Sir Barnes Wallis , the great Inventor, died last month at the age of 92. Some years before his death the BBC asked him to record an interview about how he would like to be remembered. From that interview and from the archives comes this tribute to the life of a great engineer who confounded those who said ' it cannot be done.' SIR BARNES WALLIS talks to Christopher Brasher about his great inventions:
The R100 Airship .
' I got the job by low cunning, getting a second-hand drawing board and setting it up in my bed-sitting room.'
The Wellington Bomber
' All opposition is good for you. The Dam-busting Bouncing Bomb ' I remember the surviving pilots saying to me that if they had known that they would not come back they would have all gone just the same. That is the sort of spirit that makes England.
The Swing Wing Plane rejected by Whitehall
' The whole joy of life is in battle. Not winning.'
SIR BARNES WALLIS , CBE, FRS
(1887-1979)