Ex-brat Stories.
Joe Bosher. (at the
Tribute, Golden Graduation)
I left the RAF in 1961 and joined Blackburn Aircraft Limited as a Junior Designer (posh name for a design draughtsman) to work on the design of the TSR2 - which never happened. I was retained to work on the design of the Buccaneer S Mk 2 and the S.A version.
Made redundant in 1964. Then a fill in draughtsman's job at Kirkstall Forge in Leeds before leading a small climbing expedition to Iceland for the Yorkshire Mountaineering Club. Excellent place - Iceland! Returned and took a year off just travelling around and various climbing and mountaineering activities.
Money ran out so I trained as a teacher and taught maths and tech drawing in secondary schools until I got sick of it. Recruited into the Nuclear Power Industry with NEI of Gateshead on Tyne. Initially as a draughtsman with day release to take a B Sc. Mathematics degree at Newcastle Polytechnic. On graduating I joined the "elite" Mathematical Modelling Section"
Most of the work involved solving simultaneous differential and partial differential equations. But this was well taught at the Polytechnic, so I was familiar with most of the numerical methods used. Then we used a plant modelling computer program given to us by a Ph.D. graduate and were able to run nuclear power station models dynamically from the steady state conditions found by the traditional numerical methods. My boss was an expert at systems control and I did the computer work. My only claim to fame was a computer model of heat radiation in a furnace by the "Monte Carlo" method.
I remember having trouble developing a true random number generator. Unfortunately, this put my boss off the idea he was very old fashioned and did not trust statistical approaches to engineering and so it was dumped. But it worked!
In 1970 I got married, it lasted for twelve years and I have one son, David - then she ran off with an Irishman and left me with the boy. Again, redundancy and many years of contract work from draughting to mathematical modelling but nothing to compare with NEI.
Most of my interest was now centred on rock climbing with the result that the Borrowdale Climbing Guide contains about 30 of my rock climbs including a number of extreme routes. Then I retired early at age 60. Painted, drew pictures and did mountaineering. I gave up rock climbing because I knew my technical standard was dropping and I realised that "there comes a time". And I still have my other interests. Including "Semantic Web" Design.
Joe Bosher (74th).