Alan Nunn May's Political Allegiances

Two years before Bertie flees to the UK, Alan Nunn May has made his political allegiances crystal clear. In 1936, with his PhD safe, he took a lectureship at King's College London and joined the Communist Party. He spends a couple of years teaching at Kings and researching nuclear fission. And with the approach of war, he was seconded to radar development projects on the Suffolk coast. Radar could pick up incoming enemy aircraft at a range of 18 miles and played a crucial role in the Battle of Britain. But there was a dilemma coming for Communists. Many people left the Communist Party, Alan destroyed his party card, but he nevertheless remained a Communist.