Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Research Articles

LAWRENCE RICKARD WAGER (1904–1965): A DISTINGUISHED GEOLOGIST WHO HELPED TO PIONEER AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION FOR ALLIED FORCES IN WORLD WAR II

ABSTRACT ‘Bill’ Wager, after undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the University of Cambridge, became a lecturer at the University of Reading in southern England in 1929. He was granted leave in the 1930s to participate in lengthy expeditions that explored the geology of Greenland, an island largely within the Arctic Circle. With friends made on those expeditions, he became in June 1940 an early recruit to the Photographic Development Unit of the Royal Air Force that pioneered the development of aerial photographic interpretation for British armed forces. He was quickly appointed to lead a ‘shift’ of interpreters. The unit moved in 1941 from Wembley in London to Danesfield House in Buckinghamshire, known as Royal Air Force Medmenham, to become the Central Interpretation Unit for Allied forces—a ‘secret’ military intelligence unit that contributed significantly to Allied victory in World War II. There Wager led one of three ‘shifts’ that carried out the ‘Second Phase’ studies in a three-phase programme of interpretation that became a standard operating procedure. Promoted in 1941 to the rank of squadron leader in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, he was given command of all ‘Second Phase’ work. Sent with a detachment of photographic interpreters to the Soviet Union in 1942, he was officially ‘mentioned in a Despatch’ on return to England. By the end of 1943 the Central Interpretation Unit had developed into a large organization with an experienced staff, so Wager was allowed to leave Medmenham in order to become Professor of Geology in the University of Durham. He resigned his commission in July 1944. Appointed Professor of Geology in the University of Oxford in 1950, he died prematurely from a heart attack in 1965, best remembered for his work on the igneous rocks of the Skaergaard intrusion in Greenland and an attempt to climb Mount Everest in 1933.

Donald Emslie-Smith

After qualifying Donald Emslie-Smith served as flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea. As a basic research fellow at the Baker Institute, Melbourne,...

Leslie Robert Whittaker

Leslie Robert Whittaker was born in Swansea. After house jobs at Charing Cross Hospital and Swansea General Hospital, he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He joined the colonial...

Alfred Nowell Hamilton Peach

Studied the effects of malnutrition and vitamin deficiency in prisoners of war Alfred Nowell Hamilton Peach⇑ was born in Bristol in 1914. He was educated at Clifton College and studied...

William Lewson Burrowes

Born shortly after the first world war, William Lewson Burrowes was the fifth and sole surviving child, triplets having died at birth and an older sister succumbed to appendicitis aged...

Philip Henry Sutton

Philip Henry Sutton was born in Canton, China, where his father was a silk merchant. After schooling at Gresham’s, he entered King’s College, London, for his preclinical training and gained...

Paul Dawson-Edwards

Paul Dawson-Edwards was educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry, and Birmingham Medical School, qualifying MB ChB in 1943. He married his wife, Jean (a nurse), in 1944. He was...

Ronald Jack Healey

Ronald Jack Healey qualified at Guy’s Hospital in 1938 and served throughout the second world war with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR), attaining the rank of wing commander....

William Burgess Drayson Maile

A third generation doctor, William Burgess Drayson Maile (“Drayson”) served in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) in India, being involved in trials of the …

Hugh Owen Hughes

After qualifying with the conjoint diploma in 1939, Hugh Owen Hughes joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR). He spent six years in service, largely in the Far East,...

Albert Henry (“Harry”) Hands

In 1941 Albert Henry Hands (“Harry”) served with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve as medical officer to 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron, then equipped with Spitfires and stationed at...

The Surgery of Repair. Injuries and Burns. By Squadron-Leader D. N. Matthews, R.A.F.V.R., M.A., M.D., M.Ch., F.R.C.S., Surgical Specialist, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve; Surgical Officer-in-charge, R.A.F. Plastic Unit; Surgical Chief Assistant, Westminster Hospital, London; etc. 8 3/4 × 5 1/2 in. Pp. 386 + xii, with 198 illustrations, several coloured. 1943. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications Ltd. 45s. net

Journal Article The Surgery of Repair. Injuries and Burns. By Squadron-Leader D. N. Matthews, R.A.F.V.R., M.A., M.D., M.Ch., F.R.C.S., Surgical Specialist, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve; Surgical Officer-in-charge, R.A.F. Plastic Unit; Surgical Chief Assistant, Westminster Hospital, London; etc. 8 3/4 × 5 1/2 in. Pp. 386 + xii, with 198 illustrations, several coloured. 1943. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications Ltd. 45s. net Get access The Surgery of Repair. Injuries and Burns. By Squadron-Leader D N Matthews, R.A.F.V.R., M.A., M.D., M.Ch., F.R.C.S., Surgical Specialist, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve; Surgical Officer-in-charge, R.A.F. Plastic Unit; Surgical Chief Assistant, Westminster Hospital, London; etc. 8 3/4 × 5 1/2 in. Pp. 386 + xii, with 198 illustrations, several coloured. 1943. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications Ltd.45s. net British Journal of Surgery, Volume 31, Issue 123, January 1944, Pages 310–311, https://doi.org/10.1002/bjs.18003112331 Published: 06 December 2005