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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0629.PDF
JUNE 21, 1917. AERONAUTICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN. OFFICIAL REPORT. THE Annual General Meeting of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain was held on Wednesday, June 13th, 1917, at 7 p.m. at the Offices of the Society, 7, Albemarle Street, London, W.i. The Chairman of Council (Major-General R. M. Ruck, C.M.G., C.B., R.E.) presided. The Secretary read the notice convening the meeting. The Chairman asked that the meeting approve the postpone- ment until that evening, owing to the removal to the new offices, of the Annual General Meeting, which should under Rule 11 have been held before March 31st. The postpone- ment was approved. The Annual Report of the Council and Accounts having been circulated were formally approved. The Secretary read the proposals put forward by the Council for the alteration of the Rules of the Society. An amendment, moved by Mr. Cooper, seconded by Dr. Stanton, supported by Dr. Walmesley, was embodied in the Council's proposals and adopted nem. con. :— " That Rule 23 (c) shall now read :—Every Fellow o£the Society shall be elected by the Council of the Society, and the names of those elected shall be submitted for confirmation at the next ensuing general meeting." And that Rule 23 (d) shall read :—" Every Associate Fellow of the Society shall be elected by the Council of the Society and the names of those elected shall be sub- mitted for confirmation at the next ensuing general meeting." It was recommended by the Council that the entrance fee of ten shillings charged to Student Members of the Society be remitted for the next ensuing twelve months. The recom- mendation was unanimously adopted. s $ " LOOKING THE following is a note relating to Commercial Aero- nautics which Lieut.-Col. O'Gorman added to his Wilbur Wright lecture which was published in " FLIGHT " last Week. Commercial aeronautics are bound up with using the values which accrue incidentally to the employment of aircraft. I take three of these :— -* A. The speed of transit made available. B. The directness of the route which can be selected. C. The utilisation of helpful winds and evading bad weatherr Everyone finds himself confronted with the necessity of knowing even vaguely the possible objects of commercial aeronautics when starting to discuss the information desired. This arises from the extremely fine-cut qualities of aircraft design, which conduce to specialisation of each machine to specific purpose. In view of this, it is not wise, I think, to say even that the " Weight per horse power " ratio of the complete loaded aeroplane is a direct criterion of the efficiency of a design, however strongly We may recognise its value, and I do admit the essential necessity for a clear summarisa- tion of the " weight per horse power " ratios of all possible sizes and kinds of aeroplanes, together with the performances and other data. We need these for the sake of the light they will cast upon the value of a high horsepower per 1b. Weight. I do not think that commercial aeronautics will in fact find that the exaggerated ratio of power to weight which is so useful for war reasons will be demanded for peace uses ; it is to settle this point among others that the sum- marising work is needed now. It is, then, a matter for study to determine (a) What is the amount of gross weight that may be safely entrusted to a given or available b.h.p. ? (b) What is the amount of gross weight that may be safely entrusted to a •given wing area, as both will differ according to the class of usage? The Aero Society and S.B.A.C. Joint Committee is fully Warranted in asking for funds and powers tQ» co-ordinate the information on which the thinking process of the designer must be based. For transit over a district in an aeroplane which is not exposed to attack from land guns or pursuing aeroplane there appears to be no urgent need for phenomenal rates of climb in certain, and probably in most, commercial classes of craft. All commercial work will, however, require some rate of climb yet to be determined; •what is the minimum which is safe for overland work on,- the one hand and oversea work on the other ? In a country of small spaces like Britain the distinction will be marked— in wide open lands the two will approach one another. To make the idea concrete 500 ft. per min. climb from ground level is a possible safe figure over England, While much less is safe over sea. Whatever the figure, once this is achieved, any further climbing ability Would be got either for some particular reason or Would be got only by the accident that the demand for engine power arising from the speed desired gave the extra climbing ability. It was moved by Mr. Cooper, seconded by Dr. Stanton, and unanimously resolved that consideration be deferred of the recommendations of the Council contained in the agenda paper as follows :— 1. That the grade known as " Associate Fellow " be in future known by the name " Member." 2. That the grade now known by the name " Member " be in future known by the name " Associate." 3. That the grade now known by the name " Associate Member" be in future abolished, and the present Members thereof transferred to the " Associate " grade. together with the further proposals dependent upon these clauses. The Chairman explained that the Council's recom- mendations had been very fully discussed in Council and were supported by very serious arguments. There was, however, no desire to enforce them upon the Society without the fullest possible discussion. The step taken was one of considerable gravity, and he was certain that the meeting had taken the right course under all the circumstances. There had been some inquiry among the voters of the Society as to the precise effect of the changes suggested, many of whom were unable to be present there that night, and he personally Welcomed the opportunity now afforded them of further information. Messrs. Griffith Brewer, C. S. Turner and Turnbull were appointed Scrutineers of the- ballot for the Council, and oh account of the votes received the following were declared elected : Lieut.-Col. O'Gqrman, C.B., Mr. A. E. Berriman, Mr. F. Handley Page, Mr. G. Holt Thomas, Commander W. Briggs, Commander Alec Ogilvie, Lieut. A. P. Thurston and Mr. B. G. Cooper. The Meeting then terminated. ; AHEAD.'» '•.••/-• £-*-*^ ••-."~::- •'•*••• ' One of the matters which the Joint Committee is concerned to establish at an early date is, what is the minimum safe climbing rate under the two broad classes ? (A) Over Britain (or country of such small alighting areas). (B) Over sea (or large spaces). A good deal of this could be collected from pilots now, and the Research Bureau be informed. Next, given that the minimum climbing ratio is secured, we shall find that some of the design will be needed : (a) For high speed expressly. (b) For weight carrying. (e) For long-distance work (which does not make quite the same demands as weight carrying for short distances, notably because low head resistance is cardinal in (c) class). (d) For intermediate and special duties. As soon as rapid climb and quick manoeuvring are not demanded differences in design will appear. Class (a) and (e) above will need wing sections like those in war craft, when extremely low head resistance is cardinal. Class (6), which will no doubt be wanted for war, will differ in its wing sections from the " minimum head resistance " classes. In all cases, since high controlability and quick manoeuvring will be far less essential than in war, it will be much easier to get a reasonable factor of strength, which means that an adequate strength may. be got with light weight. We cannot afford to overlook the importance of using the wind, and thus frequently doubling, say, our speed of transit and halving our fuel cost. It becomes therefore a matter of the greatest moment to know at what height to fly to get best economy, i.e., for the minimum total fuel expense, for fuel bills will be enormous. It is to be noted that height enters into the matter in a far more serious way than in relation to the mere extra fuel needed to climb to the height for the journey. There is the extra fuel expended irf-remaining at the selected height, when any such height is desired as requires the machine to fly appreciably cabre, i.e., beyond the " maximum point " on the carve of " lift/drag ratio " of the aeroplane measured as a whole. This indicates another study—the ascer- taining of the height of economical travel with the wind (obviously the height of economical travel against the wind is as low as possible consistent with a safe range of glide to alight). For the purpose of the study it is necessary to have as large a number as possible of lift/drag curves of completed machines in the first place, and in the second place the lift/drag ratio of the entities constituting these machines, so as to get clearly any correction factor which arises from their assembling and mutual"interference, and from scale effect. I am aware that I am putting forward a programme cf very great extent, but if the country is to take the air and keep it, the sooner these matters are fairly faced the better. 629
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