How the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain Adapted When the Aeroplane Went from Theory to Practice, 1896-1927

Journal of Aeronautical History Paper 2020/07 Gentlemen and players? How the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain adapted when the aeroplane went from theory to practice, 1896-1927 Tony Pilmer, National Aerospace Library ABSTRACT In 1896, the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain was at the point of collapse. The learned society had lost its ageing founding secretary and had been reduced to a rump of 31 gentlemen- scientists seeking man’s dream to conquer flight. Just over 30 years later it had become 1,239 strong and, as the Royal Aeronautical Society, the professional institute for the engineers, scientists and pilots who had designed, built and flown machines around the world. This paper explores the bumpy road on which the Society travelled when aeronautics evolved from a much-lampooned science for amateurs to a profession and an industry that inspired the world. The journey also shows how a Society which dominated a scientific backwater became one of many jostling organisations inextricably linked to a dynamic industry that rapidly expanded and then was revolutionised by war, before being brought to a sudden halt in peace. At the heart of this story is the natural tensions created between, to borrow a cricketing analogy, the Gentlemen scientists and the engineering Players. 1. INTRODUCTION As Wilbur and Orville Wright took their first flights over the sands of Kitty Hawk in 1903, the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain was a band of 100 ladies and gentlemen who considered the theoretical challenges that held back man’s dream of conquering flight, and who were often ridiculed for chasing an impossible dream. By 1929 the Royal Aeronautical Society was 1,239 strong, with members who had designed and flown machines around the world. Cutting edge science advanced from the aerodynamic lessons learnt from throwing models from a bedroom window to exploring the generation of vortices in fluids of small viscosity. At the same time, the aeronautical industry went from being a handful of people stitching balloons to one that, in the heat of war, would produce 2,669 machines a month.(1) In this paper I will be exploring the bumpy road along which the Society travelled during a period when man achieved the Society’s first aim, to conquer flight, how it adapted when it ‘passed from the dreamers in the laboratory into the realms of practice’ (2) and when interest in aeronautics exploded and it became a national obsession; a process in which the Society felt the ups and downs of the aeronautical industry and the intrinsic tensions between being a learned and professional society. 212 Journal of Aeronautical History Paper 2020/06 2. REBUILDING THE SOCIETY, 1896-1903 The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain nearly did not survive long enough to see the first powered flight. As the editorial in the first issue of the Aeronautical Journal pointed out, “during the last few years this Society has been in a somewhat morbid and languishing condition. It may be compared to a sick child, who sinks until he is on the very verge of death …… The Society still lingered on, till last year, when a few members of the Council at last met together, and on 30 November [1896] it was decided to endeavour to resuscitate the Society, and see what could be done to place it on a usual footing.” (3) Though put dramatically, the editorial did not underestimate the challenge. The Society’s annual publication, The Annual Reports of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, had not been published since 1893, membership had dwindled to 31(4) and, at the first Council meeting since the death of their founding Secretary, F. W. Brearey, there were only three people sitting around the table. Six other members of Council had sent in their resignations and the two remaining members of the Society’s ruling body did not turn up, a situation that would surely put a shudder down the spine of any Committee member today. The meeting agreed that the only thing to be done was to appoint a new Chair, Secretary and a third man to look after the books and papers, and then start rebuilding the Society. The Society was fortunate to attract a core of dedicated committee members to serve on its Council. The 36 year old Captain, soon to become Major, B. F. S. Baden-Powell of the Scots Guards was a pioneer in the use of man lifting kites for military purposes, who continued his passion into the era of mechanical flight and was the second Englishman to go up in an aeroplane with Wilbur Wright (Figure 1). From his place on the Aeronautical Society’s Council and through his prodigious letter-writing he collected and disseminated information on cutting-edge aeronautical research, covering not just British pioneers, but figures such as Octave Chanute, Samuel Langley and the Wright Brothers in the USA.(5) He was a man of exceptional energy, a characteristic which he shared with others of his family, for his half- brother was Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scout movement. Over the next decade he would use this energy in the service of the Society, starting as Secretary and editor of the Journal and, from 1900 to 1906, serving as President.(6) He was always a strong voice on Council and someone who would not only suggest projects, but run them and, if required, help to fund them. So strong were his beliefs, that he would resign from Council and the Society if he Figure 1. Major BFS Baden-Powell and Wilbur Wright disagreed strongly enough with a after the flight at Camp d’Auvours, 8 October 1908. decision, though he was always (RAeS/NAL) 213 Journal of Aeronautical History Paper 2020/06 persuaded to retract his resignation. The second figure around the table was E. P. Frost JP. Frost was described as a ‘typical country squire, rather than a scientific engineer’,(7) but also as a ‘real explorer’.(8) Frost was fascinated by bird flight and birds’ feathers and went on to spend vast amounts of money on developing an ornithopter with artificial feathered wings (Figure 2). In later years he said that he ‘always wished to remain a silent member of this Society, but a working one’.(9) He failed to retain a silent role, taking over as President and chair of Council after Baden- Powell stepped down in 1906, a post he would retain until 1911. The third member of the trio who met in November 1896 was E. A. Barry Esq JP FSA. Barry had lectured before the Society in the 1880s and had acted as a juror at the Society’s 1885 Exhibition and would continue Figure 2. E. P. Frost’s Quadriplane with a 5 hp engine to attend Council meetings 1877. (RAeS/NAL) during the next decade or so. One of the two absentee members of Council returned to make an important contribution during the following few years. Major H. C. Roberts of the Madras Infantry joined the Society in 1868 and was ‘a quiet worker who would always give his time to the Society, be present in an emergency, to fill an empty place, to give the benefit of his experience to those who would ask his advice’ and someone who would take the time to write a note of appreciation of the special work of another.(10) Characteristically, he filled the empty chair at the head of Council until Baden-Powell took that role in his capacity as President in 1900. After giving up the chair Roberts remained on Council, chairing meetings as required and attended them until the year before his death in 1904. Eric Stuart Bruce MA and Major, soon to become Colonel, J. D. Fullerton RE swiftly became members of Council and joined Baden-Powell and Frost at the core of Society affairs. Bruce joined the Society in 1886 and took an active and practical interest in aeronautics. He had designed an electric translucent signalling balloon in 1885 which had been adopted by the British, Belgian and Italian Governments, a self-acting parachute for returning to earth recording instruments carried by pilot balloons and later went on to play a pivotal role in selecting the type of airship which was to make a historic record journey across the English Channel in 1910. Bruce remained on Council until 1911 and took over as Secretary and Editor of the Journal in 1899, retaining both roles until 1908.(11) Fullerton joined the Society in 1894. An experienced officer in the Royal Engineers and the Army’s Balloon Section, he served in the Afghan War and the Burmese Expedition and was mentioned in dispatches four times. Fullerton ‘was looked upon, by his contemporaries, as 214 Journal of Aeronautical History Paper 2020/06 an aeronautical authority of distinction. His opinions were respected and sought after, by all those in Britain concerned with the subject.(12) He used this authority to have a strong voice on Council, which became more prominent still when he took over as Secretary in 1908. The last consistent voice on Council during this period was that of Lieutenant-Colonel F. C. Trollope RE. Trollope was a ‘pioneer of military ballooning’, having been attached to the Royal Engineers’ Balloon Factory in 1883, becoming its Acting-Superintendent in 1900. He became a founder member of the Aero Club, joined the Society in 1902 and Council shortly thereafter and eventually served as a Vice President of the Society (Figure 3).(13) Figure 3. Members of Council and their guests at an Aeronautical Society of Great Britain kite display at Chobham Common, Sunningdale, Berkshire, on 1 July 1907.

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