The Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development (DMWD), also known as the Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapon Development and colloquially known as the ''Wheezers and Dodgers'', was a department of the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom that was responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Historically, its titular head was the Lord High Admiral of the ...

responsible for the development of various unconventional weapons during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

History

The Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapon Development was a temporary wartime body which developed in 1941 from the Inspectorate of Anti-Aircraft Weapons and Devices, set up in 1940 (an office of Admiral James Somerville) which was corrupted to "Instigator of Anti-Aircraft Wheezes and Dodges" to advance

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

and other devices for anti-aircraft and other purposes. Charles Goodeve was responsible for its expansion from an Inspectorate and widening of its role. Among the staff were Lieutenant-Commander N. S. Norway,

RNVR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two Volunteer Reserves (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve (United Kingdom), ...

(better known by his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Nevil Shute Nevil Shute Norway (17 January 189912 January 1960) was an English novelist and aeronautical engineer who spent his later years in Australia. He used his full name in his engineering career and Nevil Shute as his pen name to protect his enginee ...

); Lt-Cdr

Edward Terrell Edward Terrell (1902–1979) was a British Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician, a successful barrister and magistrate with a flair for invention; by 1940 he had registered a number of patents relating to pens, ink bottles and peeling knives ...

RNVR, who developed plastic armour for ships and tanks and who left in late 1941 to join the First Sea Lord's staff; renowned motor racing photographer Louis Klemantaski; and

Barnes Wallis Sir Barnes Neville Wallis (26 September 1887 – 30 October 1979) was an English engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the Royal Air Force in Operation Chastise (the "Dambusters" raid) to attack ...

, inventor of the Upkeep dam-busting bomb.

Directors of Miscellaneous Weapons Development

Included: * Captain G.O.C. Davies (known as Jock Davies), 1941-1943 who came from the

Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed on 1 August 1939 by the Ministry of Supply Act 1939 ( 2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 38) to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Ministe ...

.Terrell ''Admiralty Brief'' p107 * Captain F.W.H. Jeans, CVO, ADC, 1943-1945 who came from the Admiralty in Washington. (1)(5).

Projects

DMWD was responsible for a number of devices of varying practicality and success, many of which were based on solid-fuel rocket propulsion. As might be expected of a small, dynamic and highly experimental group, their efforts had mixed results, notable among which were the Panjandrum rocket-propelled beach defence demolition weapon and Hajile, a rocket-powered alternative to parachutes for dropping

materiel Materiel or matériel (; ) is supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commerce, commercial supply chain management, supply chain context. Military In a military context, ...

. A scheme to camouflage bodies of water, used as navigation markers by bombers, was undertaken by a group named the " Kentucky Minstrels". It involved spreading

coal dust Coal dust is a fine-powdered form of coal which is created by the crushing, grinding, or pulverizer, pulverization of coal rock. Because of the brittle nature of coal, coal dust can be created by mining, transporting, or mechanically handling it. ...

from a ship, ironically named HMS ''

Persil Persil (, ) is a German brand of laundry detergent manufactured and marketed by Henkel around the world except in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Latin America (except Mexico), China, Australia and New Zealand, where it is manufactured an ...

''. The scheme failed due to the actions of the wind and tides, but did produce some confusion when the coal-covered waters were mistaken for tarmac in the blackout. The most successful and significant developments of the department included the

Hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction. The ...

anti-submarine weapon and

Squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...

anti-submarine mortar, as well as the

Holman Projector The Holman Projector was an anti-aircraft warfare, anti-aircraft weapon used by the Royal Navy during World War II, primarily between early 1940 and late 1941. The weapon was proposed and designed by Holman Bros Ltd, Holmans, a machine tool manuf ...

, the development of an Army anti-aircraft rocket battery designed to be mountable on naval vessels, and the system of

degaussing Degaussing, or deperming, is the process of decreasing or eliminating a remnant magnetic field. It is named after the gauss, a unit of magnetism, which in turn was named after Carl Friedrich Gauss. Due to magnetic hysteresis, it is generally not ...

used to protect ships against

magnetic mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are deposited and left ...

s. Above all, it played an important role in developing parts of the

Mulberry harbour The Mulberry harbours were two temporary portable harbours developed by the Admiralty (United Kingdom), British Admiralty and War Office during the Second World War to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo onto beaches during the Allies of ...

used in the

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

landings. Hedgehog was developed after the 29mm spigot mortar anti-tank weapon designed by Lt-Col Stewart Blacker were shown to the DMWD by MD1 ("Churchill's Toyshop"). Several experimental weapons were trialled at Brean Down Fort, a satellite unit of HMS ''Birnbeck'' (Birnbeck pier taken over as a base for DMWD) in

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the North Somerset unitary district, in the county of Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. Its population ...

North Somerset North Somerset is a unitary authorities of England, unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. The council is based in Weston-super-Mare, the area's largest town. The district also contains the towns of Clevedon, Nailsea ...

. Some of the better-known weapons trialled were the seaborne

bouncing bomb A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be predeterm ...

, designed specifically to bounce to a target such as across water to avoid torpedo nets, the

anti-submarine missile An anti-submarine missile is a standoff missile, standoff anti-submarine weapon, often a specialized variant of anti-ship missile. Anti-submarine missiles usually include a jet engine, jet or rocket engine, rocket engine and a warhead aimed di ...

AMUCK, and the expendable acoustic emitter designed to confuse noise-seeking torpedoes.

References

*This article contains some copied text from a compatible Open Government Licence for: Admiralty: Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapon Development: Reports and Papers, The National Archives, 1940-1946, ADM 277, http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1985. * *Admiralty Miscellaneous Weapons Development Department: anti-submarine multi spigot projector, discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk, National Archives, 1941-1945, ADM 116/5256.

External links

Biography of Sir Charles GoodeveNevil Shute and the DMWD
presented at the Nevil Shute Reunion meeting York, May 15–16, 2004
Victorian Forts data sheet on Brean Down Fort
{{DEFAULTSORT:Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development Admiralty departments World War II naval weapons Weapon development 1941 establishments in the United Kingdom 1945 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Science and technology in the United Kingdom Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II Government agencies established in 1941 Government agencies disestablished in 1945