Eugene Emile "Tubby" VielleOBE (29 April 1913 – 2 April 2015) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) officer who was involved in the development of new navigation and bombing systems during World War II. Vielle believed that his ideas for the "Vielle Bombing System" with a television camera in the nose, developed after the war, was the basis of the development of the cruise missile. It was reported by the Wiltshire Times that he flew as many as 150 different types of aircraft during his career.
Early life
Eugene Emile Vielle was born on 29 April 1913 in the Lambeth district of London. His early education was at Dulwich College.[1]
Royal Air Force
The Bristol Bulldog.HMS Courageous.Handley Page H.P.42.
In August 1937, Vielle joined the Ferry Flight at RAF Cardington where he had the chance to fly many different types of aircraft and began to develop his interest in navigation and flying by instruments. He attended the air force's Specialist Navigation Course in 1939 and joined the Instrument Department of the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough the same year.[1]
During December 1939 he piloted one of the three remaining Handley Page H.P.42 biplane airliners which were pressed into service at the beginning of World War 2. When the airplane developed engine trouble—- possibly due to icing in the engine cowlings due to the frigid polar air over RAF Lakenheath—- he was forced to parachute from the aircraft. He landed awkwardly in a sheep farmer's field adjacent the runway, breaking both legs.[5] He had flown the airplane from Cairo, with at least one stop for fuel at Gibraltar, prior to the incident.[5] The German invasion of Poland had already occurred during September 1939,[6] so Vielle's flight plan specified a more circuitous route. Rather than taking a dangerous direct line crossing mainland Europe, he flew along the north African Mediterranean coast, finally vectoring to the north at Gibraltar and then to Britain along the Portuguese, Spanish, and French Atlantic coasts.[5] At the time, Britain was retrieving far-flung aircraft—- both military and civilian—- from distant bases and airfields for the looming war against Nazi Germany that would begin in earnest in June 1940 with the Battle of Britain.[5][7]
During World War 2 he was involved in the development of new navigation and bombing systems and came to believe that three of his colleagues at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough were Soviet agents, conspiring to hamper the British war effort.[8] During 1950, he took his ideas for the "Vielle Bombing System", with a television camera in the nose, to the United States[9] and he believed that his system was the basis for the development of the cruise missile.[1] Vielle retired from the Royal Air Force in 1957 as a group captain. In May 2013, the Wiltshire Times reported that he flew in 150 different types of aircraft during his career.[4]
Life after the RAF
After his retirement from the RAF, Vielle initiated an avionics company, Avel Corporation, to develop an aircraft anti-collision system and began to write novels.[1] He also began to write his memoirs in 1962 but did not publish them until 2013, as Almost a Boffin, as he felt too much of the content was confidential.[1][10]
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