|
January 10, 2002
Tribute to
the inventor
of the autogyro -
a modern Renaissance
man
Norfolk’s Wing Cmdr Ken Wallis
invented the autogyro which was immortalised in a James
Bond film. Now his reputation is flying high, thanks
to a biography. Geoff Pulham met its author for an insight
into Wing Cmdr Wallis’s illustrious career.
A major event has occurred in the publishing world.
There were no queues of buyers snaking around London
bookshops, nor the kind of media froth surrounding the
autobiography of a footballer’s wife.
But there should have been.
Because this particular book, the result of two years’
hard work by Ian Hancock, deputy chairman of Norfolk
and Suffolk Aviation Museum at Flixton, near Bungay,
describes for the first time the extraordinary life
story and greatly-under-rated career of Wing Commander
Ken Wallis.
Now 85, Wing Cmdr Wallis is popularly known as the
man who developed the modern autogyro, that fantastically-agile
flying machine which utilises free-spinning rotors incapable
of locking in mid-air and has been proven more than
adequate in everything from military manoeuvres to sheep-herding
in Australia.
More specifically, he is best known for designing and
building Little Nellie, Sean Connery’s airborne sidekick
which helped him rout the forces of Spectre in the 1967
Bond flick You Only Live Twice.
But as Mr Hancock’s book, The Lives of Ken Wallis,
makes clear, he is much, much more than the inventor
of the autogyro, great achievement though it is.
| The Fairey Rotodyne |
Ken Wallis worked closely with
the designers of the Fairey Rotodyne autogyro
airliner of 1958 and flew in many international
airshows in formation with it. The Fairey Rotodyne
had a far higher performance than any helicopter.
Three times the range, a higher lift capability,
far higher speed including a development potential
of 500knots and full VTOL. It used turbo prop
engines and could fly easily at any speed from
zero on one engine. It was and still is regarded
as a technical revolution in aviation.
Fairey
Rotodyne promotional film - be warned - huge file!
|
He is a modern Renaissance man whose indefatigable
ingenuity, engineering prowess and years of service
to his country surely puts him in line for a far more
substantial honour than the MBE he was made in 1996.
“He should have had something more substantial much
earlier on,” said Mr Hancock. “It disappoints me that
so many people who have done less have had higher honours,
but that doesn’t concern Ken at all. He is more concerned
with recognition from an engineering point of view than
he is with baubles.
“He really should at least be knighted. This book will
go a little way to publicising his career because I
don’t think he has been recognised for the variety and
span of his achievements.”
Mr Hancock came to the museum at Flixton 10 years ago
looking for a home for his private aircraft collection.
He gradually learned more about the area and met Wing
Cmdr Wallis.
“Over the next few years, I gradually took over the
writing of the museum’s journal and two years ago thought
it would be a good idea to run a small article on Ken,”
he said. “I thought it would be about 1000 words, but
as soon as I started talking to Ken and asking questions,
it was obvious there was no way I could do him any serious
justice. Ken is bottomless when it comes to stories.
“No-one had written a biography, and Ken had toyed
with an autobiography for years but had never had time
apart from scribbling a few notes here and there. With
his help, I sat down and gradually started putting things
together.”
Engineering and invention was a part of Wing Cmdr Wallis’
family well before his birth. His father Horace and
uncle Percival were noted for actively seeking mechanical
distraction from the family wholesale provisions and
tea importing and blending business.
In 1902, they saved enough Sunlight Soap promotional
coupons to acquire a Rex motorcycle which triggered
an interest in motorcycle racing, eventually designing
and building their own machines.
From there, they moved into aircraft design after
rising to the famous challenge by the Daily Mail – a
£1000 prize for the first powered flight across the
English Channel.
Unfortunately, a Frenchman called Louis Bleriot beat
them to it, but not before they had designed, built
and achieved a few short flights in a metal-framed monoplane
between 1908 and 1910 in Cambridge. The aircraft was
hangared in a shed and eventually seriously damaged
when a storm blew down the building.
In the late 1970s, Wing Cmdr Wallis and his cousin
Geoffrey built a flying replica now on display at the
Flixton museum.
At the time, his father decided the original aircraft’s
fate was a sign he and Percival should focus once again
on the family business, although it was not long before
they were once again involved in the mechanical world,
operating as motorcycle dispatch riders for the military
around Thetford Forest.
This role provided the final push into full-time engineering,
and each man set up his own motor, motorcycle and bicycle
manufacture and repair business, Percival at Cambridge
and Horace at Ely, where his son was born. More
|
