Originally Posted by
chevvron
'Wallis' (like in Barnes Neville) NOT Wallace.
Before I became an ATCO, I wrote to Ken twice about his gyros and both times he sent me a handwritten reply. To then meet and chat to him years later when he visited us at Farnborough during a noise trial was incredible.
Thanks for the correction Chevvron,I met him once also,when he gave a talk at my local flying club at Shipdham.He was a remarkable man,and had many achievements beyond the autogyros for which he was best known.During WWII,he had flown Welingtons equipped with a device for cutting through barrage balloon cables,and I seem to remember that after the war,he had an exchange posting to the USA,where he flew the B36.He also showed some miniature versions of well known firearms he had made,such as the Colt 45,which were fully functional,and he had also made the ammunition.He said that the original nose fairing for his autogyro was the nosecone from a V1 flying bomb.On the day I first arrived at Eastern Radar at RAF Watton,he was taking off from and landing on the back of a Royal Navy low-loader driving up and down the peri- track.