Edward Fennessy
Sir Edward Fennessy
Before the war
Fennessy was born in
War efforts
In 1937 Roberts was called to work with Robert Watson-Watt at Watt's secret radar development centre at Bawdsey Manor, Suffolk. He apparently called for Fennessy to join him, but Fennessy was initially rejected as unsuitable. As experimentation turned to development a need for engineers developed, and Fennessy was summoned to Bawdsey in 1938, shortly after marrying Marion Banks (died 1983), with whom he had two children.[1]
On 29 October 1938 Roberts and Fennessy made the now-famous "night dash" from Bawdsey to meet Air Chief Marshal Sir
As the war opened, Watt worried that its location on the east coast made Bawdsey open to attack, and proposed moving the entire centre to
At 60 Group, Fennessy led the operational deployment of many radar and radio navigation systems. These included the development of portable radar systems, and both Gee and Oboe navigation systems. One particularly ironic development concerns the Sonne long-range radio navigation system set up by the Luftwaffe. Sonne proved so useful to RAF Coastal Command that when pushing back of the front lines by the Allies meant Germany no longer had access to Spain, Fennessy arranged for spare parts to be delivered to the Sonne broadcasters located there.[4]
In late 1943 Fennessy prepared a plan for navigation and pathfinding systems to support an amphibious landing on the continent. He selected
After the war
Fennessy was demobilised as a Group Captain in the
Decca held a commanding lead in the UK civil maritime radar world for many years, and was a major player worldwide. In 1952 he led efforts that eventually won the contract for the RAF's "Type 80 radar",[2] and opened a large factory at Cowes on the Isle of Wight to produce them.[5] This factory remained a major radar factory throughout its history.
In 1965 Decca Radar was sold to
In 1975 he was promoted to become the Post Office's deputy chairman, where he led an effort to get phones into the field. At the time there was a 225,000 person long waiting list for phones, mostly due to the lack of switching capability. He solved this problem by deploying truck-based mobile switches formerly used by the military. That year he presented the 20 millionth telephone in the UK, which was also the 5 millionth in London.[2]
Last years/death
After retiring in 1977, he took on a number of consultancy jobs; including IMA Microwave Products and British Medical Data Systems, among others. A widower in 1983, he remarried Leonora Patricia Birkett the following year. He was survived by his second wife, his two children from his first marriage, and four grandchildren - one of whom is the Canadian writer Camilla Gibb.[2]
References
- Citations
- ^ a b c d e f g h Tucker 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Telegraph 2009.
- ^ Ian Brown, "A Brief History of The British Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE)" Archived 1 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Historical Radar Archive. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
- ^ W. Blanchard, "SONNE/CONSOL", The Journal of Navigation, Volume 44 Number 3; September 1991.
- ^ Eddie Grove and Ron Burr, "The Decca Legacy", 2010, Chapter 3.2
- Bibliography
- "Sir Edward Fennessy". www.telegraph.co.uk. 15 December 2009.
- Tucker, Anthony (20 January 2010). "Sir Edward Fennessy obituary". The Guardian.