When’s a Gale a Gale? Understanding Wind as an Energetic Force in Mid-Twentieth Century Britain
Journal: Environmental History
Year: 2021

After the Second World War, the British state became interested in the potential of wind as an energy source. Over a period of twenty years, from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s, scientific and non-scientific communities surveyed airspaces and landscapes to produce the first national wind survey of Britain. This work informed the development and siting of the first wind turbine connected to public electricity supply, in Orkney, Scotland, in 1951. Meteorologists, physicists, and engineers develope