for our Sir Barnes Wallis 'Dam Busters' Collection auction to be held on Wednesday 25th of March 2026
| Lot No | Description | Est | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| 125 | GOODWIN, Sir George and others, a collective work. The Mechanical Properties of Fluids. London and Glasgow: Blackie & Son Limited 1937. 8vo, 376pp. Original blue cloth with gilt lettered spine. Fading to spine, minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine. Second Edition. | 40-60 |
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| 126 | TEED, Litherland P. Duralumin And Its Heat-Treatment. London: Charles Griffin & Company, Limited 1937. 8vo, 117pp. Orginal red cloth with gilt lettered spine. Fading to spine and cover, minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine. Dedicated and dated by the author to the front endpaper and possibly by mistake to the back inside cover "To B.N.W. With all good wishes from the author 8/12/36." | 60-80 |
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| 127 | THOMPSON, Silvanus P. Calculus Made Easy. London Macmillan and Co., Limited 1936. 8vo, 301pp. Original green cloth with black lettered spine. Fading to spine and cover, rubbing to corners and edges of spine. Second Edition Enlarged. Signed B.N. Wallis and written in pencil to the back page Capt. Cecil Chichester RN, Elmsleigh, Lyme Regis. | 100-150 |
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| 128 | SOUTHWELL. R.V.. An Introduction To The Theory of Elasticity For Engineers and Physicists. Oxford: At The Clarenden Press 1936. 8vo, 509pp. Original blue cloth, gilt lettered spine. Some fading to spine, minor rubbing to corners and edges of the spine. Signed B.N. Wallis | 100-150 |
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| 129 | A polished chrome model of a Vickers Wellington Bomber in flight with rotating propellers, on a shaped black acrylic base, visible on Sir Barnes Wallis' desk in public photos 16cm h x 20cm w x 26cm d | 300-400 |
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| 130 | PIERCY, N.A.V. Aerodynamics, London: The English Universities Press Ltd. 1937, 8vo, 423pp. Original blue cloth, gilt lettered spine. Some minor rubbing to corners and edge of spine. Book plate From The Library of Barnes Neville Wallis, C.B.E., F.R.S. Handwritten notes and equations on pages 80, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387 and a created page 424 | 300-400 |
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| 131 | BAIRSTOW, Leonard. Applied Aerodynamics. London: Longmans, Green and Co. 8vo, 808pp. Orginal red cloth, gilt lettered spine. Fading to spine and cover, rubbing to corners and edges of spine. Second Edition. Initialled B.N.W. 1939 | 100-150 |
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| 132 | PLUMMER, H. C. Probability and Frequency. London: Macmillan and Co., 1940. 8vo, 265pp. Original green cloth, gilt lettered spine. Minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine. Initialled B.N.W. Dec. 1940 | 80-120 |
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| 133 | A collection of research pamphlets (14) from 1927-1940 mainly by The Aeronautical Research Committee to include : The Strength of Tubular Struts 1927, 44pp. (initialled B.N.W to front cover), A Non Dimensional Form of The Stability Equations of an Aeroplane March 1927, Light Alloys For Aeronautical Purposes 1934, 32pp., Summary of The Present State of Knowledge Regarding Sheet Metal Construction 1933, 20pp. (back cover missing), Buckling of Thin Plates in Compression 1933, 21pp. (back cover missing), Technical Report Into The Accident To The Aeroplane G-AAZK at Meopham Kent on 21st July 1930, published January 1931, 92pp., The Size-Grading of Sand by Wind 1937, The Optimum Size of Models for Studying Flow Through Nest of Tubes 1939, 9pp., Resistance To Flow Through Nest of Tubes 1939, 20pp. The Manufacture of High Strength Light Alloy Extrusions 1938-1939, 39pp., The Use of Model Data in Aeroplane Design 1939, 16pp., The Stresses in a Circular Ring Supported by Frictionless Radial Pins 1940 marked With the author's compliments (x2) and Sound Control in Buildings 1940 | 80-120 |
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| 134 | BECK, Adolf. The Technology of Magnesium and Its Alloys. London: F A Hughes & Co. Limited 1940. 8vo, 512pp. Original maroon cloth, gilt lettered spine. Fading to spine and cover, minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine. | 40-60 |
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| 135 | A wooden adjustable catapult designed for and used in the 1955 movie "The Dam Busters" by Michael Redgrave (playing Sir Barnes Wallis). The catapult represents that used by Wallis in his 1941 April Bank holiday garden marble experiments, to prototype the concept of the bouncing bomb. The catapult raised on triform base and mounted on metal collar with tripod supports. The catapult firing rail adjustable in angle by a wing nut, having a projectile receptical attached to elastic cord running along the top rail of the device. The rail fitted a trigger to release the projectile. 138cm h, catapult rail 93cm l | 2000-3000 |
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| 136 | A collection of marbles belonging to Sir Barnes Wallis' daughter, Elisabeth Gaunt (now 93). These marbles were famously used by Wallis during his garden experiment in April 1942 whilst developing the conceptual principles behind the Dam Busters 'bouncing bomb'. Of the day Elisabeth recalls "I remember the Easter bank holiday weekend when Daddy came home with a strange device and placed it in front of a metal wash tub that he had filled with water in the garden. He then asked if he could borrow my marbles for an experiment. I was fiercely protective of my marbles but reluctantly agreed, I was very worried in case any of my precious marbles were lost, sadly some of them did get chipped." Elisabeth's late sister Mary Stopes-Roe, also reflected on these formative experiments, recalling "We had this wonderful experiment at our family home, where my father set up the washtub and got a catapult made by his department. He altered the angle of the slant at which the ball was delivered and the distance from the water, and then he bounced my sister's marbles, which she has never forgotten, the fact that they were her marbles." Mrs Gaunt has displayed the marbles over the years at various events and they have always been in her possession. | 20000-30000 |
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| 137 | BACON, Admiral Sir Reginald and MCMURTRIE, Francis E. Modern Naval Strategy. London: Frederick Muller Ltd. 8vo, 208 pp. Original black cloth, white lettered spine. Fading to spine and cover, minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine, some minor foxing in places. Initialled BNW Salisbury Feb 15th 1945 and inscription To N Spark. With the authors best wishes Xmas 1940 R H Bacon. Having a loose leaf with pages numbers noted on which comments have been written in pencil | 80-120 |
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| 138 | KARMAN. Theodore V and BIOT, Maurice A. Mathematical Methods in Engineering. New York and London: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. 1940. 8vo, 505pp. Original black cloth, gilt lettered spine. Minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine. First Edition, Second Impression. Initialled B.N.W. 1940. Handwritten pencil notes with diagram to the back page | 80-120 |
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| 139 | A Confidential handbook - 53.3 c/m Weymouth Torpedo for Turkish Destroyers. Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd. 1940. 4to, 9pp. with 16 pull out cross section plates of torpedos. Original blue cloth, gilt lettering. Rubbing to corners and edges of spine. | 100-150 |
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| 140 | A 2 inch aluminium sphere of the type used in the Teddington ship tanks during the development of the Golf Mine "bouncing bomb". Discovered in a box of Sir Barnes Wallis' lectures slides on the "Dam Busters" raid, the spheres were the next evolutionary step after the garden marbles leading eventually to the development of the Highball and Upkeep bombs. Between 9 June and 10 September 1942, Wallis made use of one of the two large indoor water tanks of The National Physical Laboratory at Teddington on at least 18 occasions, he stated "I moored a wax model of a battleship several hundred feet up the tank, broadside on. We fired 2in diameter balls at it, when of course after hitting the freeboard of the ship, the sinking velocity of the ball combined with back-spin to move it towards the ship, and by adjusting the mean density of the ball we were able to pass it right underneath "the soft underbelly", to quote Winston Churchill. | 10000-15000 |
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| 141 | ALLEN, Edgar C. Machinery's Screw Thread Book. London: Machinery Publishing Co, Ltd 1940, 8vo, 147pp. Orange card cover with black lettered spine. Fading to spine, some minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine. Pastedown and endpaper with stuck labels "MR. WALLIS' PRIVATE COPY". Initialled to front cover B.N.W. | 80-120 |
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| 142 | DIEHL, Walter Stuart. Engineering Aerodynamics. New York: The Ronald Press Company. 8vo, 556pp. Original green cloth, gilt lettered spine. Some rubbing to corners and edges of the spine. Fourth Printing, July 1940. Initialled B.N.W. April 1941 | 100-150 |
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| 143 | A 1942 A5 calendar notepad by Napier bound in marbled green calf initialled in gilt B.N.W, half empty with top sheet having pencilled diagrams of what appears to be a tunnel (or support structure of Italian dams) with dimensions having a round object following a dotted curve. One other loose sheet having technical drawing of and circular diagrams | 400-600 |
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| 144 | A pair of cross section plans of the Mohne Dam to illustrate the intended path of the Upkeep mine stencilled "CROSS SECTION OF MOHNE DAM" and "CROSS SECTION OF UPPER PART OF MOHNE DAM". The main dam plan displaying a blue mine against the dam freeboard and another example of the red mine further down at 30 metre depth (the detonation point). The water has been added with a cumbersome blue crayon/pencil, the torpedo nets indicated by a yellow crayon buoy. At the top of the plan is a pencilled skimming bounce motion and there are pencilled formulae to the centre of the plan. A label bottom right stating Dr. Barnes Wallis used the plan to brief 617 Squadron on the night of the raid. Plan framed 83cm h x 109cm w (unframed x 73cm h x 100.5cm) The upper dam plan details a close up view of the mine striking the freeboard of the dam, the water side in coloured blue crayon, and then another depiction of a red mine at 30 metres depth - a light red pencil indicates 'detonation depth'. Plan framed 82cm h x 94cm w, (73cm h x 84.5cm w unframed) Both plans label to verso "loaned to RAF Museum by Sir Barnes Wallis" together with RAF stock label circa 1971. | 10000-15000 |
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| 145 | PIAGGIO, H. T. H. Differential Equations - An Elementary Treatise on Differential Equations and Their Applications. London: Bell 1942 8vo 259pp. Original blue cloth, gilt lettered spine. Notepaper with pencilled triangles to page 47. Minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine. Signed B.N. Wallis | 200-300 |
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| 146 | MANLEY R.G. Fundamentals of Vibration Study. London: Chapman & Hall Ltd. 1942. 8vo, 128pp. Original red cloth, gilt lettered spine. Some fading to spine, minor rubbing to corners. First Published 1942. Initialled B.N.W. Sept. 1942 | 100-150 |
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| 147 | Composed by the Fluid Motion Panel of the Aeronautical Research Committee and Others, edited by S Goldstein, Modern Developments in Fluid Dynamics Volume I. Oxford: At The Clarenden Press. 8vo, 330pp. Original blue cloth with gilt lettered spine. Fading to spine and cover, minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine. First Edition 1943. Some underlined text and written notes in pencil on page 327 and notes to page 329 together with a note with hand written equations. | 200-300 |
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| 148 | Modern Developments in Fluid Dynamics Volume II. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1943. Lg. 8vo, 702pp. Original blue cloth, gilt lettered spine. On page 601 is a taped folded handwritten page detailing notes and formulae titled "Heat Transfer, Laminar Motion". Fading to spine and cover, minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine. | 600-800 |
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| 149 | Barnes Wallis' facsimile copy of the 617 Squadron Grant of Arms granted in March 1944. The badge symbolises the successful attack on the dams in May 1943 with the lightning flashes symbolising the three dams attacked. The French motto "Apres Moi Le Deluge" translating as "After me the flood". The paper is creased and stained and framed in a contemporary 1940's perspex frame with green border 18cm h x 15cm w | 400-600 |
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