Tizard, Sir Henry, 1885-1959

Tizard was a British scientist and an important adviser to the government throughout the war. From 1933 he was chairman of the Aeronautical Research Committee and was one of the pioneers in the development of operational radar, a technique of great importance to the war effort. He was also a member of many other committees which dealt with air warfare. He served as scientific adviser to the Chief of Air Staff for the first year of the war, but resigned this and most of his other posts in June 1940 because of his opposition to Lindemann (known as Lord CHERWELL), the scientific adviser to the new CHURCHILL government.

Nonetheless Tizard was active throughout the war. He led a group of scientists to America to initiate profitable Anglo-American scientific cooperation for war purposes. From June 1941 he represented the Ministry of Aircraft Production on the Air Council. In 1943 he spent three months in Australia giving advice on the use of scientific techniques. Later in the war he was a strong opponent of Lindemann’s and Churchill’s advocacy of area bombing of German towns, believing this to be less successful than more limited operations such as those waged against the U-Boats.