OCCASIONAL PAPERS ON METEOROLOGICAL HISTORY No.8 THE MET OFFICE GROWS UP: IN WAR AND PEACE by M E Crewe Published by The Royal Meteorological Society’s History of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography Special Interest Group MARCH 2009 PUBLISHED ONLINE ONLY ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY 104 OXFORD ROAD – READING – RG1 7LL – UNITED KINGDOM Telephone: +44 (0)118 956 8500 Fax: +44 (0)118 956 8571 E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.royalmetsoc.org Registered charity number 208222 © Royal Meteorological Society 2009 CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS......................................................................................................iii INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1 STAFFING .................................................................................................................1 DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.............................................................................................2 Elen Elaine Austin ............................................................................................................................2 Charles Ernest Pelham Brooks ........................................................................................................2 Sir David Brunt..................................................................................................................................2 Charles John Philip Cave .................................................................................................................3 Brian Charles Clayton.......................................................................................................................3 Harry Cotton .....................................................................................................................................3 John Somers Dines ..........................................................................................................................4 Lewen Henry George Dines .............................................................................................................4 William Henry Dines .........................................................................................................................4 Gordon Miller Bourne Dobson..........................................................................................................4 Charles Kenneth MacKinnon Douglas .............................................................................................5 Albert Edgar Gendle .........................................................................................................................5 Maurice Alfred Giblett .......................................................................................................................6 Ernest Gold.......................................................................................................................................6 Archibald Hayman Robertson Goldie ...............................................................................................7 Guy Harris.........................................................................................................................................7 Sir Harold Jeffreys ............................................................................................................................8 Sir Nelson King Johnson ..................................................................................................................8 Rudolf Gustav Karl Lempfert ............................................................................................................8 Sir Henry George Lyons ...................................................................................................................9 Cyril Victor Ockenden.......................................................................................................................9 William Henry Pick............................................................................................................................9 Lewis Fry Richardson .....................................................................................................................10 Sir William Napier Shaw .................................................................................................................11 Sir George Clarke Simpson............................................................................................................13 Magnus Thorfinn Spence ...............................................................................................................13 Sir Geoffrey Ingram Taylor .............................................................................................................14 Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt ................................................................................................14 War Honours...................................................................................................................................15 Roll of Honour.................................................................................................................................15 CHRONOLOGY .......................................................................................................18 Pre-1914.........................................................................................................................................16 1915................................................................................................................................................16 1916-17...........................................................................................................................................17 1918 – Great War legacy................................................................................................................19 1919................................................................................................................................................19 1920s ..............................................................................................................................................20 PUBLICATIONS ......................................................................................................21 LOCATIONS ............................................................................................................21 ii OUTSTATIONS .......................................................................................................23 AVIATION GOES INTERCONTINENTAL ...............................................................25 THE START OF COMMERCIAL AVIATION ...........................................................26 GETTING ORGANIZED...........................................................................................26 LIFT-OFF .................................................................................................................27 IMPERIAL DREAMS................................................................................................28 NEW DEVELOPMENTS ..........................................................................................28 DREAMS SHOW PROMISE ....................................................................................30 SHATTERED DREAMS – NEW DREAMS ..............................................................31 METEOROLOGICAL LANDMARKS.......................................................................32 RECORDS ...............................................................................................................32 AND FINALLY .........................................................................................................33 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................33 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING ............................................................34 ILLUSTRATIONS 1 Miss Austin .....................................................................................................................................2 2 C.E.P.Brooks ..................................................................................................................................2 3 Sir David Brunt................................................................................................................................2 4 C.J.P.Cave......................................................................................................................................3 5 L.H.G.Dines ....................................................................................................................................4 6 W.H.Dines.......................................................................................................................................4 7 G.M.B.Dobson ................................................................................................................................4 8 C.K.M.Douglas in the 1920s and as senior forecaster in the 1940s ..............................................5 9 Gendle reported to the Director ......................................................................................................5 10 M.A.Giblett ......................................................................................................................................6 11 Ernest Gold in 1935 and near retirement .......................................................................................6 12 A.H.R.Goldie...................................................................................................................................7