List of Rainbow Codes

The Rainbow Codes were a series of code names used to disguise the nature of various British military research projects. They were mainly used by the Ministry of Supply from the end of the Second World War until 1958, when the ministry was broken up and its functions distributed among the forces. The codes were replaced by an alphanumeric code system.

Not to be confused with Rainbow table or Rainbow plan.

History

During WWII, British intelligence was able to glean details of new German technologies simply by considering their code names. For instance, when they began hearing of a new system known as Wotan, Reginald Victor Jones asked around and found that Wotan was a one-eyed god. Based on this, he guessed it was a radio navigation system using a single radio beam. This proved correct, and the Royal Air Force was able to quickly render it useless through jamming.[1]

Looking to avoid making this sort of mistake, Ministry of Supply (MoS) initiated a system that would be entirely random, while still being easy to remember. Each rainbow code name was constructed from a randomly selected colour, plus an (often appropriate) noun taken from a list, for example:

  • "Blue" + "Steel" = Blue Steel, a nuclear-armed stand-off missile
  • "Green" + "Mace" = Green Mace, an anti-aircraft (AA) gun.

While most colour and noun combinations were meaningless, some were real names, although quite unrelated to the project they designated. For example, "Black Maria" is also a name for a police van and the "Red Duster" is a name for the Red Ensign, the flag flown by British merchant ships. Some code names were not assigned through the official system, but created to sound like it. An example is the Blue Yeoman radar, an unofficial name created by combining the names of two other projects, Blue Riband and Orange Yeoman.

The names were mostly dropped with the end of the Ministry in 1959. Its functions were split between the War Office, the Air Ministry - and the newly created Ministry of Aviation for civil aviation. After the reorganization, projects were mostly named with randomly selected codes comprising two letters and three digits, e.g. BL755, WE.177. Rainbow codes have occasionally been used for some modern systems; current examples include the Orange Reaper Electronic Support Measures system and the Blue Vixen radar[2] - most likely because it was a replacement for the Blue Fox radar.

Projects
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Black

Blue
  • Blue Anchor - X-Band CW target illumination radar for Bristol Bloodhound
  • Blue Badger - truck-mounted nuclear land mine - later renamed Violet Mist
  • Blue Bishop - portable 2.5 MW nuclear-powered electrical generator - previously Green Janet
  • Blue Boar - TV-guided bomb[3][4]
  • Blue Boy - VHF speech scrambling
  • Blue Bunny - ten-kiloton nuclear mine, see Blue Peacock
  • Blue Cat - nuclear warhead a.k.a. Tony - UK version of US W44, a.k.a. Tsetse
  • Blue Cedar - AA No. 3 Mk. 7 mobile anti-aircraft radar
  • Blue Danube - the first British nuclear weapon in service
  • Blue Devil - T4 optical bombsight - drift and ground speed from Green Satin
  • Blue Diamond - AA No. 7 anti-aircraft radar
  • Blue Diver - ARI (Airborne Radio Installation) 18075 airborne low-band VHF jammer - against metric frequency radar such as Tall King - fitted to Victor & Vulcan
  • Blue Dolphin - Blue Jay Mk V for Sea Vixen - see Hawker Siddeley Red Top
  • Blue Duck - Anti-Submarine Warfare missile, entered service as Ikara
  • Blue Envoy - surface-to-air missile to OR.1140, replaced Green Sparker as "Stage 2" SAM
  • Blue Fox - kiloton range nuclear weapon, later renamed Indigo Hammer - not to be confused with the later Blue Fox radar
  • Blue Fox - airborne radar
  • Blue Jacket - ARI (Airborne Radio Installation) 5880 airborne Doppler navigation radar fitted to Hawker-Siddeley Buccaneer aircraft.
  • Blue Jay - air-to-air missile - entered service as de Havilland Firestreak
  • Blue Joker - balloon-borne Early Warning radar - a.k.a. AMES Type 87
  • Blue Kestrel - search radar
  • Blue Lagoon - Infra-red air-to-air detector
  • Blue Moon - nuclear-armed cruise missile project, replaced by Blue Streak
  • Blue Oak - AWRE Atlas 2 super-computer used for simulation of nuclear explosions
  • Blue Orchid - Marconi doppler navigation equipment for helicopters
  • Blue Parrot - ARI 5930 I band automatic contour-following radar for Buccaneer - also known as AIRPASS II (AIRPASS=Airborne Interception Radar & Pilot's Attack Sight System)
  • Blue Peacock - ten-kiloton nuclear land mine - also known as Blue Bunny and Brown Bunny; it used the Blue Danube physics package.
  • Blue Ranger - Delivery of Blue Steel to Australia
  • Blue Rapier - Red Rapier - missiles - see UB.109T
  • Blue Riband - large jamming-resistant radar. Cancelled 1958 and replaced by a smaller version as Blue Yeoman.
  • Blue Rosette - short-case nuclear weapon bomb casing for reconnaissance bomber to spec R156T, including the Avro 730, Handley Page HP.100, English Electric P10, Vickers SP4 and others.
  • Blue Saga - ARI 18105 airborne radar warning receiver (RWR) - fitted to Victor & Vulcan
  • Blue Sapphire - astro-navigation system - see also Orange Tartan
  • Blue Shadow - navigation equipment for Canberra B.16, developed as Yellow Aster.
  • Blue Shield - see Armstrong Whitworth Sea Slug
  • Blue Silk - airborne Doppler navigation radar unit with lower speed range than Green Satin
  • Blue Sky - see Fairey Fireflash
  • Blue Slug - heavy ship-to-ship missile using Sea Slug launcher, nuclear or conventional
  • Blue Star - satellite launcher - see Black Prince
  • Blue Steel - an air-launched rocket propelled nuclear stand-off missile
  • Blue Stone - Unit 386D ENI (Electronic Neutron Initiator) - nuclear weapon component
  • Blue Streak - a medium-range ballistic missile
  • Blue Study - automatic blind bombing system for V-bombers
  • Blue Sugar - air-droppable target marking radio beacon developed by TRE.[5]
  • Blue Vesta - a later version of the Blue Jay air-to-air missile
  • Blue Vixen - Pulse-Doppler radar for Sea Harrier FA2
  • Blue Warrior (EW) VHF/UHF Jammer countermeasure to use of Radar AA Shells
  • Blue Water - see Red Rose
  • Blue Yeoman - Early Warning radar, also known as AMES Type 85, a component Linesman. Name created from the "Blue" of Blue Riband and the Yeoman of Orange Yeoman. Potentially non-official name.

Brown

Green
  • Green Apple - related to Window for measuring drift at sea
  • Green Archer - mortar-locating radar
  • Green Bamboo - nuclear weapon[6]
  • Green Bottle - 1944 device for homing on U-boat radio signals (ARI.5574)
  • Green Cheese - nuclear anti-ship missile[7]
  • Green Flash - Green Cheese’s replacement
  • Green Flax - Surface-to-Air Guided Weapon (SAGW) or surface-to-air missile (SAM); see Yellow Temple
  • Green Garland - infrared proximity fuze for Red Top
  • Green Garlic - Early Warning radar, also known as the AMES Type 80
  • Green Ginger - surveillance radars - combined installation of AMES Type 88 and AMES Type 89
  • Green Granite - thermonuclear warheads: Green Granite (small), and Green Granite (large), both tested at Operation Grapple
  • Green Grass - nuclear warhead for Violet Club and Yellow Sun Mark 1 bombs
  • Green Hammock - low-altitude bomber, Doppler navigation
  • Green Janet - portable, nuclear power plant; see Blue Bishop
  • Green Light - SAGW or SAM - see Short Sea Cat[8]
  • Green Lizard - tube-launched SAM with variable geometry wings
  • Green Mace - 5-inch rapid firing anti-aircraft gun[9]
  • Green Minnow - Radiometer imager
  • Green Palm - airborne VHF voice channel jammer with four pre-set channels, replaced in the Vulcan B2 by the I band jammer
  • Green Salad - Wide-band VHF Homing equipment for the Avro Shackleton.
  • Green Satin - airborne Doppler navigation radar unit
  • Green Sparkler - advanced SAM for the "Stage 2" program, became Blue Envoy
  • Green Thistle - Infra-red homing system based on the German wartime Kielgerät
  • Green Walnut - blind bombing equipment
  • Green Water - pilotless interceptor/SAGW
  • Green Willow - EKCO AI Mk. 20 Fire Control radar, backup to ARI.5897 AI Mk. 23 Airborne Interception radar for the English Electric P.1 fighter
  • Green Wizard - instrument for calibrating anti-aircraft guns by measuring their muzzle velocity

Indigo
  • Indigo Bracket - S-band radar jamming system
  • Indigo Corkscrew - continuous wave radar, used with the Bristol Bloodhound and English Electric Thunderbird SAMs
  • Indigo Hammer, formerly Blue Fox - nuclear weapon

Jade

Orange
  • Orange Blossom - Probably a deliberate mis-identification of the Orange Crop pods fitted to 1312 Flight Hercules aircraft, (Pod-mounted electronic support measures used on the Hercules - maybe).
  • Orange Cocktail - Experimental homing radar weapon from 1950s
  • Orange Crop - Racal MIR 2 ESM system for Royal Navy Lynx helicopters and some Royal Air Force Hercules aircraft.
  • Orange Harvest - S and X band warning receiver fitted to Shackletons
  • Orange Herald - nuclear weapon
  • Orange Nell - SAGW - surface-to-air missile
  • Orange Pippin - Ferranti, anti-aircraft, fire-control radar
  • Orange Poodle - low altitude, OTHR (Over-the-Horizon) early-warning radar - abandoned
  • Orange Putter - Tail Warning radar fitted to Canberra and Valiant
  • Orange Reaper - Electronic Support Measures system for Royal Navy Merlin helicopters
  • Orange Tartan - 'Auto-Astro' automated star navigation system (day) - see also Blue Sapphire (night).[10]
  • Orange Toffee - radar for Blue Envoy
  • Orange William - Swingfire, anti-tank missile
  • Orange Yeoman - Early Warning radar & guidance for Bristol Bloodhound SAGW - a.k.a. AMES Type 82

Pink
  • Pink Hawk - early name for Fairey Fireflash missile. As this was a "reduced" version of the Red Hawk, it is a rare example of Rainbow Codes having some implied meaning, rather than their usual purely deliberately meaningless choice.

Purple

Red
  • Red Angel - air-launched anti-ship weapon or "special bomb"[11]
  • Red Beard - nuclear weapon
  • Red Brick - Experimental continuous-wave target illuminating radar
  • Red Cabbage - Naval radar[12]
  • Red Carpet - X-band radar jammer[12]
  • Red Cat - Air-launched nuclear stand-off missile cancelled 11/54.[12]
  • Red Cheeks - inertially guided bomb[12] based on the work of Tubby Vielle
  • Red Dean - large air-to-air missile
  • Red Drover - airborne radar - see Avro 730
  • Red Duster - Bristol Bloodhound surface-to-air missile
  • Red Eye - An American general-purpose infra-red homing missile
  • Red Flag - free-fall nuclear bomb - 'Improved Kiloton Bomb' - WE.177
  • Red Flannel - experimental Q band H2S
  • Red Garter - Tail warning radar for the Vulcan, did not enter service
  • Red Hawk - large missile "downrated" to give Blue Sky
  • Red Heathen - early SAM project, became Red Shoes and Red Duster[13]
  • Red Hebe - air-to-air missile, a replacement for Red Dean
  • Red Light - X band jammer for V Bombers, entered service as ARI 18146
  • Red Queen - two-barrel revolver cannon, later developed into single-barrel Red Queen
  • Red Neck - airborne side-looking radar (SLAR), tested on the Victor a 40 foot long aerial under each wing. Flexing in flight corrupted the resolution. Cancelled 1962.[14]
  • Red Queen - rapid fire 42 mm revolver cannon anti-aircraft gun[15][16]

Violet

Yellow
  • Yellow Anvil - nuclear artillery shell warhead
  • Yellow Aster - H2S Mk 9A bombing radar, fitted to V bombers
  • Yellow Barley - radar warning receiver
  • Yellow Duckling - infra-red submarine detector
  • Yellow Feather - missile seeker
  • Yellow Gate - Loral ESM for E-3D Sentry and Nimrod MR.2
  • Yellow Jack - Orange Pippin's radar component
  • Yellow Lemon - Doppler-navigation system for naval aircraft. Valve-based precursor to the transistorised Blue Jacket.[19]
  • Yellow River - mobile tactical control radar for Bristol Bloodhound - a.k.a. AMES Type 83
  • Yellow Sand - anti-ship missile, possibly a precursor to Green Cheese
  • Yellow Sun - nuclear weapon casing
  • Yellow Temple - nuclear-armed SAGW development of Red Shoes
  • Yellow Tiger - Target illuminating radar used with the Thunderbird missile.
  • Yellow Veil - ALQ-167 pod for Royal Navy Lynx.

Non-Rainbow codes

Several British military related terms have a similar "colour" format to Rainbow Codes, but are not since they do not refer to classified research projects, and some names have been used unofficially. These include:

  • Black Banana - unofficial nickname for the Blackburn Buccaneer, originally named the Blackburn ANA (Blackburn Advanced Naval Aircraft).
  • Blue Circle - sardonic name for concrete ballast for Buccaneer while awaiting Blue Parrot radar. Also used for Sea Harrier ballast in place of Blue Fox radar, and Tornado F.2 ballast. From the Blue Circle cement company.
  • Blue Eric - improvised I band ECM jammer against the Fledermaus gun control radar during the Falklands War. Installed in the Harrier GR.3's starboard 30mm gun pod.[20][21]
  • Blue Yeoman - unofficial name for an experimental radar made from components of the Blue Riband and Orange Yeoman
  • Green Goddess - colloquial name for Civil Defence fire pump
  • Green Meat - a 'spoof' SAM programme reported in the 1976 RAF Yearbook[22]
  • Green Parrot - unconfirmed low yield nuclear weapon mentioned in a 1981 New Statesman article by Duncan Campbell[23] who later claimed that it was "probably" a copy of the US B57 nuclear bomb.[24] The WE.177 has incorrectly been referred to as the Green Parrot by some authors. However Green Parrot was a NATO codename for the Soviet PFM-1 anti-infantry mine. Green Parrot was also the term for an admiral's barge, traditionally with a green-painted hull.
  • Green Porridge - RAF aircrew nickname for green-tinted H2S bombing radar display PPI image in Valiant, Victor & Vulcan
  • Red Arrows - RAF display team
  • Red Devils - Parachute Regiment display team
  • Red Slab - joke name for a large ballast weight replacing the nose radar in Avro Vulcan XH558 in its return to flight as a civil display aircraft.
  • Violet Fire - Ultraviolet light fire detection system for Concorde engine bays.[25]
  • Yellow Hammer (also Yellowhammer): The contingency plans for a no-deal Brexit

See also

References
Notes
  1. Jones, R (1978). Most Secret War. London: Hamish Hamilton Ltd. p. 120. ISBN 0-241-89746-7.
  2. "Blue Vixen radar (United Kingdom), AIRBORNE RADAR SYSTEMS". Jane's Avionics. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 April 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Aviation Book Review". Aeroflight.co.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  5. "Vulcan's Hammer". Crecy.co.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  6. PRO. AVIA 65/1193 E10A. Tech Note GW375 p.2
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 September 2005. Retrieved 2005-11-07.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. Cullen, Tony & Foss, Christopher F. (1991) Jane’s Land-Based Air Defence 1990–91, Jane’s Information Group, London: ISBN 0-7106-0915-9
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-22.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. Crecy Publishing Ltd. "Vulcan's Hammer". Crecy.co.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  11. British Secret Projects: Jet Bombers Since 1949 Tony Buttler Midland Publishing 2003
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "1959 | 2460 | Flight Archive". Flightglobal.com. 25 September 1959. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  14. The Handley Page Victor, Roger R Brooks, 2007, Pen & Sword Books Limited, ISBN 978 1 84415 411 1 p.197
  15. Anthony G Williams (13 May 2011). "THE RED QUEEN AND THE VIGILANTE". Quarryhs.co.uk. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  16. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-30.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. Jobson P. (2008) Royal Artillery Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations, The History Press, Stroud: 316 pp.
  18. "Airborne DF has existed for over 50 years". PPRuNe - Professional Pilots Rumour Network. 22 September 2010.
  19. Forster, Dave (2016). Black Box Canberras. Hinoki. pp. 210, 249. ISBN 1902109538.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  20. "Falklands 25". Fast Air Photography.
  21. Morgan, David (2012). Hostile Skies. Hachette. p. 165. ISBN 1780225008.
  22. "Royal Air Force Yearbook 1976". Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  23. Campbell, Duncan (17 April 1981). "The Wings of the Green Parrot". New Statesman. p. 9.
  24. Duncan Campbell (1986). The Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier: American Military Power in Britain. Paladin Grafton Books. p. 104.
  25. Davis, R.A. (1993). "Concorde Power Plant Fire Protection System". Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology. 43 (5): 26–30.
Bibliography
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