Harry Egerton Wimperis Wh.Sch (27 August 1876 – 16 July 1960) was a British aeronautical engineer who acted as the Director of Scientific Research at the UK's

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He is best known for his role in setting up the

Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Defence The Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Defence (CSSAD), also known as the Tizard Committee after its chairman, Henry Tizard, was a pre-World War II scientific mission to study the needs of anti-aircraft warfare in the United Kingdom. The ...

under Henry Tizard, which led directly to the development and introduction of

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

in the UK. He is also known for the development of the

Drift Sight The Drift Sight was a bombsight developed by Harry Wimperis in 1916 for the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). It used a simple mechanical device to measure the wind speed from the air, and used that measurement to calculate the wind's effects on t ...

and

Course Setting Bomb Sight The Course Setting Bomb Sight (CSBS) is the canonical ''vector'' bombsight, the first practical system for properly accounting for the effects of wind when dropping bombs. It is also widely referred to as the Wimperis sight after its inventor, H ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, devices that revolutionised the art of

bombing A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...

Biography

Wimperis was born on 27 August 1876 to Joseph Price Wimperis, an Australian merchant, and Jemima Samuel in

Edmonton, London Edmonton is a town in north London, England within the London Borough of Enfield, a local government district of Greater London. The northern part of the town is known as Lower Edmonton or Edmonton Green, and the southern part as Upper Edmonto ...

. He started his studies at Royal College of Science (part of

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

) and then moved to

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

as an advanced student in 1898. During this period he became a Whitworth Scholar, wrote a series of engineering books covering internal combustion, road transport and air

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

. Among his many inventions and works are the Wimperis accelerometer of 1909, the first

accelerometer An accelerometer is a tool that measures proper acceleration. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change of velocity) of a body in its own instantaneous rest frame; this is different from coordinate acceleration, which is accele ...

rugged enough for use measuring the performance of automobiles. He was directed to Elliott Brothers for manufacture, and this started a long relationship between Wimperis and the company. The same year they introduced a gyroscopic turn indicator, and followed this with an optical speedometer, rate of roll indicator, indicated airspeed calculator and his famed bombsights. Wimperis was commissioned as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

in the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

on 7 September 1915. Between 1915 and 1925, Wimperis worked in the Experimental Office in the Royal Navy Air Service (RNAS). Here he was put on the problem of devising a useful bombsight that did not require manual calculations or a stopwatch to estimate the wind speed. The result was his

, which used a small bar that was aligned with the motion of objects on the ground to measure the wind. He then greatly expanded on this design in his

(CSBS) in 1917, introducing the first system to allow bomb runs from any direction, instead of just up or down the wind line. The CSBS has been called "the most important bombsight of the war". Through this period he also worked for the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

after it formed in 1918, and the

as it took over most of the centralised research for both arms. He was appointed Director of Scientific Research in the Air Ministry in 1925. In June 1934,

Albert Percival Rowe Albert Percival Rowe, CBE (23 March 1898 – 25 May 1976), often known as Jimmy Rowe or A. P. Rowe, was a radar pioneer and university vice-chancellor. A British physicist and senior research administrator, he played a major role in the developme ...

, Wimperis' personal assistant, became concerned about the state of air defence in the UK, and took it upon himself to read every study on the topic published in the UK. The result was a memo stating that "we were likely to lose the war if it starts within the next ten years". Wimperis took the memo seriously and set about creating the Committee for the Scientific Study of Air Defence, placing Henry Tizard in the chairman's position. This group was instrumental in the creation of

in the UK, and the

Chain Home Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal Early Warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the off ...

system that was instrumental to winning the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

. In 1938 Wimperis served as the Aeronautical Advisor to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research of the Commonwealth of Australia, advising them on setting up their own aeronautical research division. He served as President of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 1936–1938, and of the Engineering Section of the British Association, 1939. In 1945, Wimperis was President of the

Whitworth Society The Whitworth Society was founded in 1923 by Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, then president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Its purposes are to promote engineering in the United Kingdom, and more specifically to support all Whitworth Scholars ...

47-years after becoming a Scholar. From 1946 to 1950 he was a member of the Atomic Energy Study Group, Chatham House. His wife, Grace d'Avray Parkin, was the daughter of Canadian

George Robert Parkin Sir George Robert Parkin (February 8, 1846 – June 25, 1922) was a Canadians, Canadian educator, imperialist, and author. Life and career Born at Parkindale, New Brunswick, Parkindale near Salisbury, New Brunswick, he was a graduate from ...

. They married on 28 September 1907 and had three daughters. Wimperis died in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

on 16 July 1960 at the age of 83.

Honours

He was appointed an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in the

1918 New Year Honours The 1918 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Ja ...

for his efforts during the First World War, and a Commander of the Order in the

1928 Birthday Honours The 1928 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, and were p ...

. He was appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

in the

1935 Birthday Honours The 1935 Birthday Honours for the British Empire were announced on 3 June 1935 to celebrate the Birthday and Silver Jubilee of King George V. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and arranged b ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wimperis, Harry 1876 births 1960 deaths British aerospace engineers Companions of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society