Barnes Wallis

Wallis first met his future wife, Molly Bloxam during a family tea party. The two hit it off instantly. Though Bloxam’s father forbade her from courting Wallis, the two remained in touch through letters. The couple soon became inseparable. They tied the nuptials on April 23, 1925.

The couple was blessed with four children, Barnes, Mary, Elisabeth and Christopher. Additionally, they adopted Molly’s sister’s children after they became orphans.

He breathed his last on October 30, 1979, in Effingham, Surrey, England. He was buried at the local St Lawrence Church.

Barnes Wallis was born on September 26, 1887 in Ripley, Derbyshire to Charles Wallis and Edith Ashby. He was the second of the four children born to the couple.

When young Wallis turned two, the family moved to New Cross Road in London where his father practiced as a doctor. In 1893, he contracted poliomyelitis, a fatal disease that left him crippled.

Since a young age, Wallis was interested in creating things. Along with his brother, he made paper toys for his little sister at their workshop.

Academically brilliant, he received his education from Christ’s Hospital school. At the school Wallis developed an affinity for mathematics and science, and decided to become an engineer.

Upon leaving school in 1905, Wallis commenced his career for Thames Engineering Works, a ship engine building firm. He apprenticed there until 1908.

In 1908, he joined John Samuel White’s shipyard in the Isle of Wight as a marine engineer. Ambitious and futuristic, Wallis left his job in 1913 and instead found employment at Vickers, a company that dealt with airship and aircraft development.

Trained as a marine engineer, Wallis knew nothing about airships and air travel. Despite being ignorant, he soon equipped himself with knowledge about airships and air travel. Meanwhile, in 1922, he took a degree in engineering via the University of London External Programme.

When World War I broke out, Wallis was briefly unemployed as Admiralty refused expending money on airship development. He decided to serve the army but was recalled by Vicker’s airship development team

In 1930, Wallis involved himself in the development of R100. His career feat of this time includes the first use of geodetic design in engineering and in gasbag wiring. He helped in the building of the then largest airship ever designed. He also assisted John Edwin in the structural designing of R100.

The highpoint of Wallis’ career came with the invention of the bouncing bomb, named Upkeep, which was used by Royal Air Force, during the Dambuster raid of May 1943. Named Operation Chastise, Wallis’ bouncing bomb was used to attack the dam of Mohne, Eder and Sorpe in the Ruhr area during World War II. He believed that by breaching the dam wall they would destroy Nazi Germany’s industrial base and thus disrupt the latter’s war schemes.