Collection search - [Wallace, F.C. Eric and Vera King Wallace - Interview]

Record information – Brief

1

[Wallace, F.C. Eric and Vera King Wallace - Interview]

Item number (ISN):

441158

Series title:

National Research Council Oral History Project

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1975-09-13

Item number (ISN):

441158

Type of material:

Sound recordings

Found in:

Archives / Film, Video and Sound

Link to this record

Add to My Research

Link to this record

This link identifies the web page describing this particular record. Unlike the temporary link in your browser, this link will allow you to access, and reference, this page in the future. To link to this descriptive record, copy and paste the URL where ever needed (wiki, blog, document).

Sign in

Sign in to start saving records using My Research

Sign in
Record information – Details

Fonds/collection:

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA / CONSEIL NATIONAL DE RECHERCHES DU CANADA

Accession:

1975-0157

Media:

Sound

Part:

2 of 2

Production date:

1975-09-13

Production company:

National Research Council

Production credit:

interviewer, Don Phillipson

Description:

Show detail Hide detail

Interview of Brigadier F.C. Eric Wallace by Don Phillipson. Subjects discussed include: Wallace coming to Canada with mission as British Army radar member, seeking Air to Air radar and Ground to air contracted to NRC; Tizard; Canadian electronics industry in 1940 not equipped for radar and largely U.S. owned; Wallace was in contact on a daily basis with C.D. Howe, one of the ablest men ever known; Wallace remained simultaneously head of NRC Radio Branch and Vice President (Production of REL), and was the first non-scientist to head the NRC unit; Wallace handed over radio Branch to B.G. Ballard; Wallace stayed in Canada postwar since business prospects were better; dissolution of wartime Crown corps, for example Turbo Research Ltd., should have been continued by government but sold to Avro; 268 radar specifications and Wallace assigned Mann to take charge and produce prototype; British saw peacetime need for navigational radar but not Canadians; C.D. Howe was guided by 1945 market needs, for which REL had no designs or tooling; heavy water production in Canada - Crown corporations expected not to compete against private industry; AECL directors warned government against Spevack and against salt water process (corrosion during inevitable temperature shut-downs); interview of Mrs. Vera King Wallace: joined NRC in 1937 as secretary to Dr. Robert Newton; Newton's resignation; Vera worked on Tizard Mission with Doreen Geary in Washington; Whittle jet engines sent to Canada for cold weather tests; security at REL and NRC was tight where all staff including production were vetted by RCMP; council policy and activities; difficulty of small Canadian firms in borrowing risk capital; Wallace had unbroken contact with atomic project since visited Liverpool with john Cockcroft; and Wallace inspected CRNL for Dr. C.J. Mackenzie but could not sit on both AECL (Atomic Energy of Canada Limited) and HAC at the same time. <1h 3mn>

Language:

English

Notes:

Show detail Hide detail

1. Subject description taken from partial transcript in binder, National Research Council Oral History Project, Index R-Z.~2. Part of track 2 of PAC tape 560, and part of track 1 of PAC tape 561. C Tape binder description for tape C560 is missing.~Part of track 2 of PAC tape 561 includes interview of Mrs. Wallace (Vera King).~4. Brigadier F.C. Eric Wallace was a veteran of both world ward and a decorated hero of the famous Dunkirk rescue from the Second World War. After moving to Canada, he became a successful businessman in Georgetown.

Detailed holdings information:

Show detail Hide detail

Vault ISN:

674836

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

C00560

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

R/R

Technical description:

POLY

Made from:

FROM LOANED MATERIAL

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

674837

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

C00561

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

R/R

Technical description:

POLY

Made from:

FROM LOANED MATERIAL

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

1117738

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

441158-C00560.WAV
441158-C00561.WAV

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

BWF

Duration:

62:30

Made from:

C00560

Status:

MASTER
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

GENCAT identity number:

GAD 0FD645

Restrictions on consultation:

open

Copyright status:

Under copyright.

Reproduction access:

With written permission of copyright owner : No donor restrictions. Copyright belongs to the Crown. Credit Library and Archives Canada.

You can order materials in advance to be ready for you when you visit. You will need a user card to do this.

Cannot visit us on site? You can purchase a copy to be sent to you. Some restrictions may apply.