920M - and also the Argus 200 / 700

[erik at baigar.de]

Hi Jos!

> in the UK around 1960 the Argus 200 was developed to control the Bristol
> Bloodhound anti-aircraft rocket. This computer was one of the very first
> transistor-based control computers.

Absolutely - in these days Ferranti and Elliott where competitors on
the European market for defecne computing! Very funny, that they later 
merged and today the legacy of both is distributed in the BAe and 
Leonardo businesses ;-)

There are quite interesting stories, on occasions when the two had to 
cooperate before merging and in the ELDO project mentioned in my video,
the computer was from Elliotts whereas the inertial sensor was from
Ferranti (https://youtu.be/v-gF5g0nnoE?t=363).

> In Switzerland the Bloodhound was on duty  until 1999 ! One of the sites,
> once top secret,  is now a museum, and well worth a visit. 
> Check out https://www.museums.ch/org/de/Bloodhound-Lenkwaffenstellung

Definitively worth a visit! I am also into the Ferranti navigation systems 
from the 1970ties (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EQqfxiGgd8) and since 
years I am trying to find out, what architecture its 32 bit computer is. 
Here I booked an extensive special tour and the team on mount Gubel organized
some experts to join the tour - although I learned that the INS computer
is not related to the Argus series, the visit was AMAZING!

Also great there to see the technology of the almost Mach3 missile from
the 1950ties.

   Erik.