MoD test of aerial spraying over Norwich
The Penetration of built-up areas by
Aerosols at night -
Porton Down Public Area Biological Warfare
Experiments on Norwich
MoD test of germ warfare aerial spraying over Norwich
This was a Ministry of defence test carried out on the city of
Norwich on January 13th, February 10th, March 16th and April 14th
1964.
These are PDF documents which claim to have been declassified in
2000 and describe an experiment by the ministry of defence where the
city of Norwich was sprayed by aircraft with a substance known as
"Silicon treated FP", which is claimed to be "innocuous in the
concentration which were expected to occur on the ground".
These documents outline the nature of the experiment
and the involvement of the local police in
it.
Background to Porton
Down experiments
During May 1963, the War Office Chief Scientist sent a memo to
the Secretary of State explaining the type of public area
experiments that were being conducted in the UK by Porton Down. As
can be seen in the covering letter, the experiments were conducted
in a high level of secrecy because "knowledge of them by
unauthorised persons could be politically embarrassing."
PDF Download:
Porton Note No 188 18 August 1959 -
(http://www.nr23.net/govt/images/pdf/Porton%20Note%20No%20188%20%2018%20August%201959.pdf)
Porton Field Report No 515 13 Nov 1957 -
(http://www.nr23.net/govt/images/pdf/Porton%20Field%20Report%20No%20515%2013%20Nov%201957.pdf)
Porton Note No 74 Extract 13 November 1957 -
(http://www.nr23.net/govt/images/pdf/Porton%20Note%20No%2074%20Extract%2013%20November%201957.pdf)
DOC Porton Field Trial Report No 610 The Penetration Of Built Up
areas at night - 1963 experiment -
(http://www.nr23.net/govt/images/pdf/DOC%20Porton%20Field%20Trial%20Report%20No%20610%20The%20Penetration%20Of%20
Built%20Up.pdf)
CDEE Porton Programme Report 2 64 The Penetration of Built Up
Areas By Aerosols At Night PDF file -
(http://www.nr23.net/govt/images/pdf/CDEE%20Porton%20Programme%20Report%202%20%2064%20%20The%20Penetration%20of%20
Built%20Up%20Areas%20By%20Aerosols%20At%20Night.pdf)
MOD Internal Review re Zinc Cadmium Sulphide
FP public area experiments - (http://www.nr23.net/govt/images/pdf/Unclassified%20MOD%20Internal%20Review%20re%20Zinc%20Cadmium%20Sulphide%20FP%20
public%20area%20experiments.pdf)
DOC Porton Note No 188 The Long Distance Travel of Particulate C
- (http://www.nr23.net/govt/images/pdf/DOC%20Porton%20Note%20No%20188%20The%20Long%20Distance%20Travel%20of%20Particulate%20C.pdf)
DOC Secretary of State Briefing Memo Public Area CW BW
Experiments May 1963 - (http://www.nr23.net/govt/images/pdf/DOC%20Secretary%20of%20State%20Briefing%20Memo%20%20Public%20Area%20CW%20%20BW%20
Experiments%20May%201963.pdf)
See also Biological Warfare Experiments in
Dorset 1963-75
(http://www.nr23.net/govt/spray_dorset.htm)
How the spraying was done
This declassified Porton Down film
(http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-3695517097691289788), which is Crown
Copyright, shows a Valetta aircraft making a number of passes in
front of the camera - all the time spraying the Biological Warfare
simulant - Zinc Cadmium sulphide. These experiments shown in this
film were conducted during March 1958, and were conducted to
determine the characteristics of an aircraft mounted Zinc Cadmium
sulphide dispenser. The resulting information was then used in
Porton Down's later public area BW experiments, some of which (the
Large Area Coverage or LAC) contaminated vast swathes of the UK. A
BW simulant is a supposedly harmless substance which mimics the
physical properties of a real BW agent, in this case, size (between
1-5 microns). BW simulants are used in BW experiments in which, for
safety reasons, a real BW agent could not be used.
A similar
procedure was adopted for the 1963/64 Norwich Trials. An aircraft,
this time a Devon, sprayed the BW simulant Zinc Cadmium sulphide, at
a rate of 2-3 lbs per mile, as it flew along a 62 nm track across
Norfolk - at a distance of 24 miles upwind of the city of Norwich.
When the massive aerosol cloud reached its target area, Porton Down
scientists conducted clandestine sampling of the air at a large
number of locations, across the city and surrounding
countryside.
|
Update - May 2008
You might be interested to learn that a few of my past efforts
are now available for viewing on the net. First up are the two 23
minute programmes, broadcast by ITV West in late 2004, entitled -
Top Secrets Revealed.
Top Secrets Revealed Episode 1
(http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=7956939398441775712)
23 Mins google
video
The first episode covers the years 1950-1963, and contains
details of formerly classified public area BW experiments such as:
The Westwood Trials - Following the successful BW 'sabotage'
attack on the Pentagon, by operatives from the Special Operation
Division of Camp Detrick, the scientists from the UK Biological
Warfare research facility at Porton Down decided to conduct similar
experiments of their own. Unfortunately for them, they were refused
permission to use Government buildings in Whitehall, London so,
after a lengthy search for a suitable test location, they chose to
use the highly classified underground British Museum Art Repository
in Westwood Quarry, Wiltshire. During 1950-1951, scientists released
large aerosols of an opportunistic pathogen in the British Museum
part of the underground quarry - live Serratia marcescens (the same
strain of bacteria which was used in the 1950 San Francisco
experiments, and which is associated with the fatality of a hospital
patient). Unfortunately, these large bacterial aerosols escaped from
the BM Repository and entered the adjacent Royal Enfield underground
factory. This factory was occupied at the time by over 200 workers!
Needless to say, Porton scientists did not warn the factory workers
of the risks - neither did they monitor the factory workers
health!
The Railway Coach Trials - Yet another series of 'sabotage'
experiments. This time the purpose was to investigate the
feasibility of sabotage attacks on railway trains as they travelled
through a tunnel. During these experiments, Porton scientists
contaminated regular trains carrying members of the public as they
passed through a tunnel on the Salisbury-Exeter line in the
mid-fifties. The trials procedure was for a scientist to hide in a
tunnel, equipped with a portable spraying apparatus. Just as the
train passed, he operated the spray unit which produced a bacterial
aerosol. Trials results proved that the interior of the train
carriages became contaminated with the chosen bacteria. The
passengers were not informed of their participation!
The BW 'Attacks' on the City of Salisbury - During 1960, an
aircraft, flying an arc 40 miles upwind of Porton's nearby city of
Salisbury, sprayed large quantities of a cadmium compound - Zinc
Cadmium sulphide (ZnCds). This compound was carried by the wind into
the city where, because of its small particle size, it was inhaled
and digested by the unwitting population. Documents obtained by
myself in 2001 revealed that although Porton were aware of the
hazardous nature of ZnCds they never subjected it to toxicity tests
prior to its release in populated areas. The population were never
informed of these experiments - even the MOD commissioned
Independent Review of 2000 didn't include the Salisbury experiments
in any detail!
Top Secrets Revealed Programme 2
(http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-1663566962509610222)
23 mins google
video
Episode 2 contains the following information:
The Icing Tanker Aircraft - This was a classic piece of dual-use
technology. On the surface this especially converted aircraft was
just a research vehicle, constructed to facilitate investigations
into aircraft icing. But it had another, highly classified role - as
the UK's BW spray aircraft. Experiments using this aircraft were
conducted in populated areas on numerous occasions during 1967. As
before, two types of live bacteria were released - E.coli MRE162,
and Bacillus subtilis.
Interview with Professor Brian Spratt FRS - Prof Spratt was
commissioned, in 1998, by the UK Ministry of Defence to investigate
whether those residents who were exposed to the massive bacterial
clouds suffered any adverse health effects. Prof Spratt reveals that
while most people would probably have not suffered ill effects, some
people, especially those with an underlying disease or an suppressed
immune system, might have experienced pneumonia or sepsis. He also
revealed that on four separate occasions, Porton scientists
knowingly sprayed a contaminated bacterial suspension over a
populated area!
As is this were not enough, during the interview Prof Spratt
became aware that the MOD have not been as honest with him as he had
thought. They had 'forgotten' to inform him of the six 'massive'
crosswind line releases of live bacteria, which were conducted in
1968. Even worse, declassified documents revealed that these
experiments were not conducted for any research purposes - they were
instead carried out purely to show off Porton's dubious abilities to
the UK Military!
The 1971 Collaborative UK/US BW Detection Trials -
During November 1971, Lyme Bay and the surrounding countryside
again became the host for Porton's BW experiments, but this time
there was a difference - Porton had invited two guests to
participate in the tests; the US Army and the US Navy! As before,
these experiments were highly classified, but in case the general
public had discovered their existence, the MOD had prepared a Press
Release which stated that no live bacteria were released. The
declassification of the official trials report proved this statement
to have been untrue - the report states that, on a number of
occasions, massive amounts of live bacteria (Bacillus subtilis) were
released.
1975 Joint UK/US BW Detection Trials (DICE Trials) - Little is
known about this series of BW detection experiments, which were
conducted in the Lyme Bay area. It is known that Porton scientists,
in collaboration with US Military scientists, conducted 24 separate
massive crosswind line releases of bacteria (Inactivated Serratia
marcescens - ISM, and live Bacillus subtilis).
Yet again, as
the interview shows, the Ministry of Defence appear to have
'forgotten' to inform Prof Spratt about the existence of a series of
live bacterial releases in populated areas!
The 2001 Royal Mail Sorting Office Experiments - In response to
the 2001 anthrax 'attacks' in the US, BW experiments were conducted
at 3 major UK Royal Mail Sorting Offices which involved the release
of live Bacillus subtilis.
During November 2006, BBC East broadcast a InsideOut 30 minute
special - entitled Clouds of Secrey. This investigated Porton Down's
1960s BW spray 'attacks' on Norfolk (with the city of Norwich as the
main target). It also revealed a recently discovered series of
sprayings, conducted in the Cardington Bedford area in the early
1960s, which involved the use of Porton Down's clandestine spray
vehicle - a specially converted 1 ton Morris van.
Clouds Of Secrecy.
(http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-322022035575322462)
Enabling the UK public to learn more of these past experiments
has become even more important following the 1999
MOD statement, (http://www.nr23.net/govt/images/pdf/DERA%20Trials%20Policy%201999%20001.jpg)
which refused to rule out carrying out further
larger scale trials in the future.
DERA, the MOD agency then responsible for the CBW facility at
Porton Down, stated:
"In the event of a military question arising which could only
be answered by conducting open air trials in areas which may involve
the general public, Ministers have made it clear that they cannot
rule out the need to conduct larger scale trials in the future to
try to ensure the protection of the UK from attacks by peoples of
states using biological or chemical weapons".
During June 2006, in reply to a FOIA request, Dstl Porton Down
confirmed to me that the 1999 statement was still official
Government policy, but that they had not as yet felt the need to
conduct large-scale open air tests.
Until the MOD rescind this policy, we will continue to live with
the knowledge that, should the MOD deem it necessary, Porton Down
will restart their public area spraying programme.
mike kenner
mailto:mjkcjk@beltane.freeserve.co.uk |