Gerald Bull

George Bull was from a family from the Trenton area and had moved to North Bay in 1903 to start a law firm.

As a Roman Catholic, LaBrosse would have been forbidden from marrying Bull, an Anglican.

George converted to Roman Catholicism on February 20, 1909, and the two married three days later.

The couple had 10 children.

Gerald Vincent Bull (March 9, 1928 – March 22, 1990 ) was a Canadian engineer who developed long-range artillery.

He moved from project to project in his quest to economically launch a satellite using a huge artillery piece, to which end he designed the Project Babylon "supergun" for Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq.

George Bull was offered the position of King's Counsel in 1928.

The family was well off, but the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and ensuing Great Depression dramatically changed their circumstances.

Within a year the loans Bull had taken to buy stocks on margin were called in, and the family was forced to move to Toronto to look for work.

She died April 1, 1931.

George Bull suffered a nervous breakdown and fell into heavy drinking; he left his children in the care of his sister Laura, who fell victim to cancer and died in mid-1934.

The next year, banks foreclosed on the family home.

The same year, George, at the age of 58, met and married Rose Bleeker.

He gave up the children to various relatives: Gerald ending up living with his older sister Bernice.

In 1938, Gerald was sent to spend the summer holidays with his uncle and aunt, Philip and Edith LaBrosse (Philip was the younger brother of Gerald's mother, Gertrude).

During the Depression, Phil and Edith had won about $175,000 in the Irish Sweepstakes, and were relatively well off.

Gerald was sent to an all-boys Jesuit school, Regiopolis College, Kingston, Ontario.

Although too young to attend, the school allowed him to start in 1938 and he returned to spend the summers with the LaBrosses.

During this time he took up the hobby of building balsa wood airplanes of his own design, and was a member of the school's modelling club.

He graduated in 1944.

After graduating, Bull entered Queen's University, with hopes of eventually entering military officers' training school.

Philip LaBrosse visited the University of Toronto with the intention of having Bull placed there.

He wrote to Bull, who was in Kingston, having found room in the medical school.

Bull declined the offer and instead asked LaBrosse if a position in the new aeronautical engineering course was available.

The department, being brand new, had limited qualifying criteria for entrance and agreed to interview Bull even though he was only sixteen years old – and he was accepted into the undergraduate program.

Records and recollections of both classmates and his professors show little evidence of Bull's brilliance; one professor noted that "He certainly didn't stand out".

After graduating in 1948, with marks that were described as "strictly average", Bull took a drafting job at A.V. Roe Canada.

Later that year, the University of Toronto opened a new Institute of Aerodynamics (now the Institute for Aerospace Studies) under the direction of Dr. Gordon Patterson.

The Institute could afford to employ twelve students, accepting three per year for a four-year period, and was funded by the Defence Research Board (DRB).

Bull applied and was accepted at Patterson's personal recommendation, as Patterson felt that any lack in academics was made up for by Bull's tremendous energy.

Bull was soon assigned to work with fellow student Doug Henshaw, and the two were given the task of building a supersonic wind tunnel, which was at that time a relatively rare device.

When the Royal Canadian Air Force donated land adjacent to RCAF Station Downsview to the institute, the operations were quickly moved.

During construction, Bull used the wind tunnel as the basis for his September 15, 1949 Master's thesis, on the design and construction of advanced wind tunnels.

The tunnel was to be featured prominently during the opening of the new Institute grounds, leading to an all-night rush to get it fully operational in time for the presentation.

The work was completed at 3:30 am, but the team was too exhausted to test it.

Bull was assassinated outside his apartment in Brussels, Belgium, in March 1990.

His assassination is believed to be the work of the Mossad over his work for the Iraqi government.

No person has ever been charged with the murder of Bull.

Bull was born in North Bay, Ontario, Canada, to George L. Toussaint Bull, a solicitor, and Gertrude Isabelle (née LaBrosse) Bull.

The next year Gertrude Bull suffered complications while giving birth to her 10th child, Gordon.