Memories of the Bureau, 1946 to 1962
Foreword
Terminology
Prologue
Preface
Chapter 1: The Warren Years, 1946 to 1950
Warren the Man
Warren Joins the Bureau
Wartime Perceptions and Attitudes
Return to Civvy Street
Frosterley
People in the Bureau
Re-establishing and Reorganising the Bureau
Reorganisation of Central Office
The Position of Chief Scientific Officer
Post-War Reorganisation
The Haldane Story
Public Weather Services
The New South Wales Divisional Office
The Victorian Divisional Office
The Queensland Divisional Office
The South Australian Divisional Office
The Western Australian Divisional Office
The Tasmanian Divisional Office
Pre-war Services for Civil Aviation
Post-War Meteorological Service for Aviation
Indian Ocean Survey Flight
The Aviation Field Staff
Synoptic Analysis, Prognosis and Forecasting
Antarctic and Southern Ocean Meteorology
A Wider Scientific Horizon
Research, Development and Special Investigations
Analysts' Conference, April 1950
Instruments and Observations
Radiosondes
Radar Winds and Radar Weather Watch
Telecommunications
Climate and Statistics
Training
Publications
CSIRO
The Universities
Achievements of the Warren Years
Chapter 2: International Meteorology
Chapter 3: The Timcke Years, 1950 to 1955
Chapter 4: A Year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Chapter 5: The Dwyer Years, 1955 to 1962
Chapter 6: A Springboard for the Future
Appendix 1: References
Appendix 2: Reports, Papers, Manuscripts
Appendix 3: Milestones
Appendix 4: Acknowledgements
Appendix 5: Summary by H. N. Warren of the Operation of the Meteorological Section of Allied Air Headquarters, Brisbane, 1942–45
Endnotes
Index
Search
Help
Contact us
Radar Winds and Radar Weather Watch
The reminiscences of Cornish (1996), Stout (1996) and Cassidy (1994) provide useful information on the introduction of radar into the Bureau's observational network. Through the courtesy of Don Handcock I have had access to unpublished notes by Bill Brann (1986) which also contain valuable facts.All these sources mention the use of radar for wind-finding during the war. This came as a surprise to me as I cannot recall the availability of radar winds at that time. One explanation is the cloak of secrecy which enshrouded the use of radar. The initiatives of Cornish and other Bureau staff to use radar for wind-finding during the war were not encouraged by Timcke.
As Cornish (1996) reports, Warren's acquisition of the surplus Royal Navy 277 radars in 1948 caused Cornish some concern about their suitability for wind-finding. This led to their disagreement and the departure of Cornish from the Bureau.
I now refer to the reminiscences of Max Cassidy (1994).
Max joined the Bureau in 1937 as a clerk at a time when the need was recognised to recruit bright secondary school students and encourage them to undertake university study with the object of obtaining a degree in science with majors in mathematics and natural philosophy (physics).
His parents were intelligent, hard-working people. His mother was an academically brilliant student in mathematics and literature, while his father was a PMG technician whose career took the family to various locations in Victoria.
People in Bright Sparcs - Brann, Harold Walter Allen Neale (Bill); Cornish, Allan William; Handcock, Don; Stout, Reginald William (Reg); Timcke, Edward Waldemar; Warren, Herbert Norman
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