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Barnes Wallis museum row

The most famous bomb in the world could be coming to Howden.

The bouncing bomb - so-called because of its ability to bounce off water - was immortalised in the daring Dambuster raids by Wing Commander Guy Gibson and his 617 Squadron.

For the past 15 years the bouncing bomb has been the centrepiece of a permament exhibition at the Yorkshire Air Museum about the life of its inventor, the late Sir Barnes Wallis (right).

Now, following an argument between the museum and the Barnes Wallis Memorial Trust (BWMT), which has loaned the bomb from the Minstry of Defence, it appears that the bomb is moving out - and, together with the rest of the display, it could be coming to Howden, where the designer's R100 airship was built.

The trust, which was formed in Howden in 1986, believes the town's connection to Sir Barnes is strong enough for the town to have a strong case for housing the exhibition.

The inventor, together with the stress engineer and author Nevil Shute - who wrote the best-selling novel A Town Like Alice as well as the autobiographical Slide Rule, in which he documented the building of the airship and derided local Howden girls - built the R100 airship in a specially-built station on what is now Boothferry Golf Club.

A model of the vessel is on display at Howden High School, along with numerous pictures of the airship.

The solid silver model was presented to the school in the late 1960s by Sir Barnes himself.

The high school is also used by the trust for its annual general meeting.

At a recent meeting, the 12 trustees voted unanimously to quit the museum in Elvington, although they have nowhere to go at the moment and shifting the bomb poses a problem.

The exhibition, which is currently in a self-contained area of the museum, covers the whole of Barnes Wallis's life, including photographs of him at school, some of his wood carvings and paintings, and pictures and models of the airship and items connected with the Dambusters raids.

The trust contributed £2,000 towards the installation but is now at loggerheads with the museum over the display.

The museum has decided it no longer wants the trust on the site and the BWMT claims it has been denied full access to its own material.

The museum is now planning a Barnes Wallis exhibition of its own next year.

This has deeply angered the trust, which is now planning legal action.

Mary Stopes-Roe, Barnes Wallis's daughter and a trustee of the BWMT, said: "It's BWMT property - that's what's making us rather sore. We would like to set up somewhere else in Yorkshire - possibly in Howden."

Ian Reed, director of Yorkshire Air Museum, said: "The Barnes Wallis Museum Trust refused to sign a loan agreement which we are required to do if we have private artefacts on site. We offered to do an inventory for them of their material and they threatened us with legal action. It's very sad."

Peter Rix, chairman of the BWMT, said: "Sir Barnes had strong links with Howden. Many people remember him for the bouncing bomb but don't really appreciate that he had strong local interests.

'Originally, the idea was to set up a museum in Howden but, at that time - the late 80s - there were difficulties with that in terms of finding a suitable building and doubts about the viability of a museum just about Barnes Wallis. Also, Howden at that time wasn't really on the tourist trail."

Ian Robinson, who was executive chairman of the Yorkshire Air Museum between the mid-1980s and 1998 , said: "There are other museums in the UK which are very anxious to get this display, but the Barnes Wallis trustees would like to keep it in Yorkshire.

"The airship was made in Howden and it was a very special engineering design. Sir Barnes loved Yorkshire. He spent quite a lot of time in Yorkshire even though he was born in the south of England."

Mr Robinson said he was "terribly, terribly disappointed" about the schism that had opened up between the museum and the trust.

Sir Barnes lived on the airship station for three-and-a-half years during the vessel's construction.

The famous inventor was married to Molly and they had four children, including two daughters and two sons - the eldest of whom, also called Barnes, died on Tuesday.

Sir Barnes, pictured above, died in Surrey in 1979, aged 92. (10-07-85 SU)

Published on 10th July 2008 in News.

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