THE HIGH ALTITUDE RESEARCH PROJECT (HARP) gun may boom again.
Sources have revealed that the Barbados Tourism Product Authority (BTPA) – the agency charged with developing the island’s tourism products – is examining the feasibility of restoring the almost 50-year-old aeronautical weapon that once signalled Barbados’ entry into the space race.
The HARP gun, with its main cannon boasting a 16-inch bore, was used to shoot meteorological instruments into the atmosphere. Three hundred pounds of cordite boosted ‘The Martlets’, as the projectiles were called, to study wind patterns, meteorites and other features.
Since the project was halted in the early 1970s and its originator, Canadian scientist Dr Gerald Bull, left the island for more accommodating countries, the massive weapons left at Paragon, Christ Church, have become rusted hulks, hinting at their grandeur and former power. (HLE)
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