Mr Christopher F. Armstrong, OBE (Civil Engineering 1928)

Provided by Dinah Hinton

Christopher Armstrong, on completing civil engineering studies at Imperial College London, pursued a career in road construction.

A post with the County Surveyor in Oxford in 1929 on a road experiment sponsored by the Ministry of Transport led to an appointment with the Ministry's Experimental Branch at Whitehall Gardens HQ in 1935. His work with the County Surveyor in Oxford included designing the 'staggered junction' at various dangerous crossroads. In April 1937, newly married and on honeymoon, Christopher's first official visit abroad was to inspect the construction of the Reichautobahn at Kaiserslautern in Germany.

He worked closely with the Road Research Laboratory and developed an interest in soil mechanics. He was author of a pioneer book on the subject published by Edward Arnold in 1950 with a second edition published in 1961; Soil Mechanics in Road Construction (Vol. 10 Roadmakers' Library).

During the war various tactics to confuse the enemy should they invade were brought into play. These included uprooting rural road signs at junctions and camouflage.
Almost all the airfields being built in the eastern counties had concrete runways and hard standings, making camouflage of their surfaces and airfIeld buildings of vital importance. The runways were sprayed with tar and a choice of approved dark stone, the giant airship hangars painted to look like a row of houses in an attempt to disguise their outline. In 1946 he made another visit of inspection of the Reichautobahn under the auspices of the British Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee.
 
After the Second World War civil engineering projects in the colonies were being encouraged by the government of the day. In 1947 Christopher sought permission and was granted 'approved employment' with the Public Works Department in Kenya to help improve the road transport system. On his return to the UK he spent four years with the Ministry of Transport South Western Division in Exeter. On promotion in 1956 he returned to headquarters in London in charge of the new Specifications and Materials Branch updating ministry requirements for design and construction of motorways and trunk roads.
 
Christopher gave many papers on soil mechanics and attended international conferences, sitting on two international committees. In 1964 his work was recognised by being awarded the OBE. He was a chartered civil engineer, and was made a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers having first been an associate, and then a member, for 50 years.

His working life is recorded, first in a self-publication entitled Highwayman, and later in The Chosen Road.