Grammar school boys locate Russian space base

Dec. 12, 1966 - Grammar School Boys Locate Site Of Secret Russian Space Base: With the aid of classroom equipment and a borrowed tape recorder, a group of grammar school boys have discovered the site of a new Soviet satellite-launching base. The site may also be used to fire long-range anti-missile missiles. The boys, aged from 13 to 17, are members of the fifth and sixth forms at Kettering Grammar School, Northants. The man in charge of the boys, physics master, Geoffrey Perry, says the boys got their first clue of a new launching site - now believed to be not far from Archangel - when tracking a Russian spy satellite on a 72-degree orbit instead of the usual 65 degrees. They have been tracking Russian spacecraft - by listening a to their radio signals - since 1959. With their borrowed radio set, the boys tracked four Cosmos Satellites and Mr. Perry worked out a computer programme as they bleeped round the world. When this was fed into a computer at a research laboratory, it revealed that the new orbits probably originated from a spot near the Arctic Circle. Photo shows A group of four boys seen working with an old surplus radio set which was used in the discovery and which is worth about 15. (L to R); Michael Sinnett, 16, Richard Jahn, 17, Robert Christy, 16, and Phillip Gregory, 17

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