Royal Aeronautical Society Podcast

AEROSPACE NOTAM - January 2024

In this podcast series from the Royal Aeronautical Society's monthly AEROSPACE magazine, Editor in Chief Tim Robinson, Deputy Editor Stephen Bridgewater and Features Editor Bella Richards analyse recent aviation, aerospace and space news - and preview the next (January 2024) edition of the magazine. Find out more at www.aerosociety.com

Classic Lecture: The invention of the aeroplane near Scarborough at the time of Trafalgar

“Oh come on, surely it was the Wright Brothers who did this!” In his lecture Dr John Ackroyd FRAeS tries to persuade us that Sir George Cayley, not the Wright Brothers, defined the concepts behind the aeroplane and flew it in 1804.
After exploring Sir George’s early life and some of his non-aeronautical designs of early tractors, engines and artificial hands, Dr Ackroyd explores Cayley’s key breakthrough, his discovery in 1799 that flapping wings would not lead to flight and what was needed was a complete separation of the lifting from the propulsion system.
Dr Ackroyd then analyses Cayley’s results from his glider flights, experiments and concepts using modern aerodynamic techniques and compares Sir George’s achievements to those who came after. He also explores how Sir George learnt from aerodynamic shapes found in nature and that the challenges facing aviation could be divided into the four basic areas which remain the fundamentals of aeronautics today: aerodynamics, structures, flight dynamics and propulsion.
The recording concludes by showing how Cayley’s work influenced and compared to the work of future generations, most notably how the Wright Brothers built on Cayley’s work to be the first to conquer the challenge of powered flight.
The lecture was specially recorded to mark the 250th Anniversary of Sir George Cayley’s birth and was produced by Peter Laws CEng MRAeS.
Find out more about Sir George Cayley by visiting www.aerosociety.com/cayley250

AEROSPACE NOTAM - December 2023

In this podcast series from the Royal Aeronautical Society's monthly AEROSPACE magazine, Editor in Chief Tim Robinson, Deputy Editor Stephen Bridgewater and Features Editor Bella Richards analyse recent aviation, aerospace and space news - and preview the next (December 2023) edition of the magazine. Find out more at www.aerosociety.com

AEROSPACE NOTAM Dubai 2023

AEROSPACE Editor-in-Chief Tim Robinson and Features Editor Bella Richards sum up the 2023 Dubai Air Show and speak to special guest Royal Aeronautical Society President, Kerissa Khan.

An interview with the civil pioneers… Kingsford Smith & Australian National Airways between the wars

After service in World War I, Capt Allan moved to the other side of the world and joined the fledgling Australian National Airways. He retells stories of his time with the airline, including his experiences of flying Avro 10s between Australian cities, and shares his opinions of the company’s two guiding lights: Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm.
Allan went onto play a part in many of the key events in spreading civil aviation across the southern hemisphere, including pioneering airmail flights between London and Australia, starting with flying with Kingsford Smith on the first experimental air mail flight in 1931 and playing a part in a record-breaking trip between the two continents in his de Havilland DH.86 during 1933. He also discusses training to operate flying boats for Qantas, before giving a view of why Qantas decided to fly American rather than British aircraft after the Second World War.
Captain G. U. Allan was interviewed by David Jones in around 1975. This recording is part a AeroSociety Podcast series, Development of Civil Aviation from the UK to Australasia. It was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

An interview with the civil pioneers….. Flying for Qantas between the wars by Captain Russell Tapp

Tapp joined Qantas when it employed 25 people, including just seven pilots. His path to Australia started after service with the Royal Air Force and a spell promoting the Westland Widgeon light aircraft. From there Captain Tapp heard about Qantas, wrote a letter to Hudson Fysh and, after a test with de Havilland, were off to Australia in 1928. He gives us a flavour of flying for the company in those years, tells us about the characters who worked for the airline, including engineer Arthur Baird, explores the problems with the de Havilland DH.86 Express and tells us what it was like travelling on the early days of the Australia to Singapore route.
Captain Russell Tapp was interviewed by David Jones in around 1975. This recording is part a AeroSociety Podcast series, Development of Civil Aviation from the UK to Australasia. It was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

An interview with the civil pioneers….. Creating Australian airfields by Lt Cdr A. D. S. Murray

Aircraft not only need to fly, but also need to land safely. A. D. S. Murray spent his early years in Australia surveying the country or emergency and permanent landing grounds. In this interview, he describes some of the challenges he faced and characters he met during this part of his career.

AEROSPACE NOTAM - November 2023

In this podcast series from the Royal Aeronautical Society's monthly AEROSPACE magazine, Editor in Chief Tim Robinson, Deputy Editor Stephen Bridgewater and Features Editor Bella Richards analyse recent aviation, aerospace and space news - and preview the next (November 2023) edition of the magazine. Find out more at www.aerosociety.com

Rewind – Aeronautical Aspects of the Spanish Civil War by Brian Armstrong MRAeS

The Spanish Civil War came at a significant period in the development of aviation and foreshadowed aerial warfare in the Second World War. But how much was the Royal Air Force taking notice of what was happening on the continent and what lessons did they learn?
In this lecture, Brian Armstrong challenges the impression that those in command of Britain’s air forces were blithely ignorant of the Spanish Civil War. He takes us into the world of British air intelligence to explore their work and the conclusions they drew from the war in Spain. He then takes us into the minds of the upper ranks of the Royal Air Force to show how many of the lessons from the conflict they took from air intelligence reports and other sources. He also explores what lessons were learnt by the French, Americans, Russians and, most importantly, the Germans.
The lecture starts with Armstrong giving us an aeronautical history of the Spanish Civil War, exploring the aircraft used and major highlights in the campaign.
Brian Armstrong MRAeS gave his lecture to a meeting organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Historical Group on 13 February 2003. The lecture is introduced by Frank Armstrong FRAeS, the recording was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

AEROSPACE NOTAM - October 2023

In this podcast series from the Royal Aeronautical Society's monthly AEROSPACE magazine, Editor in Chief Tim Robinson, Deputy Editor Stephen Bridgewater and Features Editor Bella Richards analyse recent aviation, aerospace and space news - and preview the next (October 2023) edition of the magazine. Find out more at www.aerosociety.com