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Hugh Grainger visited once more and entertained the meeting with a fascinating and informative talk on the inventor Barnes Wallis.
We heard that he was obliged to leave school without obtaining any formal qualifications because of the down turn in family fortunes. He went into an apprenticeship to become a draughtsman which eventually led him to Vickers where he was involved in early airship design.
After mixed fortunes during the first world war he eventually became involved in the design and creation of the R100 airship having first managed to gain a University of London external engineering degree in six months.
After the successful proving flight of the R100 he turned his attention to aeroplane design and produced the Wellington bomber. He also had ideas for a large six engined bomber capable of carrying a large single bomb.
During the Second World War he was involved in many projects aimed at bringing victory for the allies. Probably the one most people are aware of was the bouncing bomb which was used to destroy Rhur valley dams but there were many others including the 5 and 10 ton "earthquake" bombs which destroyed roads, bridges, canals, E-boat pens, heavily protected U-boat pens, the V bomb launching sites and the last two battleships in the German navy. Apart from these he also devised a way of destroying the magnetic mines which became a problem.
In his talk Mr Grainger emphasised that, although in his opinion, Wallis did more than any other single person to help gain the final victory, his accomplishments were never fully recognised by the authorities. Even Churchill never mentioned him in his History of the Second World War.
After the war he worked on the design for a revolutionary swing delta wing aircraft but never put his designs into practice. He also designed a nuclear powered submarine cargo vessel which would have carried large amounts of materials across the world without the worries of weather nor of enemy attacks in wartime.
He was finally awarded a knighthood when he was eighty years old after the scientific world had awarded him a range of honours.
This was the last meeting for the current year. The next will be after the A.G.M. in October and the programme will be posted as soon as it has been finalised.
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