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Family from Bath area, father died in Great War. Schooling sponsered by local benefactor. Read physics at Oxford, PhD at Durham (hated the place). Returned to Oxford for minor post-graduate research position in gravitational physics.
Failed physical for army at outbreak of WWII, but seconded to Aldermaston Air Base for weapons research. Starts to receive white feathers with newspaper; this continues throughout the war.
Early projects at Burchfield/Aldermastern combine explosive shockwaves with targeted acoustic weaponry come to an abrupt halt after a fatal accident. No charges brought to bear, but Thompson is summarily transfered to Morris Motors in Oxford as a junior inspector in the torpedo manufacturing process there.
Bored and frustrated with his position, Thompson regularly applies to SOE. His assumption that a subsequent phonecall requesting his participation in a 'mission' was a form of recruitment for the SOE is only partially correct. |
