Royal Aeronautical Society Podcast

Rewind: Brooklands - Cradle of Aviation by Dr H. H. Gardner FRAeS

Brooklands was the experimental flying grounds used by many of our early aero pioneers, including the firm that would later dominate its aviation history, Vickers. Dr Gardner, who spent over forty years with Vickers and BAC, takes us through the story of Brooklands. After starting with its archaeology and pre-motoring history, Gardner moves on to explore how the aviation pioneers used a car racing circuit to solve some of the mysteries of heavier than air flight and reminisces about the days of the Brooklands flying club, before looking at the achievements made during the Vickers era.
Dr H. H. Gardner FRAeS gave his lecture to a meeting organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Historical Group on 18 November 1969. The lecture is introduced by J. L. Nayler FRAeS FAIAA, the recording was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

Rewind: Air-to-air Photography by Cyril Peckham

The last of the aircraft photography pioneers takes us step-by-step through a typical air-to-air photographic flight during the 1960s. He also describes the different aircraft he used before and after the Second World War and the extra challenges faced by those who take photographs from aircraft carriers and parachutes.
Please note, due to the age of this recording, there are periods of poor sound quality throughout.
Cyril Peckham gave his lecture, History of Air Photography, to a meeting organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Historical Group on 29 January 1968. The lecture is introduced by J. L. Nayler FRAeS FAIAA, the recording was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

Rewind: Designing & flying a man-carrying Ornithopter by Prof James DeLaurier MRAeS

On 8 July 2006 a team from the University of Toronto flew a full-sized, piloted, flapping-wing aircraft. In this entertaining lecture the project’s leader, Prof James DeLaurier, shows us the inspiration behind the project and guides us through the research, design, testing, construction and certification stages, before taking us through the events of an early morning in 2006 when a pilot flew the Ornithopter No.1, nick named “The Big Flapper”, for fourteen seconds over Bombardier’s Airfield in Toronto.
Prof James DeLaurier MRAeS presented his lecture. Ornithopter Research, to a meeting of the Royal Aeronautical Society on 12 September 2007. The lecture was introduced by AVM David Couzens FRAeS and the film & podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

Rewind: Buckling and Stability by Prof Nicholas J. Hoff FRAeS

Stable columns may have been used by the ancient Greeks, but studies into stability and buckling did not begin until the eighteenth century. In this lecture, Prof Hoff looks at how our knowledge of these phenomena during flight was developed by the Wright Brothers and Theodore von Kármán, before exploring how he and others moved our knowledge forward in the early post-war years.
Prof Hoff’s written paper that accompanied this lecture can be read via the Aeronautical Journal Archive. RAeS members can access the entire Aeronautical Journal Archive for free via the RAeS website.
Prof Nicholas J. Hoff FRAeS gave the Royal Aeronautical Society’s 41st Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture on 14 September 1953. The lecture was introduced by the then President, Sir William Farren HonFRAeS and was followed by a vote of thanks from Sir George Edwards HonFRAeS. The recording was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

Classic Lecture : Memories of a pre-World War I Chief Test Pilot by Sqn Ldr S. C. Winfield Smith DSO

As the third man to serve as Chief Test Pilot at Farnborough, Sqn Ldr Winfield Smith flew many of the pre-World War I aircraft types before they entered service. In this entertaining lecture, he tells us about his time learning to fly at Brooklands and recounts stories from the early years of his flying career, including the time he became the first Briton to loop-the-loop in a British aircraft and when he broke the world height record. He also takes us through many of the aircraft types he flew during the period.
Sqn Ldr S. C. Winfield Smith DSO gave his lecture, British Aviation Fifty Years Ago, to a meeting organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Historical Group on 8 February 1965. The lecture is introduced by J. L. Nayler FRAeS FAIAA, the recording was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

RAeS Careers team INWED 2021 Podcast

For this year's celebration, the RAeS Careers Team will bring you a podcast with Laura Hoang, Sophie Harker, Erika Ramos and Poppy Howe to provide an insight into their experiences of joining the industry, mentoring and other aspects of what inspired them to pursue a career in our sectors.
Sophie Harker is a senior aerodynamicist at BAE Systems, where she is developing future Flight Control technologies for Team Tempest as a lead integration engineer.
Laura Hoang is a Chartered Engineer working at BAE Systems, currently working as a Senior Human Factors Engineer.
Erika Ramos is a Manufacturing R&D Engineer at Airbus Broughton.
Poppy Howe has recently completed her final year studying for an Aerospace Engineering including an Industrial Year MEng Hons degree at The University of Nottingham.

Classic Lecture: A History of Glosters by Hugh Burroughes FRAeS

Glosters specialised in bringing high-speed aircraft to the market, including the Sparrowhawk, Grebe, Gamecock, Gladiator, the E.28/39 which tested Sir Frank Whittle's jet engine and the Meteor which was the first Allied aircraft to enter service powered by a jet.
Co-founder of the company, Hugh Burroughes, gives a personal history of the Gloster Aircraft Company (GAC). Starting with its roots in the Aircraft Manufacturing Company during World War I, Burroughes charts the challenges of developing aircraft during the interwar period. He explores the take-over of the GAC by Hawkers in 1934, gives a manufacturers’ view of the Schneider Trophy Competitions and discusses the role of the company’s interwar designer, H. P. Folland. Burroughes also tells us of his company’s work providing the first aircraft for the jet engine, the E.28/39, together with the Meteor which followed. He concludes by exploring the Javelin programme and its part in the decline of the company after the war. All in all, he emphasises the importance of background and timing in the aircraft industry.
PLEASE NOTE: The end of the lecture was missing from the original recording and a new ending was added in 2021, using Burroughes’ paper published in the 1969 edition of the Aeronautical Journal. RAeS members have free access to Burroughes’ paper via https://www.aerosociety.com/elibrary.
Hugh Burroughes FRAeS addressed a meeting organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Historical Group on 14 December 1964. The lecture is introduced by J. L. Nayler FRAeS FAIAA, the recording was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

Rewind – Is the future unmanned? by Prof Ian Poll FEng FRAeS

What role will unmanned aerial vehicles play in the years ahead? In 2002, Prof Ian Poll took the long view of UAVs, by drawing lessons from such figures as Sir George Cayley, the Wright Brothers and Samuel Langley. Arguing that the UAV is a concept whose time had come, he explored the key issues facing the exploitation of military and civil unmanned flight in 2002, pointed out opportunities and made predictions for the future.
Prof Ian Poll FREng FRAeS gave the Royal Aeronautical Society’s 91st Wilbur & Orville Wright Lecture on 5 December 2002. The lecture was introduced by the then President, Lee Balthazor FRAeS, and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

Classic Lecture - Smith-Barry & the Gosport School of Special Flying 1917-18

Robert Smith-Barry and his Gosport System revolutionised how pilots were trained in the heat of World War I. In this two-handed lecture, Gp. Capt. Tredrey explores the life of Smith-Barry and how he became convinced that the way the Royal Flying Corp trained its pilots was ripe for change.
The story is taken over by C. A. N. Bishop who, as a schoolboy, had a temporary pass for the School’s headquarters whilst Smith-Barry was in command. Bishop explains the key points of the Gosport System, describes the aircraft used including the Avro 504, reviews the work of Gosport’s Experimental Unit and gives a flavour of life at the School and of the characters who taught the new system. The lecture concludes with Gp. Capt. Tredrey telling us about Smith-Barry’s life after he left Gosport.
As with many Royal Aeronautical Society Lectures, the audience contained many of those who had experience of the topic first hand and the lecture concludes with a selection of entertaining stories from those present.
C.A.N. Bishop and Group Captain Tredrey addressed a meeting organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Historical Group on 29 November 1962. The lecture is introduced by J. L. Nayler FRAeS FAIAA, the recording was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

Rewind: My 53 Years as a Flight Simulation User by John Farley OBE AFC

Royal Aircraft Establishment and Harrier Test pilot John Farley first got into a flight simulator in 1958. In this entertaining lecture, he draws on stories throughout his career to share his view on the ways simulators should be used for both research and pilot training and the qualities that make a good simulator. In the context of research, he suggests there are parallels between the raw data produced from simulation and the raw data measured in wind tunnels and why, in his view, there are two types of simulator pilots which researchers need to bear in mind when considering the data they obtain from piloted experiments.
To illustrate his points, Farley draws on stories from the early development of V/STOL simulators, the use of flight simulators at the Empire Test Pilots School and RAE Bedford, including Bedford’s simulations that prepared them for the delivery of Handley Page HP.115 and a memorable experience of flying an A380 simulator at Toulouse.
John Farley gave the Royal Aeronautical Society’s 2011 Edwin A. Link Memorial Lecture, organised by the RAeS Flight Simulation Group, on 8 June 2011. The lecture was introduced by Gordon Woolley FRAeS and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.