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‘A stunningly good and surely definitive biography of one of the most fascinating British engineers ever to have lived’ JAMES HOLLAND

Barnes Wallis became a household name after the hit 1955 film The Dam Busters, in which Michael Redgrave portrayed him as a shy genius at odds with bureaucracy. This simplified a complicated man.

Wallis is remembered for contributions to aviation that spanned most of the 20th century, from airships at its start to reusable spacecraft near the end. In the years between he pioneered new kinds of aircraft structure, bombs to alter the way in which wars are fought, and aeroplanes that could change shape in flight. Later work extended to radio telescopy, prosthetic limbs, and plans for a fleet of high-speed cargo submarines to travel the world’s oceans in silence.

For all his fame, little is known about the man himself – the confirmed bachelor who in his mid-30s fell hopelessly in love with his teenage cousin-in-law, the enthusiast for outdoor life who in his eighties still liked to walk up a mountain, or the rationalist who dallied with Catholic spiritualty. Dam Buster draws on family records to reveal someone thick with contradictions: a Victorian who in his imagination ranged far into the 21st century; a romantic for whom nostalgic pastoral and advanced technology went together; an unassuming man who kept a close eye on his legacy.

Wallis was last in a line of engineers who combined hands-on experience with searching vision. Richard Morris sets out to locate him in Britain’s grand narrative.

Publisher Review

A stunningly good and surely definitive biography of one of the most fascinating British engineers ever to have lived. Morris skilfully picks through the myths, the legend, and the ever-evolving narrative to put flesh back onto the bones of an unquestionably brilliant, but also highly complex, figure. The time-span of Barnes Wallis's career, which cut through the heart of the 20th century, including two world wars and into the Cold War, was remarkable, and Morris not only paints an astonishingly vivid portrait of the man, but also of the time through which he lived. * James Holland, author of BROTHERS IN ARMS * A comprehensive, deeply researched and insightful portrait of Wallis, one of Britain's greatest engineers -- Saul David * Daily Telegraph *