GOLF
Barnes Wallis
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis CBE FRS RDI FRAeS, was an English scientist, engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing 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 the 1955 film The Dambusters, in which Wallis was played by Michael Redgrave. Among his other inventions were his version of the geodetic airframe and the earthquake bomb
The bouncing bomb was designed to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be pre-determined, in a similar fashion to a regular naval depth charge.
Early in 1942, Wallis began experimenting with skipping marbles over water tanks in his garden, leading to his April 1942 paper “Spherical Bomb - Surface Torpedo”. The idea was that a bomb could skip over the water surface, avoiding torpedo nets, and sink directly next to a battleship or dam wall as a depth charge, with the surrounding water concentrating the force of the explosion on the target.
A crucial innovation was the addition of backspin, which caused the bomb to trail behind the dropping aircraft (decreasing the chance of that aircraft being damaged by the force of the explosion below), increased the range of the bomb, and also prevented it from moving away from the target wall as it sank.
After some initial scepticism, the Air Force accepted Walliss bouncing bomb (codenamed Upkeep) for attacks on the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams in the Ruhr Valley.
The Möhne (pictured above) and Eder dams were successfully breached, causing damage to German factories and disrupting hydro-electric power.
Pin high view of the distant London skyline
first got the idea for the celebrated ‘bouncing bomb’ used to destroy Hitler’s Ruhr Valley industrial dams from seeing golf balls bouncing up this particular fairway. He had the perfect view because his back garden overlooked this part of the course. When the course had been built, as was the fashion at the time, plots for the well-heeled were available alongside the new course. The Dambuster bomb maker lived in one of those erected in Effingham’s Beech Avenue. Who knows whether history would have changed if he’d chosen to live elsewhere? When the Effingham course was first built’ there was hardly a tree from 1st tee to 18th green. Open downland prevailed. Over the decades though, tree planting, much of it inappropriate, became de-rigueur, reaching a peak in the 1970s (remember Plant a Tree in ‘73).
“It was about this time that all manner of species, from flowering cherry to firs, were introduced and, in truth, they had no place on downland,” said Jon Budd, who has been in charge here for twelve years and is
passionate about the downland course: its past, and its future.
“When I first came here I saw the need to begin some kind of woodland management scheme to redress this, for both golf and environmental reasons.”
Chainsaws were in action pretty quickly, easing encroachment of tees and greens and bit-by-bit re-gaining a more authentic downland look. Jon’s deputy, Gary Holland, is now in charge of ongoing woodland management at Effingham, which works very closely with Surrey Wildlife Trust and the Forestry Commission.
“The course is blessed with some of the most beautiful views in the south east and it’s been a joy in recent years liberating these again,” said Jon.
“In clear conditions a round of golf here will give you views into five counties, from Windsor Castle to the grandstand at Epsom, not to mention many a London landmark like the Wembley Arch and the Shard.” The 18-hole, par-71 course plays well all year round. Trees apart, it had changed very
MJ Abbott’s first work on the course in 2012, moving the 18th green nearer the clubhouse
26 16 PC August/September 2018
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