pp5749e449.png
ppfd6bd294.png
pp934013c3.png
pp16cb9e8d.png
pp5533b116.gif
pp1577af09.png
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp80dc9a57.png
ppba06d504.png
pp5533b116.gif
pp6c9646a6.png
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp26321739.png
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp1594769e.png
pp5533b116.gif
12th November 2010
Engineers & Engineering
pp1a698a28.png
Barnes Wallis   1887 - 1979
img72.gif
img126.gif
img132.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp83c5068d.png
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp0f5e508e.png
img72.gif
img126.gif
img132.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
pp5533b116.gif
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, more usually known as ‘Barnes Wallis’, was born in Ripley,  Derbyshire in 1887.  He is most famously known as the man who in World War II designed the famous bouncing bomb used in 1943.   Originally trained as a marine engineer he joined the engineering company,
Vickers, in 1913 and worked with them until his retirement in 1971.  In a more peaceful vein Wallis made significant contributions to the development of airship designs include the first application of geodetic principles in the
pp5533b116.gif
pp775d2487_1b.jpg
ppb3fb7034_1b.jpg
Tallboy
ppa6589109.gif
design of airships.  He designed the R80 and the R100 airships which although unlike any other airships  were scrapped for political reasons within months of their launch.  After this disappointment, Barnes Wallis moved to aeroplane design in which he again applied his revolutionary geodetic principles in  designing the Wellesley and the Wellington bomber aircraft in 1936.  His unique design enabled the Wellington aircraft to carry double the required load  for over twice the distance agreed on the initial contract specification.  The Wellington had one of the most robust airframes ever developed.
In the early 1940s Barnes Wallis developed the area of swing-wing geometry for aircraft and had in mind an aircraft that would make the return Europe to Australia flight in less than 10 hours.  His first models were made
ppf3df435a.png
under the project “Wildgoose” which developed further into the “Swallow” craft (1950s).  These concept were abandoned by Vickers and the Uk Government  gave the research to the USA military for further development.   From these early beginnings were to come aircraft such as the TomCat.  
ppe5fa94a8.png
ppd4f8a4b2.png
Wallis’s designs were ahead of their time and the variable geometry craft may well be the way in which variable ranges of speeds and subsequent efficient flight over this range - will be developed.  It should be remembered that Wallis was working some 60 or more years ago on these ideas !
In Barnes Wallis’s words; “And so five of my team and I flew out to Langley Field but unfortunately we overdid it. We convinced the Americans too sincerely that this was a great idea and so they decided to take it up for themselves instead of paying us a grant to do it in England".
pp125124aa.gif
pp6dd70cb3.gif
ppa82daa93.png
ppbc02473f.png
pp5533b116.gif
pp8dd41b0f.png