Publication 198, 1903, Aeronautical Society of Great Britain

Describes opening session of Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, 4 December, 1902. President B. F. S. Baden-Powell, etc. Participants discuss the need for financing to get aero technology to the next stage.

Original title	Aeronautical Society of Great Britain
Simple title	Aeronautical Society of Great Britain
Authors
Date	1903-02-01
Countries	UK, US
Languages	en
Keywords	Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, club, B. F. S. Baden-Powell, Alberto Santos-Dumont, La France, Octave Chanute, William Napier Shaw, Hiram Stevens Maxim, military, finance, glider, propulsion, LTA, balloon, Boer War, Samuel Pierpoint Langley, airplane
Journal	Aer. World
Related to aircraft?	1
Page count	2
Word count	1033
Wikidata id

Full text:

The opening meeting of the new session of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain was held on Dec. 4 at the Society of Arts, when the President, Major B. F. S. Baden-Powell (Scots Guards), gave an address on "Recent Aeronautical Progress." The president re- marked that during the past three years — which he had spent on active service in South Africa — many great events had taken place in the aeronautical world. Count Zeppelin's monster airship, built on sound scientific principles, had made successful ascents, though it had not succeeded in traveling through the air at a sufficient speed to warrant its being considered a practical success. M. Santos-Dumont's many more or less successful trips in his navigable balloons, if not demonstrating any new principles, had shown what perseverance and attention to detail could achieve. Though we had learnt some useful practical lessons, and had been given data of great value for future experimenting, the actual results attained carried us so little beyond what was accomplished twenty years before by MM. Renard and Kribbs that one began to wonder whether we had not nearly reached the end of the tether as regarded the propulsion of balloons. One result of recent experiments was that it seemed quite practicable to build a navigable balloon to go, say 15 miles an hour. This, however, was not quite fast enough. As the wind so often blew faster than this, it was unsafe to let the balloon out on afiy but a very calm day. It looked,, however, as if they might improve so far as to get the balloon to travel 20 or 25 miles an hour, which would be sufficient to stem ordinary light breezes. Passing from the balloon, that was to say any apparatus which displaced a volume of air weighing as much as or more than its own weight — and many inventors were apt to neglect their definition — we found several different types of machines which gave promise of success. Beginning with the simplest, we had the gliding or soaring-machine. There were inventors who hoped to be able to emulate the albatross, and soar away into the heavens without any motive power or propeller. It seemed so paradoxical that many laughed the idea away; but the hard fact remained that birds could do it, and, therefore, why not men? He received a letter only a few days ago from Mr. O. Chanute — and there was probably no greater authority living on soaring flight — who said that he had just returned from witnessing this season's gliding experiments of the brothers Wright, and that "they have made a very considerable advance since last year, and now glide at angles of 6 degrees to 7 degrees, sustaining 125 to 160 per net horse power. Wright is now doing nearly as well as a vulture, is not far from soaring flight, and I am changing my views as to the advisability of applying a motor." This was a most remarkable statement, and there really seemed no reason why such experts, having attained proficiency in the delicate art of balancing themselves according to the various puffs and currents of air, should not be able to soar away on the wings of the wind and remain indefinitely in mid air. The aerial machine which seemed to promise the best results was that known as the aeroplane. Sir Hiram Maxim brought this prominently forward many years ago, and both he and Prof. Langley had proven theoretically that it was the most economical form of apparatus. Large flying machines, giving practical experience of their construction, had been built. Good-sized models had flown well through the air. Gliding machines, balanced and controlled by human effort, had been maintained in the air for considerable periods and had descended at very gradual angles. And, what was of the greatest importance, small engines, giving great power for their weight, had steadily improved year by year, leaving but little to be desired in that respect. To attain practical flight, the only thing needed was to make a machine slightly better than those already in existence. Speaking of the uses of flying machines, he said that they would form an incalculably valuable engine of war. Another important purpose to which flying machines could be applied was the exploration of unknown lands. With a rapidly traveling apparatus the North Pole could be reached in a few hours. What was looming in the future was the introduction of a new invention forming an invaluable and all-powerful weapon of war, an important aid to science and the practical knowledge of our globe, and a speedy, economical, and pleasant mode of getting from place to place. As in most other things, what was wanted was money. Many clever inventors and engineers were quite ready with their plans, but had not the means to complete them. He would like to see a solid fund built up such as would enable them to get really useful work done, and he felt sure that it would not then be long before the British nation would owe a debt of gratitude to the Aeronautical Society.

Dr. W. N. Shaw, F. R. S., (secretary to the Meteorological Council), afterwards read a paper on "The Contributions of Balloon Investigations to Meteorology," illustrated with a number of diagrams.

Sir Hiram Maxim, in moving a vote of thanks to the president, said that engines had been developed to a sufficiently high degree for flying machines, but to make the machines required an enormous sum of money. In the experiments he carried out he spent fully £20,000. With £100,000, and such an engineer as Major Baden-Powell to conduct the experiments, the Empire might possibly possess a practical flying-machine within two years, that such things should not be used for carrying passengers, they would be dangerous playthings at the best, but for war and other purposes they would be most useful. It had occurred to him that he might spend the next two years in the United States, and while there he hoped to find the time and opportunity for making further experiments with regard to flying machines.

Sources

• Brockett 1910, page 15, entry 198: Aeronautical Society of Great Britain. Aer. World, Vol. 1, No. 7, 1903, Glenville, Ohio, pp. 150-151. S (198
• Scan, Internet Archive