Ralph Alger Bagnold
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Ralph Alger Bagnold, FRS, (April 3, 1896 – May 28, 1990) was the founder and first commander of the British Army's Long Range Desert Group during World War II. He is also generally considered to have been a pioneer of desert exploration, an acclaim earned for his activities during the 1930s. These included the first recorded east-west crossing of the Libyan Desert (1932). Bagnold was also a veteran of World War I. He held a degree in engineering. He laid the foundations for the research on sand transport by wind in his influential book The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes (1941), which is still a main reference in the field. It has, for instance, been used by NASA in studying sand dunes on Mars. He was a fellow of the Royal Society from 1944.
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[edit] Early life
Bagnold was the son of an officer in the British Royal Engineers. His father participated in the rescue expedition 1884 - 1985 to save General Gordon in Khartoum. His sister was the novelist and playwright Enid Bagnold. In 1915 the younger Bagnold followed in his father's footsteps and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers. He spent three years in the trenches in France. After the war he studied at Cambridge University before returning to active duty in 1921. He served in Cairo and India and in both of these locations he spent much of his leave exploring the local deserts. One such expedition in 1929 was mounted using Ford Model T automobiles to search for the mythical city of Zerzura in the desert west of the Nile. He left the Army in 1935.
[edit] Desert innovation
He is credited with developing a sun compass, which is not affected by the large iron ore deposits found in the desert areas or by metal vehicles as a magnetic compass might be. During the 1930s his group also began the practice of reducing tire pressure when driving over loose sand.
In addition, Bagnold is credited with discovering a method of driving over the large sand dunes found in the "sand seas" of the Libyan Desert. He wrote, "I increased speed... A huge glaring wall of yellow shot up high into the sky. The lorry tipped violently backwards - and we rose as in a lift, smoothly without vibration. We floated up on a yellow cloud. All the accustomed car movements had ceased; only the speedometer told us we were still moving fast. It was incredible..." However, noted Fitzroy Maclean, "too much dash had its penalties. Many of the dunes fell away sharply at the far side and if you arrived at the top at full speed, you were likely to plunge headlong over the precipice...and end up with your truck upside down on top of you."
[edit] World War II
Bagnold wrote, "Never in our peacetime travels had we imagined that war could ever reach the enormous empty solitudes of the inner desert, walled off by sheer distance, lack of water, and impassable seas of sand dunes. Little did we dream that any of the special equipment and techniques we had evolved for very long-distance travel, and for navigation, would ever be put to serious use."
When Italy declared war on Britain, Bagnold was in Cairo by the pure accident of a troopship collision. He requested an interview with General Wavell and asked permission to create a mobile scouting force. Wavell asked him what he would do if he found the Italians were not doing anything in the desert, Bagnold then suggested that his unit might be able to commit acts of "piracy". Bagnold was given six weeks to form his unit under the conditions that any request he might make of "should be met instantly and without question." This unit would become the Long Range Desert Group.
Bagnold left the unit on July 1, 1941 to serve in Cairo as a Colonel.
