High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, CBEFRS, RDI, FRAeS (26 September 1887 – 30 October 1979), was an English scientist, engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the RAF in Operation Chastise (the "Dambusters" raid) to attack the dams of the Ruhr Valley during World War II. The raid was the subject of the 1954 film The Dam Busters, in which Wallis was played by Michael Redgrave. Among his other inventions were the geodetic airframe and the earthquake bomb.