RAF Langham Dome - where Virtual Reality started
Tue, Apr 6th 2021 at 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Speaker: Dr Allan Parker
Speaker Host : Robin Davies
Langham Dome was built in 1942 on the eastern edge of the former Royal Air Force Station – RAF Langham – on the North Norfolk coast.
The Dome was a state-of-the-art AA (anti-aircraft) gunnery trainer. Standing 25 ft tall and some 40 ft wide, its wartime use was as a training facility for anti-aircraft gunners in ground-to-air anti-aircraft defence.
Langham Dome is one of only six such WW2 gunnery trainers left in existence in 2014, although 40 were built. Today it is a Scheduled Ancient Monument – reputedly the youngest ancient monument in the UK – and is owned by the North Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust. With the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Trust and The Friends of Langham Dome (a group established to preserve the building for future generations) have worked together to repair, restore and reopen the Dome as a visitor centre to tell its fascinating but almost forgotten story.
Allan Parker has a BSc and PhD in Aeronautical Engineering from Queen Mary College, London.
Following an early career in academia and offshore research in the USA and UK, Allan’s leadership and management achievements led him into senior management roles in the manufacturing, systems, automotive and aerospace industries, before joining The Performance SolutionTM as a Director and shareholder in 2004 and founding Hanwell Consulting. He has developed an expertise in the fields of executive coaching and change management applied to organisations, teams and individuals at Senior Management/ Director level.
He helps people and organisations that are going through major change, helping people to develop their knowledge and understanding of complex, diverse and multicultural organisations and to apply this knowledge to achieving their goals.
When not working he can be found enjoying the open roads of southwest France in his Citroen 2CV.
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