Sir Barnes Wallis

British military engineer

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Born:: Sept. 26, 1887

Died:: Oct. 30, 1979, Leatherhead, Surrey, Eng. (aged 92)

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Sir Barnes Wallis (born Sept. 26, 1887—died Oct. 30, 1979, Leatherhead, Surrey, Eng.) was a British aeronautical designer and military engineer who invented the innovative “dambuster” bombs used in World War II.

Wallis trained as a marine engineer before joining the airship (dirigible) department of Vickers Ltd. in 1913 as a designer. Eventually turning to aircraft, he employed his geodetic system in the Royal Air Force’s (RAF’s) Wellington bomber in World War II. His researches into detonation effects led to his inventing the rotating bouncing bomb that, when dropped from an aircraft, skipped over the water and exploded while sinking to the base of the retaining wall of a dam. This type of bomb, used during World War II by the RAF on the Möhne and Eder dams in Germany’s industrial Ruhr area, produced heavy floods that slowed industrial production.

Wallis produced not only the dambuster bombs but also the 12,000-pound “Tallboy” and the 22,000-pound “Grand Slam” bombs. He was also responsible for the bombs that destroyed the German warship Tirpitz, the V-rocket sites, and much of Germany’s railway system. Wallis was chief of aeronautical research and development at the British Aircraft Corporation at Weybridge, Surrey, from 1945 to 1971. In 1971 he designed an aircraft that could fly five times the speed of sound and needed a runway only 300 yards (275 metres) long; however, it was never built. He became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1954 and was knighted in 1968.

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The Dam Busters

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The Dam Busters

film by Anderson [1955]

Written by Lee Pfeiffer

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The Dam Busters, British World War II film, released in 1955, that chronicles the preparations for and the execution of Operation Chastise (May 16–17, 1943), in which a British air squadron used bouncing bombs to destroy hydroelectric dams that were vital to Germany’s production of war matériel.

Barnes Wallis (played by Michael Redgrave) had an unorthodox idea for attacking Germany’s heavy industrial capacity: destroy German dams in the Ruhr valley with his innovative bouncing bombs, or “dambusters.” Dangerously low-flying aircraft would be needed to deliver the bombs, which would skip across the water to their targets, sink to the base of the dams, and explode, wreaking havoc on the surrounding area. The preponderance of the film depicts the two years spent developing the explosives and training the pilots of the Royal Air Force’s 617 Squadron, which was assigned the mission. The actual operation was one of the most harrowing of the war. Of the 133 men who took part, 53 were killed, and 3 were captured after bailing out of their aircraft. Though the Germans quickly repaired the dams, the impact of the raid was significant.

The Dam Busters had a cast of British actors who conveyed the tension and high stakes surrounding the mission; Robert Shaw appeared in an early role. The film was also noted for R.C. Sherriff’s script. Some American versions of the movie were cut by as much as 15 minutes.