Sir Barnes Wallis

SIR BARNES NEVILLE WALLIS CBE, FRS, RDI, FRAeS: A brilliant Engineer, he turned his hand to the design and development of innumerable engineering solutions. Probably his most famous achievements were the development of the 'bouncing bomb' used in the Second World War 'Dambusters' raids and the apparently simple, but nonetheless very effective geodetic structural frame for aircraft.

I visited Herne Bay in 2009 and was delighted to discover a memorial to Sir Barnes, Museum and Library displays and the actual section of coastline used to test the prototype 'bouncing bomb' designs.

HERNE BAY & RECULVER: Located in the south west of England near the city of Canterbury, Herne Bay, or more specifically 'Reculver' a resort coastline 2km east of Herne Bay, played a pivotal role in the development of the 'bouncing bomb'. The Reculver shoreline was used in 1943 by the RAF '617 Squadron' (the Dambusters) to practice dropping the 'bouncing bombs' at critical height and speed above the water. The foreshore allowed recovery of the various bomb casement designs to perfect the final casement construction.


CLOSE UP OF STATUE	HERNE BAY PLAQUE	'BARNES' OVERLOOKS RECULVER


'CHURCH OF RECULVERS' TOWERS	RECULVER COASTLINE

HERNE BAY MUSEUM: The remnants of a prototype 'highball' bouncing bomb, recovered from the local seabed in 1997 are on display in the Museum. This prototype is a smaller version of the 'upkeep' bouncing bomb used on the actual Dambusters Raid. The 'highball' was filled with a mixture of chalk and cement to simulate the weight of the real explosives for testing purposes.


HEAVILY CORRODED PROTOTYPE 'HIGHBALL' BOUNCING BOMB

HERNE BAY LIBRARY: Somehow I timed it just right, the Herne Bay Library had a display of various newspaper clippings, photographs and books allied to Sir Barnes Wallis and the Dambusters, during my visit. Once again thankyou to the Library staff for granting me permission to photograph the displays.


LIBRARY DISPLAY	SOME OF THE BOOKS COVERING THE DAMBUSTERS RAID

GEODETIC DESIGN & TALLBOY BOMB: Brooklands Museum, located near London has a Vickers Wellington Bomber on display clearly showing Sir Barnes Wallis unique 'geodetic airframe' and his 'tallboy bomb' designs.


WELLINGTON BOMBER 'GEODETIC' AIRFRAME	TALLBOY BOMB

I LOVE NEW TECHNOLOGY, TABLETS, LAPTOPS, DIGITAL CAMERAS, MOBILE PHONES/WIRELESS BROADBAND, GPS, ETC. ALL SO COOL AND 'PORTABLE'......