Francis Jones

Who was Francis Jones?

Francis "Frank" Edgar Jones, FRS, MBE was a British physicist who co-developed the OBOE blind bombing system.

He was born in Wolverhampton, the son of a teacher. In 1921 the family moved to Dagenham, Essex, where he attended the Royal Liberty School at Romford.

During World War II Jones worked in the Telecommunications Research Establishment and collaborated with Alec Harley Reeves to develop the Oboe blind bombing system. After the war he directed investigations in the Basic Research Division of TRE on the detection and properties of infra-red and millimetre-wave radiation. He also made very accurate measurements of propagation velocity of electro-magnetic radiation at radio frequencies and studied applications of radar in meteorology. He became Deputy Head of the Division

In 1953, as Chief Scientific Officer and Deputy Director, Royal Aircraft Establishment, he initiated joint rocket programme with Royal Society for exploration of upper atmosphere and, together with Desmond King-Hele, studied the orbits of artificial satellites. In 1957 he was co-author with R.A. Smith and R.P. Chasmar of The Detection and Measurement of Infra-Red Radiation.