Geoffrey Nathaniel Joseph Pyke was

an English journalist, educationalist,

and inventor. During the Second World

War, Pyke proposed the newly invented

material, pykrete, for the construction of

the bergship Habakkuk (Habbakuk). He

even proposed several inventions based

on the use of pykrete and super cooled

water. Due to Pyke‘s earlier disagreements with American personnel on Project Plough, he was excluded from the

planning for Habakkuk in an effort to secure American participation.

Photo: State Library Victoria

„James, there’s something strange about the

name, isn‘t it?“

But the New Zealand officer didn‘t find it

strange.

„Sir, the best Czech fighter was called Kuttelwascher, he flew in the first squadron of the

RAF. „

„Oh my God, really? I can‘t even pronounce

that, I‘d break my tongue.“

„That‘s why he‘s called Kut. And this Clostermann, whom I met in Paris last month, he is

a Frenchman. From Brazil...“

„Oh! Those continental nations have always

been opaque. Well, then, I‘ll call you Eduard,

if you do not mind. Look, since the Soviets

have made you available that means they‘re

no longer interested in you. You didn‘t end up

in Siberia, and you‘re not a spy. We‘ve checked that. You‘re Czechoslovakian, so you‘re

our ally. I‘m suggesting that you needn‘t be

afraid to tell us more or less anything about

what you saw and did in the North. Let‘s start

with what you flew there. Tell me...“

„Nothing extraordinary sir, first the Messerschmitt 109 and when the Russians came

they gave us the Curtiss P-40.“

„So you have experience with both German

and Western equipment and you lasted two

years in polar conditions? That‘s good for us.

How come you joined the Luftwaffe?“

„After the occupation, Žatec was a German

border town, and I signed documents as a

factory pilot for my job that contained something I didn‘t understand properly, and then

it went quickly.“

„Where did you get military flight training?“

„In the Protectorate, sir, basic and fighter.“

„You speak decent English, where did you

study?“

„Self-Study. When you‘re up north for two

years, half the year the sun is shining and half

INFO Eduard - January 2022

the year it‘s night, you have to keep yourself

busy somehow so you don‘t go crazy. We

were also catching the radio from northern

Canada.“

„You didn‘t miss German radio?“

„No, it was unbearable to listen to. There was

always someone shouting madly that the Reich would win, that it had wonder weapons.

And then when that bird killed our commander, I took over and we tuned to Canada. We

also listened to Moscow, where at least it was

clear where the front was. And we also caught

Finnish radio, but nobody understood them.“

„Well, you‘ll soon get to know the Finns. You

mentioned wonder weapons, do you know

anything about them?“

„No sir, just what Goebbels kept shouting at

us from the radio.“

„I read here that you were a factory pilot in

Prague. Did you see anything unusual at the

airports there?“

„And what would something unusual look

like, sir? A Messerschmitt Schwalbe or a Komet is in every magazine a year after the war.“

„Maybe something like a big flying disc...“

„Disk? No, I haven‘t seen anything like that at

Avia.“

„Very well, James will help you deal with the

formalities. I think I‘ll make you happy, you‘re

going to Canada. And the war isn‘t quite over

yet. But you‘ll find out soon enough. „

Downing Street

number 10, July 1946

Churchill finished reading the report and looked at the Foreign Secretary.

„So the Americans don‘t want to use the atomic bomb and the Russians won‘t send us reinforcements. Don‘t they realize what‘s going

on?“

„Mr Prime Minister, the Russians are having

enormous difficulties with supplies, they have

deployed the army. They have no one to send

us.“

„So we‘ve been sending materials and supplies to the Russians all through the war, and

now we‘re on our own like in 1940.“

„Prime Minister, we must take into account

that Russia is again facing famine. The drought has destroyed their crops. We may have

to supply them again. But they have made

some foreign pilots available to us for those

new aircraft carriers. We‘re also trying to get

volunteers from every country, like in 1940.“

„Hmmm, what about the Americans? What

did Truman‘s people say about the bomb?

It would have solved it in one fell swoop. Do

they understand that time is playing against

us?“

„They understand, Prime Minister. They will

make available what they can. But the problem is that the war is officially over and they

have released a lot of people into civilian life. A

lot of vessels have started to be dismantled. „

„Then let them drop the damn bomb!“

„They say it could raise ocean levels, there‘s a

lot of snow and ice. And they also don‘t know

exactly where it‘s going to topple. They‘ve lost

almost all the reconnaissance planes they

sent out there. „

„Do we have any decoded enemy dispatches

from ULTRA yet?“

„Unfortunately not, Prime Minister. What was

intercepted in the South cannot be safely

sent over here.“

„So Bletchley Park is basically useless to us

now and we don‘t really know anything.“

Churchill, in his dressing-gown, leaned back

against the arm of his chair and watched the

glass of whisky as the ice cubes melted in it.

„The Prime Ministers of Australia and New Ze-

aland call me on the phone every day, everything is upside down there. They are horrified

and I don‘t blame them at all. Bloody bastard,

that Hitler. He‘s done it. Too bad Attlee didn‘t

win the election last year, I wonder what he

would have done with this, a civilian!

Lake Patricia, Canada,

August 1946

The seamen ashore loaded a large-caliber

machine gun. The officer supervising them

looked towards the large wooden vessel, then

turned towards the international group of airmen.

„Get down!“

He also hid with them behind a rampart.

„Fire!“

There was the booming sound of a half-inch

machine gun and the barrel began to spit

glowing projectiles into the side of the ship.

But the bullets bounced back. Some sent

a geyser of water into the air or took to the sky

with a scream, others ended up in the protective wall on the shore or whizzed over the

airmen‘s heads into the forest. The roaring

stopped.

„Stand up!“

The astonished group rose from the grass

and dusted off their uniforms.

„What you just saw is a demonstration of the

resilience of a ship made of pykrete,“ the officer announced, enjoying the puzzled expressions on the faces of his temporary subordinates. Then he added: „Pykrete is a mixture of

ice and sawdust. „

There were surprised comments in several

languages.

„Pykrete,“ the officer continued, „has about

half the compressive strength of concrete,

but three times the tensile strength! Questions? Yes, Ensign Kleinkönnig?“

„Sir, but a ship made of ice can‘t work, it

would melt!“

„And what do you see here on the lake, Ensign? Noah‘s Ark? Pykrete has excellent insulating properties. Now, let‘s move back to the

classroom...“

A block of pykrete. The image shows

a 50 mm (2 inch) thick 50% mixture (by

volume using shredded wood mulch) hit

by a single 7.62 x 39 mm rifle round (lower

impact mark) fired from 10 m (30 feet)

which bounced off the surface. It took an

additional 7 rounds (upper penetration

mark) of 7.62 x 39 mm fired from 5 m (15

feet) to penetrate the block.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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