Download this summary catalogue (PDF) ›MENAUL, AVM Stewart William Blacker (1915-1987)

Identity statement

Reference code(s)

GB0099 KCLMA Menaul

Title

MENAUL, AVM Stewart William Blacker (1915-1987)

Date(s)

Created 1950-1987

Level of description

collection level

Extent and medium of the unit of description (quantity, bulk, or size)

110 boxes or 1.1 cubic metres

Context

Administrative / Biographical history

Born in 1915; educated at RAF College, Cranwell; served with Bomber Command Squadrons, 1936-1939; served with No 21 Sqn, 1939-1940; Flying Instructor, 1940-1941; served with No 15 Sqn, 1941-1942, Air Staff, No 3 Gp, Bomber Command, 1943, and Pathfinder Force, 1943-1945; attended RAF Staff College, 1946; posted to Air Ministry, 1947-1949; attended Imperial Defence College, 1950-1951; Deputy Director of Operations, Air Ministry, 1951-1954; attended US nuclear tests in Nevada, USA, 1955; commanded British Atomic Trials Task Forces, Monte Bello and Maralinga, Australia, 1955-1956; Commanding Officer, Bombing School, Lindholme, 1957-1958; Air Officer Administration, Aden, 1959-1960; Senior Air Staff Officer, HQ Bomber Command, 1961-1965;Commandant, Joint Services Staff College, 1965-1967; Director General, Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies (formerly Royal United Service Institution), 1968-1976; defence consultant, 1976-1987; published Countdown: Britain's strategic nuclear forces (Hale, London, 1980); died in 1987.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Presented to the Centre by the family in 1987.

Content & structure

Scope and content

Papers collected or created by Menaul, 1950-1986, principally comprising journal articles, press cuttings, US and UK government and defence industry press releases and public relations pamphlets relating to nuclear weapons, 1962-1985, including the politics and doctrine of nuclear strategy and deterrence, Cruise, Pershing and Polaris missiles, and the research and development of nuclear delivery systems; to arms control, 1973-1985, including the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties (SALT) 1 and 2; to ballistic missile defence, 1974-1986, including anti-satellite weapons and the High Frontier and High Frontier Europe organisations; to US, Soviet and European space programmes, 1976-1986; to land, sea and air weapons systems and warfare, 1973-1984; to defence budgets and arms procurement, the international arms industry, global strategy, collective security and NATO strategy, 1967-1986; to military technology, 1967-1986, including the comparative capabilities of Western and Soviet technology, chemical and biological warfare, electronic warfare, and the military uses of lasers and radar; to the study and history of warfare, 1970-1984, including the principles and morality of warfare and the history of the RAF; to national and international defence issues, multilateral agreements and military actions, 1969-1986; manuscript, proof, reviews and correspondence relating to Countdown: Britain's strategic nuclear forces (Hale, London, 1980), [1976-1981]; unpublished manuscripts by Menaul, 1969, [1972], [1978-1979], 1987; audiocassette recordings of radio interviews with Menaul, 1979-[1983]; copies of journals to which Menaul contributed, 1969-1985; papers relating to or generated by organisations and companies of which Menaul was a member or with which he was associated, 1966-1985, including Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies (formerly Royal United Service Institution), Centre for Policy Studies, Stanford Research Institute and Hughes Aircraft Company; correspondence and published papers relating to conferences on foreign policy and defence issues, 1970-1986; personal and business correspondence, 1956-1987, notably with Gen Sir Walter Walker, 1968-1987, Foreign Affairs Research Institute, 1976-1984, and Aims for Freedom and Enterprise, 1976-1986; personal papers, 1950-1959, 1971, 1973, [1978-1987], including newspaper cuttings relating to Menaul's RAF career, 1950-1959, notably his command of the British Atomic Trials Task Forces, Monte Bello and Maralinga, Australia, 1955-1956.

System of arrangement

Arranged in the following sections: nuclear weapons; arms control; ballistic missile defence; space; defence; study and history of warfare; national and international defence issues; texts; organisations; conferences; personal papers.

Conditions of access & use

Conditions governing access

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.

Please note: One file in section 6 is closed.

Conditions governing reproduction

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archive Services.

Language/scripts of material

Mainly English, but some German and Spanish

Finding aids

This Summary Guide and detailed catalogue available online and also in hard copy in the Centre's reading room.

Allied materials

Existence and location of originals

King's College London College Archives

Notes

Note

Compiled Apr 1997

Description control

Rules or conventions

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.

This catalogue is made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License. This catalogue may be updated from time to time in order to reflect additional material and/or new understandings of the material.