Robert Lochner ( engineer ) Robert Lochner MBE ( 1904 – 1965 ) was the inventor of The Bombardon Breakwater , an integral part of the Mulberry Harbour , which helped the successful invasion of the Normandy Beaches in June 1944 . " Background . Before the war , Lochner was a qualified engineer , he worked for 14 years for Crompton Parkinson Ltd in design , production and sales positions , before taking up an appointment as sales manager for Laurence , Scott & Electromotors Ltd , moving to Rats Castle at about the same time . He was also a keen amateur sailor , and proud owner of his own sailing boat , the Odette . Amongst other achievements , he successfully completed the 208 - mile RORC race in 1939 . War research . With war imminent , on 30 August 1939 , he wrote to Admiral Lawrence volunteering his services as an experienced sailor and successful manager and was commissioned within 18 days . His days at sea came to an abrupt end when he was spotted in his glasses on board ship , and reassigned to research efforts . With the onset of war the admiralty was seriously concerned by Germany ’ s magnetic mines , which attached to ships ’ hulls and sank 15 ships in short order . However , the defusing of a mine dropped by aircraft at Shoeburyness in November allowed a solution to be developed within one week . Lochner was assigned to the research efforts . Together with a team of fellow scientists , he invented the degaussing girdle , a skirt fitted to the hulls of ships , and energized by a special electrical current which countered the threat from these mines securing the future of the north Atlantic convoys on which Britain ’ s war effort depended . In 1944 France was occupied by the Nazi s , the Allied Forces hatched a plan to attack the Germans on French soil . D - Day would not have been possible , due to the rough seas if it wasn ’ t for one major element , the Mulberry Harbour . One of the major challenges facing the D - Day landings was to secure a European port for the delivery of essential supplies . But instead of capturing an existing port , the Allies decided on an audacious plan to build temporary harbors off the coast of Normandy . The big challenge in the rough seas of the English channel was to create a breakwater to protect the concrete landings from the vicious waves and Robert Lochner was the man chosen by Churchill to lead a group of scientists known as The Wheezers And Dodgers to solve this challenge . The Wheezers And Dodgers , under Lochner ' s leadership where to play a critical role in winning the war . Bombardon Breakwater . Recovering from flu at the family home in Haslemere in the spring of 1943 , he had an inspiration . While sitting in the bath playing with his hand flannel he noticed that when he made waves on one side of the flannel , on the other side the waters were calm . He jumped out of the bath , dressed and grabbed an old rubber lilo and formed a ' keel ' by bending it lengthways and sewing the two sides together . Then , with the help of his wife , Mary Lochner , they made waves on one side with a spade and experimented all day in the family pond until he found that waves only exert their force to a relatively shallow depth , completely revolutionising the approach to the solution . By July 1943 a mathematical theory to support the approach had been evolved and in August 1943 experiments began in Portsmouth . The Breakwaters were and , with gigantic airbags divided into three compartments separated by canvas walls proofed with rubber . Later that summer , Lochner and his fellow scientists flew to Canada for the Quebec Conference to report the progress of the harbours to Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill . The decision to go ahead was taken and full - scale trials of the floating breakwater started in April 1944 . During the trial , an onshore gale produced heavy seas , but Robert ' s bombardons calmed the waves effectively . Assembling two Mulberry harbours the day after the landings on 7 July 1944 was one of the most remarkable engineering feats in history . A total of 1 , 500 , 000 tons of harbour equipment had to be brought across the channel in an operation involving 150 Allied tugs , and by D - Day ' plus 12 ' , most of Lochner ' s concrete breakwaters were in position . On 23 July , Churchill visited the harbours and on his return stated : " " This miraculous port has played and will continue to play a most important part in the liberation of Europe " . " As a reward for his war efforts for the Mulberry Harbour , he received the remarkable sum of £5 , 000 . After the war , Lochner had a third career , qualifying and practicing as a successful patent and trademark barrister . He was due to be appointed as a Queen ' s Counsel at the time of his death .