilot's canopy. The navigator sits inside the nose section.
Canberra T17A
Canberra (dark blue) and B-57 (light blue) operators
SAAF Canberra T.4 at AFB Waterkloof, circa 1980
Venezuela Air Force Canberra, March 1972
Wreckage of a crashed Indian air force Canberra in Agra, India on 19 December 2005
Argentine Air Force Canberra Mk.62 at Museo Nacional de Aeronáutica in Buenos Aires
Canberra Mk 20 (A84-235) in RAAF No. 2 Squadron livery. On display at RAAF Base Wagga
One of three Canberras operated by the Luftwaffe at the museum at Gatow Airport
A Swedish Air Force Tp 52, (a Canberra T.11 secretly converted for ELINT missions), at Svedinos Museum
English Electric Canberra 52002 (Swedish Air Force Tp 52) on display at the Swedish Air Force Museum in Linköping (July 2019). The two Tp 52s were built as T.11s and secretly converted to the ELINT role in Sweden
English Electric Canberra 3-view drawing
Rolls-Royce Avon engine on display, Temora Aviation Museum, 2011

They included Gee-H navigation, Rebecca beacon-interrogation distance-measuring equipment, very high frequency radio, radio compass, radar altimeter, identification friend or foe, and Orange Putter radar warning receiver.

A Fireflash missile at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford (2014)

Fireflash

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The United Kingdom's first air-to-air guided missile to see service with the Royal Air Force.

The United Kingdom's first air-to-air guided missile to see service with the Royal Air Force.

A Fireflash missile at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford (2014)
A Fireflash missile at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford (2014)
A Supermarine Swift with two Fireflash missiles (1956)
Drawing of a Fireflash missile

In January 1945 the Air Ministry issued Operational Requirement OR.1056, given the Ministry of Supply rainbow code "Red Hawk", for an air-to-air missile.