Arthur C Clarke CBE FRAS - RAF Radar Technician/Instructor and post war science fiction author of considerable reputation
Born in 1917 in Minehead, Somerset. During the WW2 Arthur Clarke enlisted in the RAF and trained as a radar technician and worked on the first early warning radars which were part of the UK defence chain during the Battle of Britain and highly advanced technology at the time.
He was chosen to be involved in the testing of the US developed Ground Control Approach radar which was the brainchild of Louis Alvarez and his team.
The first tests in Europe under operational conditions were made at RAF Elsham Wolds in July/August 1943.
Arthur Clarke and Luis Alvarez got on well and became life long friends. The tests proved highly successful and the system was later introduced into operational service with great success post war during the Berlin Airlift.
When the GCA team moved to St Eval in Cornwall Clarke became heavily involved in the project and more so when the Americans returned to the USA. He later became a senior instructor at RAF Honiley and was demobbed in 1946 with the rank of F/L.
After the war Clarke gained a first class degree in mathematics and physics at Kings College London. In 1952 he became a full time science fiction author and is without doubt one of the great writers of this genre - one of the Big Three with Isaac Azimov and Robert Heinlein.
Clarke's most famous work is of course 2001: A Space Odyssey. An unforgettable film and still a classic of its kind.
Clarke's only non science fiction novel is entitled Glide Path which is loosely based on his WW2 work with the GCA system.
The GCA team held a reunion in Boston in 1971 and Arthur Clarke travelled from his home in Sri Lanka to attend.
Clarke was knighted in 2000 and passed away in 2008.
Compiled by David Fell with photos from The Arthur C Clarke Official Website and Atomic Energy Foundation Website.
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