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Product Description
Product Description
Barnes Wallis is best known as the 'boffin' behind the famous bouncing bomb used by 617 Squadron to breach the Ruhr dams in 1943, but his work covers a far wider canvas. It ranges from airships, through novel aircraft structures and special weapons, to long-range supersonic aircraft, and an extensive patent portfolio. This book describes the huge breadth of Wallis's work, showing how his genius brought totally new ideas into these various fields, and revealing the science and engineering expertise that he deployed to make them work. Extensive use of illustrations - both line artwork and photographs - demonstrates the concepts involved.
About the Author
Dr Iain Murray is a lecturer in the School of Computing at the University of Dundee. Iain recently acted as a consultant for the ITV drama series Foyle's War, which featured an episode set around a group working on the 'bouncing bomb'. He lives in Dundee.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Not enough real information exists in the public domain about Barnes Wallis and apart from a splendid biography nearly 40 years ago and his daughter's lovely book covering his courtship correspondence, little new has been written. There are lots of Dambuster Books, but the public should realise that this episode formed only a fraction of this remarkable man's life.
Iain Murray has written a simply splendid account of Wallis's work spanning nearly sixty years and has researched his subject very thoroughly. The coverage of Wallis's post-war work on supersonic aircraft and the lesser known Highball 'bouncing-bomb' introduces the lay reader to a facet of Wallis that many are unfamiliar with. For Wallis researchers like myself this is a tremendous addition to the knowledge base. For the curious or for those who are simply interested in British Aircraft and technology, buy it for Xmas because you will enjoy it.
In answer to a question about how the world would view him after his death, broadcast on October 31st 1979, Wallis said, "I think the world will have forgotten all about me." To that extent he was wrong and Iain Murray's excellent book proves that.
Tony Knight 4th November 2009
Iain Murray has written a simply splendid account of Wallis's work spanning nearly sixty years and has researched his subject very thoroughly. The coverage of Wallis's post-war work on supersonic aircraft and the lesser known Highball 'bouncing-bomb' introduces the lay reader to a facet of Wallis that many are unfamiliar with. For Wallis researchers like myself this is a tremendous addition to the knowledge base. For the curious or for those who are simply interested in British Aircraft and technology, buy it for Xmas because you will enjoy it.
In answer to a question about how the world would view him after his death, broadcast on October 31st 1979, Wallis said, "I think the world will have forgotten all about me." To that extent he was wrong and Iain Murray's excellent book proves that.
Tony Knight 4th November 2009
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Bouncing-Bomb Man: The Science of Sir Barnes Wallis by Dr Iain Murray was an absolute delight to read. The book is much more than a detailed description of the development of airships, geodetic structures and Wallis's other work; it tells the story of modern engineering in the pre-computer age. Dr Murray's narrative paints a clear picture of a genius of engineering working in a world where new designs were developed by (mainly) gentlemen with slide rules, paper, pencils and drawing boards. In those days a computer was someone they could have taken out to dinner. The subject's character comes over as being larger than life and very driven. I don't imagine that Vickers (Aviation) Ltd had a Personnel Department in the 1930's and the descriptions of Wallis's relations with collegues has to be viewed in the context of that time, but with the right team Wallis was clearly a capable and productive leader.
The text could have been weighed down with pages of calculus and calculations. However, the descriptions of Wallis's work will easily be digested by anyone who has a casual interest in engineering or aeronautics. The most demanding calculation I could find in this book was the Breguet range equation which would be understood by anyone studying school maths.
The entire volume is delightfully illustrated with photographs, maps and diagrams which range from the highly detailed, such as those of Upkeep (drawings interestingly produced by the Germans during World War II), to the frivolous. I especially liked the picture of the Wild Goose on its trolley at Predannack with the technician sitting under the jet pipe enjoying a cuppa.
Dr Murray has clearly proven that Sir Barnes deserves to be described as a genius, not only by the fact that all of Wallis's creations that went into production clearly worked, but by the sheer originality of the man's ideas. He was able to apply geodesic principles to produce unique structures in airships, aeroplanes and radio telescopes. Sir Barnes Wallis was a man bursting with original and novel ideas who applied for scores of patents on ideas as diverse as The Mooring of Lighter-than-Air Aircraft to Improving Radio Telescopes.
I was fascinated to read about Wallis's post-war career. Although not involved in any big way in mainstream production he was nevertheless feted by Vickers, and its successors, for another quarter of a century. Sir Barnes finally retired in 1971 at the age of 83. Even then he felt that he had been pushed out of the company. At the end of his working life he was still involved in producing plans for very radical all-speed aircraft. For those aviators flying today's subsonic airliners rather than supersonic, wing-controlled aerodynes or universal aircraft, the future certainly ain't what is used to be.
Donald B. Forbes.
The text could have been weighed down with pages of calculus and calculations. However, the descriptions of Wallis's work will easily be digested by anyone who has a casual interest in engineering or aeronautics. The most demanding calculation I could find in this book was the Breguet range equation which would be understood by anyone studying school maths.
The entire volume is delightfully illustrated with photographs, maps and diagrams which range from the highly detailed, such as those of Upkeep (drawings interestingly produced by the Germans during World War II), to the frivolous. I especially liked the picture of the Wild Goose on its trolley at Predannack with the technician sitting under the jet pipe enjoying a cuppa.
Dr Murray has clearly proven that Sir Barnes deserves to be described as a genius, not only by the fact that all of Wallis's creations that went into production clearly worked, but by the sheer originality of the man's ideas. He was able to apply geodesic principles to produce unique structures in airships, aeroplanes and radio telescopes. Sir Barnes Wallis was a man bursting with original and novel ideas who applied for scores of patents on ideas as diverse as The Mooring of Lighter-than-Air Aircraft to Improving Radio Telescopes.
I was fascinated to read about Wallis's post-war career. Although not involved in any big way in mainstream production he was nevertheless feted by Vickers, and its successors, for another quarter of a century. Sir Barnes finally retired in 1971 at the age of 83. Even then he felt that he had been pushed out of the company. At the end of his working life he was still involved in producing plans for very radical all-speed aircraft. For those aviators flying today's subsonic airliners rather than supersonic, wing-controlled aerodynes or universal aircraft, the future certainly ain't what is used to be.
Donald B. Forbes.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have studied the work of Wallis for many years and found sound, scientific texts few and far between. This is one of the few. While this one does not show his calculations, nor have as many illustrations as I had hoped, it exceeds expectations on many fronts. For anyone like me who has struggled with Morpurgo's biography of Wallis (and given up!)there is an excellent potted biography of his early years which leads into the chronology of his work - remember this book isn't primarily about the man, it's about his work. The Vickers type 432 - an obscure high-altitude fighter prototype is outlined with particular attention to its unique wing structure. Geodetic theory - which I had always been told was based on the shortest line between 2 points is described as based on great circles, i.e. the shortest route, but helices on a curve surface. Of course the "bouncing" bombs are covered in more detail than other texts,as are the "earthquake" bomb series (Tallboy and Grandslam)but his later work on swing-wings (particularly their tailless application, which no-one has ever had the nerve to put into production)is probably covered in greater depth here than any other text.
Beware - footnotes in the text are explained in an appendix of notes - I'm not a fan of this format, too much flicking back and forwards, but if you just want to enjoy the book, don't bother flicking. If you want to study the subject, you'll have to refer. One comment - when you get to the note about biographies of some of his colleagues - go to the relevant appendix and read it thoroughly. My one criticism would be that this shouldn't be an appendix, it should be a chapter inserted just about where it is called up.
In summary this is an excellent and very readable book and I would recommend it, but it alone is probably not enough to paint a complete picture of his work and its application.
Beware - footnotes in the text are explained in an appendix of notes - I'm not a fan of this format, too much flicking back and forwards, but if you just want to enjoy the book, don't bother flicking. If you want to study the subject, you'll have to refer. One comment - when you get to the note about biographies of some of his colleagues - go to the relevant appendix and read it thoroughly. My one criticism would be that this shouldn't be an appendix, it should be a chapter inserted just about where it is called up.
In summary this is an excellent and very readable book and I would recommend it, but it alone is probably not enough to paint a complete picture of his work and its application.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
THE book about Barnes Wallis
Barnes Wallis came to the public's attention with the release of The Dam Busters film in 1955 which illustrated the success of bouncing bombs in the destruction of German dams in... Read more
Published 7 months ago by John B. Winterburn
what it says on the tin
A fairly complex and technical piece of writing that goes into a degree of depth to explain and illustrate Wallis's inventions and their application. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Clipper 314
Bouncing bomb man
Not as informative as I had hoped, full of information but lacking in "Barnes" did this and "Barnes" did that, says he was involved but not really what he did.
Published 18 months ago by Bear
The engineering genius of Sir Barnes Wallis
The author explains his reasoning for choosing the subtitle of 'the Science of sir Barnes Wallis' but it's just as much about the engineering really; and there's nothing wrong with... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Damien Burke
Technology with biography
I'm only half way through this book, but it's well written and a very good read. The interest in Barnes Wallis is not only the man himself (which a previous biography brought out)... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Mr Andrew W N Probert
Brilliant
One of the best books I have ever seen on Barnes Wallis. Recommend this book for anyone with an interest in his work.
Published 22 months ago by Sandy
Alternative title: "Concorde - we should have listened to Barnes...
This is an excellent summary of the works of Barnes Wallis, showing him to be both a man of engineering genius and great vision. Read more
Published 22 months ago by BreezeOnTheKeys
Sir Barnes Wallis
If you want to know all the technical details about the inventions of Barnes Wallis, then this is the book to read. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Railway Mike
Not just the Bouncing Bomb Man
This book is long overdue in describing the full extent of Sir Barnes Wallis's inventions and working life which lasted nearly seven decades. The full title including '... Read more
Published on 28 Dec 2009 by C. J. Henderson
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