The Royal Aeronautical Society and the Weybridge Branch have given me a great honour in inviting me to deliver this unique lecture in memory of one of its distinguished Honorary Fellows.

The life and achievements of Sir Barnes Wallis (Fig. 1) have been well chronicled and broadcast. It is with some trepidation, therefore that I make this contribution, but as one of many at Weybridge who worked directly under his authority, I would like in paying this tribute to feel that I am representing all of them. In a lecture of about 75 minutes it is not possible to give proper justice to the work of a man who devoted something like 70 years to engineering design. He was already 16 years old and in his last year at school when the Wright Brothers were the first to fly, in 1903; he was still in full-time employment when Concorde flew in 1969. Although not involved in either of these epics, his own career was studded with many achievements, and even after his retirement he continued to work on visionary projects.