Sir Barnes Neville Wallis (26 September 1887 – 30 October 1979) was an English engineer and inventor. He is best known for creating the bouncing bomb used by the Royal Air Force in Operation Chastise (the "Dambusters" raid) to attack the dams of the Ruhr Valley during World War II.

The raid was the subject of a 1955 film titled The Dam Busters, in which Wallis was portrayed by actor Michael Redgrave. Among his other inventions were his design of the geodetic airframe and the earthquake bomb, including models such as the Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs.

Early life and education

Barnes Wallis was born in Ripley, Derbyshire, to Charles George Wallis (1859–1945), a general practitioner, and his wife, Edith Eyre (1859–1911), who was the daughter of Rev. John Ashby. After Charles Wallis became unable to walk due to polio in 1893, the Wallis family moved to New Cross, south London, where they lived with limited financial resources but maintained a respectful lifestyle. Barnes attended Christ's Hospital in Horsham and Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham Boys' Grammar School in southeast London. He left school at seventeen and began working in January 1905 at Thames Engineering Works in Blackheath, southeast London. Later, he changed his training to work with J. Samuel White, a shipbuilding company located in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. He originally studied to become a marine engineer and earned an engineering degree in 1922 through the University of London's distance learning program.

Aircraft and geodetic construction

In 1913, Wallis left J. Samuel White's company to become an aircraft designer. He first worked on airships and later on airplanes. He joined Vickers, which later became part of Vickers-Armstrongs and then the British Aircraft Corporation. He worked for Vickers until his retirement in 1971. At Vickers, he helped design the Admiralty's first rigid airship, HMA No. 9r, under H. B. Pratt. He assisted with the airship’s long development process, which faced political challenges that caused delays. His first airship of his own design, the R80, included many new technical features and flew in 1920.

By 1930, Wallis had developed a new type of construction called geodesic design, which he used for the gasbag framing of the R100, the airship for which he is best known. He also worked with John Edwin Temple to use light alloy materials and advanced engineering techniques in the R100’s structure. Nevil Shute Norway, who later became a writer under the name Nevil Shute, was the chief calculator for the project. He calculated the stresses on the airship’s frame.

Although the R100 performed well and returned successfully to Canada in 1930, it was later dismantled after its sister ship, the R101, crashed near Beauvais, France. The R101 was designed and built by a team from the Air Ministry. The later crash of the Hindenburg led to the end of airships as a way to transport large numbers of people.

At the time of the R101 crash, Wallis was working at the Vickers aircraft factory near the Brooklands motor circuit and aerodrome in Surrey. Several pre-war aircraft designs, including the Wellesley, Wellington, Warwick, and Windsor, used Wallis’s geodesic design in their fuselage and wing structures.

The Wellington had one of the strongest airframes ever created. Pictures of its skeleton, even after parts were damaged, still show how sturdy it was. The geodesic design made the airframe both light and strong compared to other designs. It also created clear spaces inside for fuel tanks and cargo. However, this technique was difficult for other manufacturers to copy, and Vickers could not easily build other designs in factories set up for geodesic work.

Bombs

When World War II began in Europe in 1939, Wallis recognized the importance of strategic bombing to weaken the enemy’s ability to fight. He wrote a paper titled "A Note on a Method of Attacking the Axis Powers." In this paper, he stated (as Axiom 3): "If the enemy’s supplies of power can be destroyed or stopped, it would make them unable to continue fighting." To achieve this, he proposed using very large bombs that could focus their force on targets that were hard to reach. His first design for a super-large bomb weighed about ten tons, which was far heavier than any bomber at the time could carry. Instead of giving up, Wallis suggested creating a new plane to carry the bomb—the "Victory Bomber."

In early 1942, Wallis tested ideas by rolling marbles over water in his garden. This led to his paper "Spherical Bomb – Surface Torpedo" in April 1942. The idea was to create a bomb that could skip across water, avoiding torpedo nets, and then sink near a battleship or dam wall as a depth charge. The force of the explosion would be focused on the target because the water would help concentrate it.

A key improvement was spinning the bomb. The direction of the spin affected how far the bomb could bounce. George Edwards, a Vickers designer and cricketer, suggested using backspin instead of top-spin based on his experience with cricket. This spin helped the bomb stay behind the dropping aircraft, reducing the risk of the plane being damaged by the explosion. It also increased the bomb’s range and kept it from drifting away from the target as it sank. After some doubt, the Air Force approved Wallis’s bouncing bomb, called "Upkeep," for attacks on the Möhne, Eder, and Sorpe dams in the Ruhr area.

The attack on these dams in May 1943 (Operation Chastise) was later described in a 1951 book titled The Dam Busters and a 1955 film with the same name. The Möhne and Eder dams were destroyed, damaging German factories and cutting off hydro-electric power.

After the success of the bouncing bomb, Wallis returned to his work on large bombs. He created the Tallboy (6 tons) and Grand Slam (10 tons) deep-penetration earthquake bombs. These were different from the 5-ton "blockbuster" bomb, which was a regular blast bomb. Although no aircraft could carry these bombs to their ideal release height, they could be dropped from lower altitudes. They would enter the ground at supersonic speed, dig 20 meters (66 feet) deep, and then explode. These bombs were used against important German targets, such as V-2 rocket launch sites, the V-3 supergun bunker, submarine pens, reinforced buildings, large bridges, and the battleship Tirpitz. They were early examples of bunker-busting bombs.

Post-war research

After the Vickers factory was heavily damaged by bombing in September 1940, the Design Office moved from Brooklands to the nearby Burhill Golf Club in Hersham. In November 1945, Wallis returned to Brooklands as head of the Vickers-Armstrongs Research & Development Department, which was located in the 1907 clubhouse of the former motor circuit. At Brooklands, he and his team worked on advanced aerospace projects, such as supersonic flight and "swing-wing" technology, which later appeared in aircraft like the Panavia Tornado. After the high number of deaths during the Dambusters raid, Wallis focused on protecting test pilots by testing his designs in models rather than risking human lives. This work made him a pioneer in controlling aircraft remotely.

By 1948, a large facility called the Stratosphere Chamber (1,814.7 square meters) was built next to the clubhouse. It was the largest of its kind in the world and became a key place for research during the 1950s and 1960s, including studies on supersonic flight that helped design the Concorde. The Stratosphere Chamber closed in 1980 but was restored in 2013 with funding from the AIM-Biffa fund. It was reopened on March 13, 2014, by Mary Stopes-Roe, Wallis’s daughter.

Wallis played a major role in making swing-wing technology functional, even though he did not invent the idea. He designed the wing-controlled aerodyne, a plane controlled only by wing movement. In the late 1940s, he created the Wild Goose, which used laminar flow, and worked on the Green Lizard cruise missile and the Heston JC.9 experimental plane. The Swallow, a supersonic version of the Wild Goose, was developed in the mid-1950s and could have been used for military or civilian purposes. Both the Wild Goose and Swallow were tested as large models at Predannack in Cornwall. Despite promising results, these designs were not adopted. Government funding for the Swallow ended in 1957 after budget cuts, though Vickers continued some tests with support from the RAE.

Wallis tried to get American funding by starting a joint NASA-Vickers study. NASA found issues with the Swallow’s design and decided to use a traditional tail, which influenced later projects like the F-111. In the UK, Vickers proposed a wing-controlled aerodyne for a military plane called the TSR-2. However, Wallis’s ideas were not chosen in favor of the fixed-wing BAC TSR-2 and Concorde. He believed swing-wing designs would have been better. In the mid-1960s, the TSR-2 project was canceled, and the F-111 was chosen instead, though this order was later canceled too.

In the 1950s, Wallis created an experimental rocket torpedo called HEYDAY. It used compressed air and hydrogen peroxide and had a special shape to create smooth airflow. Tests were done from Portland Breakwater in Dorset. The only surviving example is now on display at the Explosion Museum of Naval Firepower in Gosport.

In 1955, Wallis advised on the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia. Some of his ideas, such as supporting the telescope dish at its center, were used in the final design. He left the project halfway and refused payment for his work.

In the 1960s, Wallis suggested using large submarines to transport oil and goods underwater, avoiding bad weather. His calculations showed submarines could move faster and use less power than regular ships. He also proposed new submarine designs with gas turbine engines and special hulls. These ideas were never used. Later, he worked on an "all-speed" aircraft that could fly efficiently at any speed, from slow to extremely fast.

In the late 1950s, Wallis gave a lecture titled "The strength of England" at Eton College. He repeated the talk until the early 1970s, arguing that technology and automation could help restore Britain’s global influence. He supported nuclear-powered submarines to avoid trade restrictions and suggested Britain could lead air travel with a small, fast supersonic plane.

Honours and awards

Wallis was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1945. In 1968, he was given a knighthood. In 1969, he was given an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University.

Charity work

Wallis received £10,000 from the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors for his work during the war. He was so sad about the loss of many airmen during the dams raid that he gave the entire amount to his school, Christ's Hospital School, in 1951. This donation allowed the school to create the RAF Foundationers' Trust, which helps children of RAF personnel who were killed or injured in action attend the school. Around this time, he also became an almoner of Christ's Hospital. When he retired from aeronautical work in 1957, he was appointed Treasurer and Chairman of the Council of Almoners of Christ's Hospital. He held the position of Treasurer for nearly 13 years and helped plan and manage a major rebuilding project during this time. Wallis was also a member of the Royal Air Forces Association, a charity that supports the RAF community.

Personal life

In April 1922, Wallis met Molly Bloxam, his cousin-in-law, during a family tea party. Molly was 17, and Wallis was 34. Her father did not allow them to date. However, he let Wallis help Molly with her math classes through mail, and they exchanged about 250 letters. They added fun characters like "Duke Delta X" to their letters. Over time, the letters became more personal, and Wallis proposed to Molly on her 20th birthday. They married on April 23, 1925, and remained married for 54 years until Wallis’s death in 1979.

From 1930 until his death, Wallis lived with his family in Effingham, Surrey. He is now buried at the local St. Lawrence Church alongside his wife. His epitaph in Latin reads, "Spernit Humum Fugiente Penna" ("Severed from the earth with fleeting wing"), a quote from Horace Ode III.2.

Wallis and Molly had four children: Barnes (1926–2008), Mary (1927–2019), Elisabeth (born 1933), and Christopher (1935–2006). They also adopted John and Robert McCormick, the children of Molly’s sister, after their parents died in an air raid. Mary later married Harry Stopes-Roe, the son of Marie Stopes. Christopher helped restore the watermill and its buildings on the Stanway Estate near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Wallis was a vegetarian and supported animal rights. He became a vegetarian at age 73.

In film and fiction

In the 1955 movie The Dam Busters, Barnes Wallis was portrayed by actor Michael Redgrave. His daughter, Elisabeth Wallis, appeared in the film as a camera technician during a scene filmed in a water tank. In the 1969 film Mosquito Squadron, Charles Gray refers to Wallis and his work on the bouncing bomb. A version of Wallis appears in Stephen Baxter’s book The Time Ships, which is a follow-up to The Time Machine. In this story, Wallis is shown as a British engineer in an alternate history where World War I does not end in 1918. In this version, Wallis focuses on creating a time-travel machine, and the Germans instead develop the bouncing bomb. Wallis’s character and a World War II research lab are shown in the British TV series Foyle’s War (Season 4, Part 2). In the book Scarlet Traces: The Great Game by Ian Edginton, Wallis is credited with creating the Cavorite weapon, which helps win a war on Mars after the character Cavor leaves.

Memorials

• A statue of Wallis was created by American sculptor Tom White in 2008 and is located in Herne Bay, Kent. It is near Reculver, where the bouncing bomb was tested.
• A Red Wheel heritage plaque, which honors Wallis's work as "Designer of airships, aeroplanes, the 'Bouncing Bomb,' and swing-wing aircraft," was placed at his birthplace in Ripley, Derbyshire, by the Transport Trust on May 31, 2009.
• A Lewisham Council plaque is at 241 New Cross Road in New Cross, London, where Wallis lived from 1892 to 1909.
• A plaque is located at the main entrance to the former Vickers (now BAE Systems) works in Barrow in Furness, where Wallis worked as Chief Designer for Vickers Ltd Airship Department.
• A Hillingdon Council memorial is in Moor Lane, Harmondsworth, at the site where the Road Research Laboratory tested model dams to help Wallis develop the bouncing bomb.
• Sculpted busts of Wallis are displayed at Brooklands Museum and the RAF Club in London.

• The Student Union Building on the University of Manchester North Campus (formerly UMIST) is named after Wallis. He was given lifetime membership of the Students' Union in 1967.
• Nottingham Trent University has a building named after Wallis on Goldsmith Street.
• QinetiQ's site in Farnborough, Hampshire, includes a building named after Wallis, located at the former Royal Aircraft Establishment site.
• A pub named after Sir Barnes Wallis was in Ripley, Derbyshire, where he was born, but it was demolished in January 2022.
• A pub named The Barnes Wallis stood near the railway station in Howden, East Riding of Yorkshire. Wallis worked on airships at airship sheds near Howden in the early 20th century. The building is now a private home.

• A Barnes Wallis Drive is in Byfleet, Surrey, within the former Brooklands aerodrome and motor circuit. Also, Barnes Wallis Close is in Effingham, Surrey, near where Wallis lived.
• Barnes Wallis Close is in Chickerell, Weymouth, near the Fleet Lagoon, where Wallis tested the bouncing bomb. Barnes Road is off Wallis Street in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
• Barnes Wallis Close is in Bowerhill, Melksham, Wiltshire.
• Barnes Wallis Drive is in Apley, Telford, Shropshire, and Segensworth, Hampshire.
• Barnes Wallis Avenue is at Christ's Hospital.
• Barnes Wallis Way is in Churchdown, Gloucestershire.
• In Buckshaw Village, Lancashire, a housing estate built on the site of an old Royal Ordnance Factory has a road named Barnes Wallis Way.
• A housing estate on the site of RFC Marske in Marske-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire, is named after Wallis.

• The Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington, near York, has a permanent display about the Dambusters raid, including a replica bouncing bomb and a catapult used to test the bouncing bomb theory. A short history of Wallis's work is also included.
• The Scafell Hotel in Rosthwaite, Keswick, has a Barnes Wallis Suite. The hotel was a favorite place for Wallis to visit.
• The RAF Manston History Museum in Kent includes a section on Operation Chastise (The Dams Raid) and displays one of the few recovered practice bouncing bombs tested by Lancaster bombers near Herne Bay.

Archives

The Science Museum at Wroughton, near Swindon, keeps 105 boxes of papers from Barnes Wallis. These papers include design notes, photographs, calculations, letters, and reports about his work on airships, such as the R100; aircraft built using geodetic methods; the bouncing bomb and deep penetration bombs; the "Wild Goose" and "Swallow" swing-wing aircraft; hypersonic aircraft designs; and other projects.

Two boxes of important aeronautical papers written between 1940 and 1958 are stored at the Churchill Archives Centre in Cambridge.

Other papers from Barnes Wallis are also kept at Brooklands Museum, the Imperial War Museum in London, Newark Air Museum, the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, Trinity College in Cambridge, and at universities in Bristol, Leeds, and Oxford. The Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon also displays a reconstruction of his office at Brooklands after World War II.