Sites with artefacts of Sir Barnes Wallis
(© Iain Murray 2008 - last update 19th August 2008)
This page lists sites where materials relating to Sir Barnes Wallis can be seen
around the UK and elsewhere. Locations marked
appear clearly
on Google Earth.
Main Wallis collections:
-
There is a
Barnes Wallis collection within the Yorkshire
Air Museum, Elvington, near York; the collection is managed by the
Barnes
Wallis Memorial Trust. The displays cover all aspects of Wallis' life and work,
with many original artefacts and some superb models and other materials. The
museum also has on display
Upkeep,
Tallboy and
(incomplete)
Grand Slam bombs, part of a Highball and part of the Highball
carrier from a Mosquito. The original testing tank catapult (also seen in "The Dam
Busters" film) is on show (on loan from the RAF Museum Archives) and the entrance is
lined with panelling from R-100. You can even
try out the "fake moonlight" equipment used by 617 Squadron to practice in
moonlight conditions during the day, and try lining up on a model dam with the
two versions of the famous bombsight used to fix distance from the dams. Note that this collection has been CLOSED during 2008 for refurbishment of the building, and it now uncertain when (or if) it will re-open to the public - contact YAM for details if you plan to visit!

-
The
Brooklands
Museum, Weybridge, Surrey (which was near the Vickers factory) has
Wellington bomber N2980 "R for Robert" recovered from Loch Ness in 1985 and now
fully restored.
Some of Wallis' bombs are on display including an Upkeep, Grand Slam, Tallboy and (uniquely)
a Tallboy Small (the 4,000lb version used for trials); the museum also has a (mostly)
Weybridge-built Concorde G-BBDG.

-
The RAF Museum at Hendon
has the only other complete Wellington remaining (MF628), the one seen taking
off in "The Dam Busters" film. They have a reconstruction of Wallis'
office with original artefacts, a box of model bouncing bomb prototypes of various forms, and an Upkeep. They also have a Grand Slam bomb on display, and
their Cosford site has another Grand Slam. The museum also has a link of anchor
chain from Tirpitz, which was
sunk by Tallboys in November 1944, and a painted bulkhead from the ship (which
was repeatedly taken as a trophy by 9 Squadron and 617 Squadron from each other). Other Wallis artefacts and papers are
held in storage.

Bombs:
-
RAF Lossiemouth (current home to 617 Squadron) has an Upkeep,
Tallboy, and Grand Slam all on display, although you will need permission to
gain access to the base to see them. The Upkeep is a reconstruction from parts
of original bombs (see below).
-
The Battle of Britain
Memorial Flight is located at RAF Coningsby, and they have complete
Tallboy and
Grand Slam bombs on display.
(the bombs can
actually be seen on Google Earth)
-
The Kelham Island Museum in Sheffield
has a Grand Slam on display; the bomb casing was cast in Sheffield, where the
local steelmen referred to it as "the big bastard"!

-
Haverfordwest (Withybush) Airport has a
section of a Highball on display,
recovered by the Pembrokeshire Aviation Group from the nearby Maenclochog Tunnel
where experimental drops were carried out in 1943.
-
There is a Tallboy at the Belgian
Army base at
Meerdaal (near Leuven), Belgium. This bomb was recovered when the reservoir
of the Urft Dam (attacked unsuccessfully by 617 Squadron and 9 Squadron in December 1944) was drained in the 1950s; the Belgian Explosive Disposal Ordnance team was
based at nearby Vogelsang (now in the
Eifel National Park
) and disarmed
the bomb, claiming it as a trophy. When the Belgians left the German site in
2005, they took the bomb with them and erected it as a monument at their
Meerdaal site in June 2006; the tail cone is a replica.
-
There is a
Tallboy at the
Pakistan Air Force Museum at Faisal (near
Karachi), Pakistan
- it can be
seen over to the right in
this picture. I
presume that this bomb was carried by 617 Squadron during its Far East
deployment just after the war and left behind -
does anyone know a more detailed history of this bomb?
-
The
Nanton Lancaster Society Air Museum
at Nanton, Alberta, Canada, has a
Tallboy on display -
this one is a replica (and I don't think the tails were ever silver!). The
museum also has a link of anchor chain from Tirpitz, which was
sunk by Tallboys in November 1944.
-
MISSING - A Tallboy (dropped by 9 Squadron in October 1944) was
recovered intact from the
Sorpe reservoir in 1958 and defuzed - does anyone know where this bomb is now?
-
MISSING - numerous fragments of exploded Tallboys and Grand Slams
probably exist in museums and private collections - please let me know if you
know the location of any fragments!
Bombs (Upkeep/Highball only - unless otherwise stated, all recovered from
Reculver, Kent, where test drops were conducted in April and May 1943):
-
The Brenzett Aeronautical Museum
near Romney Marsh has an
Upkeep on display
(with fuzes) as well as a
small number of aircraft.

-
The Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial at RAF Manston, Kent, has an
Upkeep on display
(this is either an early prototype or (more likely) the core of a Highball).

- N.B. The dimensions given on this website refer to the final form of
Upkeep, and not to the actual bomb on display, which is 27" long and 21"
diameter
- N.B. The reference to Nant-y-Gros dam
[sic] on this website is erroneous ... the Nant-y-Gro dam in Wales was used for explosives
tests, but not in the form of a droppable Upkeep bomb.
-
The Herne
Bay Museum has a small prototype Upkeep on display in its Dambusters
exhibition (this is the same size as the one at Manston above, so is either an
early prototype or (more likely) the core of a Highball)

-
The Petwood Hotel, Woodhall Spa,
Lincolnshire, was the officers mess for 617 Squadron later in the war. It has a
small museum to the squadron, and a (damaged) Upkeep in the grounds.

-
Dover Castle also has
part of an Upkeep on
display

-
The Imperial War Museum at
Duxford has an
Upkeep.

-
The
Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby has an
Upkeep too, and possibly a Highball.

-
Grantham Museum,
Lincolnshire
has displays relating to both World Wars, including a 617-related collection
based around the papers of Harry Humphries, the squadron's original adjutant.
The collection includes part of an
original Upkeep (one end plate with fuze pockets) mocked up as a complete
bomb; this one may also have come from Ashley Walk.

-
The Ringwood Town & Country Experience in
Hampshire has an Upkeep. Unlike those above, this is a reconstruction from
original parts recovered in 1984 from the
nearby Ashley Walk bombing range, where trials took place in 1943 to test the
use of Upkeeps dropped on land (my thanks to Matt Briars for this link). The
Upkeep at RAF Lossiemouth (see above) came from this source too.

-
MISSING - The Upkeep carried by Barlow on Operation Chastise failed to self-destruct
and was recovered intact by the Germans, allowing them to work out a detailed
specification and build their own version - does anyone know where this bomb
is now?
-
MISSING - One of the Upkeeps dropped at Ashley Walk in the New Forest
was recovered in 1984 by the Royal Observer Corps, and part of the end plate was
cut into 617 parts and sold for charity (these parts have been selling for
around £150 on eBay!) - does anyone know where the remainder of this bomb
is now?
Other items:
-
The Swannery
at Abbotsbury in Dorset, has a prototype bouncing bomb on display; this was
recovered from the Fleet (the lagoon between the mainland and Chesil Beach)
where many of the early drop tests were carried out; this same bomb was
previously on display at
Portland Museum which was founded in 1930 by
Dr. Marie Stopes - by coincidence, Stopes'
son married Wallis' daughter!
-
Explosion! The Museum of
Naval Firepower, Gosport, Hampshire, has one of Wallis' Heyday experimental
torpedoes on display.

-
The Wellington Aviation Museum
at Morton-in-the-Marsh, Gloucestershire, has a pair of Wellington (or Warwick)
wheels and a propeller
outside and
the tail of Wellington L7775
inside;
the Lincolnshire Aircraft Recovery Group also have
parts from the same aircraft, including the wings.

-
The Aviation Artefact
Museum, part of the
Armstrong Museum within Bamburgh
Castle, Northumberland, covers many aspects of military shipbuilding and
aviation. The collection includes geodetic structure from Vickers-Armstrongs
Warwick HG136 which crashed on a nearby hill in 1946, and many other aircraft parts (mostly from local
crashes), as well as a T-1 bombsight and computer (though it is incorrectly
labelled as a Mark XIV bombsight and computer).

-
The Flambards Experience in Helston, Cornwall, has a number of
aviation-related displays, including a small display of items related to Wallis and his time at Predannack
(which is 5 miles from Helston). If anyone can supply more details on this exhibition, or photos of
the exhibits, please send
me an e-mail
Other locations of interest:
-
Wallis was born in Ripley, Derbyshire, and is commemorated in the Sir Barnes
Wallis Recreational Area in one of the town's parks.
-
Wallis lived for most of his life at White Hill House
[map], Beech Avenue, Effingham, Surrey. This
house is still there, though it is no longer in the hands of the Wallis family.

-
During his formative years, Wallis lived at 241 New Cross Road
[map]
[image] in London - the house has a
plaque on it commemorating its most famous resident.

-
Later, he lived at 23 Pepys Road
[map]
[image] just round the corner

-
A little further west off New Cross Road are Wild Goose Drive
[map] and Swallow Close
[map],
named in honour of Wallis' post-war designs. On Wild Goose Drive, there is the
Barnes Wallis Community Centre
.
-
Wallis got married at St. Luke's
Church, Hampstead
[map] on St. George's Day, 1925

-
The
Eder Dam Museum is housed in one of the former power stations at the base of
the dam. The museum has a full-size
replica Upkeep,
as well as a model of the dam after the raid, and other wartime memorabilia (my
thanks to Tony Knight for this link). 
-
The Thameside Aviation Museum in
East Tilbury have a 1/2 scale
replica Upkeep.
-
R-100 was built at Howden
[map], and
Historical Howden
features Wallis' connection with the town. There is now no trace of the airship
sheds or the cottage where Wallis lived, and much of the site is now
Boothferry Golf Club. Just
north of Howden is the
Barnes Wallis Inn
[map]
[image],
which has some Wallis memorabilia on the walls inside.

-
617 Squadron were originally based at RAF Scampton where there is a
small museum
with some Wallis-related items - this includes a Highball, which was recovered
at Reculver in 1977 and, after 30 years in Amsterdam, found a new home at
Scampton in 2007.
-
In Scampton itself is the
Dambusters Inn
[map] (opened in 1999) which has related memorabilia (including a model of a
Lancaster and a small-scale Upkeep replica) and prints on the wall.

-
The model of the Möhne Dam seen in "The
Dam Busters" film is the original and it still exists at the
Building Research Laboratory in Hertfordshire; the model is now a listed
building (despite being rather overgrown) and can be visited by prior
arrangement with the BRE.

-
The
Derwent Dam in Derbyshire
[map]
was used by 617 Squadron for training for the dams raid, and there is a
small memorial at the dam. No actual "bouncing bombs" were dropped here.
-
Several Tallboys and a Grand Slam were dropped on the bombing range at Ashley
Walk in the
New Forest, and the sharp-eyed can still spot these craters, as well as part
of the submarine pen target which was buried after the war but is starting to
uncover.
Atlantikwall has some nice photos of what's left of the various targets.

-
After the war, Wallis conducted model flying experiments with his Wild Goose and
Swallow designs at
RAF Predannack in Cornwall. The models were launched from a rocket-powered
rail sled and remotely-controlled by radio. The rails ran parallel to the main
runway, crossing the other runway, although the latter was later returned to
use.
Atlantikwall has some nice photos of what's left of the
rail track and the rest of the airfield; access to the site is possible when no
flying is taking place.
-
The University of Manchester has its
Students' Union in the
Barnes Wallis Building in Sackville Street
[map] [image]; Wallis was awarded
an Honorary Fellowship of UMIST and lifetime membership of the Manchester Students' Union in 1967.

-
There is a Barnes Wallis Close in both Boscombe Down
[map] and
Melksham [map],
a Barnes Wallis Court in Welton near Lincoln
[map], a
Barnes Wallis Drive in Telford
[map], a
Barnes Wallis Road in Fareham
[map]
(near Brunel Way!) and a Barnes Wallis Way in both Gloucester
[map] and
Redcar [map].
Do you know of any others?
...and locations which don't have Wallis artefacts:
If you know of other sites of interest to Wallis enthusiasts, please send
me an e-mail
and I will add it here.
Go back
to my main Barnes Wallis page
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