Barnes Wallis Statue / R100

I’ve been studying Barnes Wallis and his work now on and off for the best part of 30 years. Iain Murray is quite right; the photographs shown are girder sections of the R101 and NOT the R100.

Wallis was always pretty scathing of the R101 and would not want his R100 to be associated with the R101. The sections of both craft are completely different and as Iain says, much of the R101 was fabricated in stainless steel.

There is little left of the R100, most of it was sold for scrap and that which remains will be in a very fragile state due to the corrosion (embrittlement) that occurred on duralumin. Some parts that were lacquered remain in a seemingly better condition and they are a distinctive brown colour now. The Science Museum storage centre at Wroughton have a spider joint (good condition) and some other sections that are in a more fragile state.

As far as the statue is concerned, it’s a nice idea, but with respect I would have thought in the wrong place. Why an American sculptor?
Sadly Barnes’s eldest son (Barnes Junior) passed away recently, otherwise I’m sure he would have had something to say on the matter. I have only seen photographs, it appears to me that he doesn’t quite have the face right. I stand to be corrected on this and would welcome other people’s views.