📌 WWII Mulberry Harbour ''Whale Span'' IWM Duxford.
Mulberry Harbours were temporary ''portable harbours'' developed by the British during World War Two to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo onto beaches during the Allied Invasion of Normandy in June 1944. After the Allies successfully held beachheads following D-Day, two prefabricated harbours were taken in sections across the English Channel with the Invading Army and assembled off Omaha Beach (Mulberry ''A'') and Gold Beach (Mulberry ''B'').
The dock piers were code named ''Whales'' these piers were the floating roadways that connected the ''Spud'' pier heads to the land. Designed by Allan Beckett, the roadways were made from innovative torsionally flexible bridging units that had a span of 80ft, mounted on pontoon units of either steel or concrete called ''Beetles''. After the war many of the 'Whale Bridge Spans' from Arromanches were used to repair bombed bridges in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Such units are still visible as a bridge over the Noireau river in Normandy, Meuse River in Vacherauville (Meuse) as a bridge over the Moselle River on road D56 between Cattenom and KÅ“nigsmacker (Moselle) and in Vierville-sur-Mer (Calvados) along road D517. In 1954, some 'Whales' were also used to build two bridges (still visible) in Cameroon along the Edea to Kribi road. In the 1960's, three 'Whale Spans' from Arromanches were used at Ford Dagenham to allow cars to be driven from the assembly line directly onto car-carrying ships. A 'Whale Span' from Mulberry B that was reused after the war at Pont-Farcy was saved from destruction in 2008 by Les Amis du Pont Bailey, a group of English and French volunteers. Seeking a permanent home for the 'Whale Span' the group gifted it to the Imperial War Museum and it was returned to England in July 2015.
The only example of the '‘Whale Span'’ floating roadway section in the United Kingdom which was part of an artificial harbour with huge floating road bridges used to rapidly offload cargo and Troops during the critical Normandy Invasion phase of World War Two. For five months following D-Day 6th June 1944, they landed 2,000,000 Troops, 500,000 vehicles and 4,000,000 tonnes of supplies. Thus it was crucial to the success of the Allies in breaking out from the beaches of Normandy and is widely considered to be one of the greatest engineering feature of World War Two. After conservation work the ''Whale Span'' now features as part of the Land Warfare exhibition at the Imperial War Museum Duxford.
Allan Beckett’s innovative Mulberry Harbour ''Whale Span'' has prominent location alongside the Land Warfare building containing a vast array of World War One and Two heritage equipment, including many other large and small relics from the D-Day Landings. The inauguration ceremony was attended by many of the Beckett family and a large number of interested well wishers.
It was designed by Allan Beckett who was a young Officer in the Royal Engineers during World War Two. The project began with Lt-Col WT Everall almost insisting Beckett to design ‘'piers for flat beaches'’. The bridge had to float up and down with the tides which led to a major problem in his designs. However he was inspired by the mechanism of a kite which uses uplift force in order to rise up. He applied the same principal to the ''Whale Span'' surface which would maximise its buoyancy. Therefore he began his work by making a tin-plate model of his proposed floating roadway, consisting of a lozenge-shaped bridge span and part of an adjacent span to show how the junctions could be made using spherical bearings. When Everall returned from the War Office, he was exultant. The prototype bridge spans were tested at Cairn Head in Scotland. Despite his rivalries, only Beckett’s bridge remained intact and fully workable. After the testing, it was not difficult for the Chiefs of Staff to make a choice. The project successfully ended with his outstanding contribution to the Mulberry Operation.
Sources :- en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulberry_harbour
beckettrankine.com/mulberry-harbour-whale-bridge-span/
BBC Film link :- www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-36004806
📌 WWII Mulberry Harbour ''Whale Span'' IWM Duxford.
Mulberry Harbours were temporary ''portable harbours'' developed by the British during World War Two to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo onto beaches during the Allied Invasion of Normandy in June 1944. After the Allies successfully held beachheads following D-Day, two prefabricated harbours were taken in sections across the English Channel with the Invading Army and assembled off Omaha Beach (Mulberry ''A'') and Gold Beach (Mulberry ''B'').
The dock piers were code named ''Whales'' these piers were the floating roadways that connected the ''Spud'' pier heads to the land. Designed by Allan Beckett, the roadways were made from innovative torsionally flexible bridging units that had a span of 80ft, mounted on pontoon units of either steel or concrete called ''Beetles''. After the war many of the 'Whale Bridge Spans' from Arromanches were used to repair bombed bridges in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Such units are still visible as a bridge over the Noireau river in Normandy, Meuse River in Vacherauville (Meuse) as a bridge over the Moselle River on road D56 between Cattenom and KÅ“nigsmacker (Moselle) and in Vierville-sur-Mer (Calvados) along road D517. In 1954, some 'Whales' were also used to build two bridges (still visible) in Cameroon along the Edea to Kribi road. In the 1960's, three 'Whale Spans' from Arromanches were used at Ford Dagenham to allow cars to be driven from the assembly line directly onto car-carrying ships. A 'Whale Span' from Mulberry B that was reused after the war at Pont-Farcy was saved from destruction in 2008 by Les Amis du Pont Bailey, a group of English and French volunteers. Seeking a permanent home for the 'Whale Span' the group gifted it to the Imperial War Museum and it was returned to England in July 2015.
The only example of the '‘Whale Span'’ floating roadway section in the United Kingdom which was part of an artificial harbour with huge floating road bridges used to rapidly offload cargo and Troops during the critical Normandy Invasion phase of World War Two. For five months following D-Day 6th June 1944, they landed 2,000,000 Troops, 500,000 vehicles and 4,000,000 tonnes of supplies. Thus it was crucial to the success of the Allies in breaking out from the beaches of Normandy and is widely considered to be one of the greatest engineering feature of World War Two. After conservation work the ''Whale Span'' now features as part of the Land Warfare exhibition at the Imperial War Museum Duxford.
Allan Beckett’s innovative Mulberry Harbour ''Whale Span'' has prominent location alongside the Land Warfare building containing a vast array of World War One and Two heritage equipment, including many other large and small relics from the D-Day Landings. The inauguration ceremony was attended by many of the Beckett family and a large number of interested well wishers.
It was designed by Allan Beckett who was a young Officer in the Royal Engineers during World War Two. The project began with Lt-Col WT Everall almost insisting Beckett to design ‘'piers for flat beaches'’. The bridge had to float up and down with the tides which led to a major problem in his designs. However he was inspired by the mechanism of a kite which uses uplift force in order to rise up. He applied the same principal to the ''Whale Span'' surface which would maximise its buoyancy. Therefore he began his work by making a tin-plate model of his proposed floating roadway, consisting of a lozenge-shaped bridge span and part of an adjacent span to show how the junctions could be made using spherical bearings. When Everall returned from the War Office, he was exultant. The prototype bridge spans were tested at Cairn Head in Scotland. Despite his rivalries, only Beckett’s bridge remained intact and fully workable. After the testing, it was not difficult for the Chiefs of Staff to make a choice. The project successfully ended with his outstanding contribution to the Mulberry Operation.
Sources :- en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulberry_harbour
beckettrankine.com/mulberry-harbour-whale-bridge-span/
BBC Film link :- www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-36004806