AeroSociety Podcast

In his insider’s history of the first fifty years of the R.A.F., Sir Victor Goddard gives insights into the forces and personalities that formed and developed the RAF and made it into an equal partner with the other two armed services. Sir Victor’s career covered the pioneering years of service aviation; from a cadet in 1912 who co-presented to the Admiralty a scheme for an aircraft bombsight to a seat on the Air Council and a role contributing to the Berlin Airlift. From this insider’s view he gave his audience picture of the forces and personalities that formed and developed the RAF. He considers the founding belief that the RAF needed to be formed in order for air warfare to escape the prejudices of sea and land, how Trenchard moulded the embryo service over a five year period, the decline of airships and how the service came of age during the campaigns against Mesopotamia, Iraq, Aden and against the “Mad Mullah” in Somaliland, where the RAF was able to frustrate the resources of adversaries. Sir Victor also discusses the RAF’s sometime slow harnessing of technology, including the adoption of monoplanes and radar, and tells stories of how he helped to frustrate the development of the German bomber force, his part in helping the RAF to adopt and then use Barnes Wallis’s bombs during the World War II and how he just managed to avoid a court martial after allowing the first use of a parachute to escape an aircraft. The lecture was delivered to the Royal Aeronautical Society's Historical Group on 19 April 1964. The podcast was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and it was digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.

NASA has led the charge in space exploration for the last 60 years, and through the Artemis program, NASA will once again set the tone and pave the way beyond low-Earth orbit to the Moon. By 2024, NASA will land the first American woman and the next American man on the South Pole of the moon, establishing a sustained presence on the moon by 2028, preparing us for human exploration missions to Mars. Dr. Jim Green, Chief Scientist at NASA will delve deeper into these future plans, demonstrating the new technologies and capabilities that will enable new exploration in the 21st century, so that NASA continues to lead in fostering the growth of the private space industry.

Join Sir Alan Cobham in the front seat of his de Havilland Moth for our first flying lesson. After starting the engine and taking off, the man whose panache and vision brought aviation to the people between in the 1920s and 1930s, stylishly talks us through the controls and explains how they affect flight, before taking us back down safely back to earth. The recording was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and it was digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.

The fascinating stories of the men who dreamed to conquer powered flight, those who harnessed the new technology and were tested by the early months of World War I are told by Peter Reese in this podcast. The path towards manned flight was far from straightforward. Starting with the gifted inventor Sir George Cayley, the father of modern aerodynamics, Reese moves to those who made further steps towards flight, such as Henson, Stringfellow and Pilcher, before examining the work of the Wright Brothers. Peter Reese then asks why Britain, the leading nation in science and technology during the nineteenth century, fell so far behind in the first years of the twentieth century and examines how Britons tried to catch-up with their foreign counterparts before World War I. Here he examines the work of pioneers such the early aircraft builders like Samuel Cody, Geoffrey de Havilland and “Tommy” Sopwith, test pilots Benny Hucks and Edward Busk and those who moved public opinion such as journalists Lord Northcliffe and C. G. Grey, before examining how Britain faced the test of aerial warfare. The podcast was produced by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and recorded specially for the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Podcast series during 2019.

Keith Hayward takes us along the corridors of Whitehall and into aero industry boardrooms to chronicle the false dawns and missed opportunities of the first thirty-three years after World War II. Starting with the Brabazon recommendations, he illustrates the competing interests of politicians, the aircraft industry and the airlines by examining project such as de Havilland’s Comet and Trident, the Vickers VC10 and the Airbus programme. The story ends when he reaches the “vale of tears in the early 1970s”, from which, in the end, the British aviation industry came up “reasonably happy”. Prof Hayward told his “sad stories of the death of aeroplanes” to the Royal Aeronautical Society's Historical Group Lecture on 17th October 2002. The podcast was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and it was digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.

Aviation is changing – from emerging UAS operations to Urban Air Mobility which is next on the horizon; to the re-emergence of supersonic transportation that will once again shrink our globe; to alternative fuels and electric propulsion for a greener future, aviation is on the move. Research, convergence, and entrepreneurialism is the driver for this exciting and impactful change. The NASA Aeronautics portfolio is tuned to deliver key enablers for this change. But NASA Aeronautics must also evolve to be more flexible and agile as change inevitably brings issues and opportunities that cannot be fully anticipated. Mr Pearce discusses the future of aviation, NASA’s research portfolio, and the challenges our research enterprises must face to remain relevant into the future.

Miles 1940s supersonic aircraft project could have been the first aircraft to break the sound barrier. Though the project was championed by Sir Frank Whittle, who worked with Miles to supply the engine, and was supported by the scientists at the RAE in Farnborough. However, the reasons surrounding the UK Government's secretive cancellation of the project has long been a mystery. In this lecture to the Royal Aeronautical Society's Historical Group, Mike Hirst explores the technical and political sides of the project, from its inception in 1943 to its cancellation in 1948. His lecture is followed by a discussion by many of the people who were there at the time, including from Miles Aircraft, the Ministry, the RAE and the project's test pilot, Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown. The lecture took place on 4 November 2004. The podcast was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and it was digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.

Member of the victorious 1931 Schneider Trophy team, Group Capt. L.S. Snaith, gives a historical background to the Schneider Trophy contests before he gives insights into the last contest and the handling characteristics of the victorious Supermarine S6A & S6B. The recording was produced by Martin Snaith and was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

One of the early aero engine pioneers, Air Cdre Rod Banks takes us thorough his early career working for Peter Hooker Ltd who held the British licences for Gnome and Le Rhone, the developments in fuel during these years and the part he played in concocting special fuel cocktails for the Schneider Trophy contests and the development of British and European military aero engines before and during the Second World War. The lecture was delivered to the Royal Aeronautical Society's Historical Group Lecture on 6th November 1967. The podcast was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and it was digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.

In the concluding paper of The beginnings of powered flight conference, Gordon Bruce explores the relationship between the Wright Brothers and the land of their ancestors. Starting off by looking at how UK aeronautical figures shaped Orville and Wilbur’s thinking, Bruce tells the story of the UK Government’s reaction to their invention, how the Wrights worked with Shorts to manufacture the Short-Wright aircraft for the civil market, how a disagreement with the Smithsonian led to the 1903 Wright Flyer spending a quarter of a century in London’s Science Museum and how Orville’s life-long work on protecting their patents was interrupted by a “noble act” of not renewing their basic UK patents in the heat of the First World War. The lecture concludes with a general question and answer session with speakers from across the day. The lecture was part of a seminar, “The beginnings of powered flight: The Wright Brothers contribution to aviation”, which was organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Historical Group on 10 May 2003. The podcasts were edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and they were digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.

A year before their famous flight, the Wright Brothers’ seminal paper explaining their work with gliders awoke Europeans from the self-confessed torpor and set them experimenting; efforts which were reinvigorated by the Wrights’ flying demonstrations during their 1908 European tour. In this paper, Philip Jarrett takes his audience through the work of Europeans, most notably the French, during the first decade of the twentieth century. The lecture concludes with a question and answer session. The lecture was part of a seminar, “The beginnings of powered flight: The Wright Brothers contribution to aviation”, which was organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Historical Group on 10 May 2003. The podcasts were edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and they were digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.

Though Wilbur and Orville were the first to build and fly a powered aircraft, what contribution did the Wright Brothers make to aeronautics? In this paper, Ian Poll takes us through the progress that had been made up 1903 in four key technical areas which had to be addressed if powered, controllable flight was to be achieved: structures, aerodynamics, stability and control & propulsion, before judging the contribution made by the Wrights in those four key areas. The lecture concludes with a general question and answer session The lecture was part of a seminar, “The beginnings of powered flight: The Wright Brothers contribution to aviation”, which was organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Historical Group on 10 May 2003. The podcasts were edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and they were digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.

The Alan Bristow Memorial Lecture is held annually to highlight the legacy of the man who founded the largest international helicopter group that continues to bear his name. Alan was a true pioneer, a great innovator and fully supported progressive ideas for developing all aspects of aviation, in particular, Rotorcraft. Bristow continues to operate in this spirit, leading the industry in innovations, many of which are now standard in today’s operating environment.

This Historical Group lecture will be presented by Brett Gooden, M.D., Ph.D., F.B.I.S. who will consider the world’s first manned vertical take-off rocket and its significance in relation to human spaceflight to come. Brett will describe the historic but tragic manned flight of a prototype Natter on 1 March 1945 and the critical lessons learned from it for future human vertical rocket flights. In the space of less than one year a team of engineers under the leadership of the talented engineer Erich Bachem evolved the basic principles used in human vertical rocket flight today. Bachem realised from the beginning of the project that the pilot could not perform the complex task of guiding the rocket precisely on course while being subjected to the multiple stresses imposed by the launch and boost phases of the flight. Consequently, the operational Natters were constructed to fly under the control of a three-axis autopilot which would be pre-programmed remotely from the ground control seconds before launch.

John Harrison, Airbus’ General Counsel, has offered his thinking on how Airbus is navigating the ever-changing nature of global trade and politics. As Airbus celebrates 50 years, Mr Harrison will outline Airbus’ response to a challenging global environment, whether it be protectionism in Europe, WTO disputes or Brexit.