 British engineer Barnes Wallis developed a radical aircraft configuration for high-speed flight, which he regarded as distinct from the conventional fixed-wing aeroplane and called it the wing controlled aerodyne.His previous work on the stability of airships had impressed on him the high control forces that could be exerted on the body of an aircraft, through very small deflections.He conceived of a simple ichthyoid (fish-like) fuselage with a variable wing.