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Aviation History
1923
1923 - 0347.PDF
JUNE 28, 1923 THE INTERNATIONAL AIR CONGRESS THE International Air Congress, consisting of approximately 450 delegates, representing seventeen nations, was opened on Monday, June 25, at the Institution of Civil Engineers by the Prince of Wales. Among those on the platform were a number of foreign ambassa'dors, representatives of the British Air Ministry, British Societies, and British Industry, and representatives of the services dealing with aeronautics in the foreign countries participating in the Congress. The Prince of Wales, who presided, and who was received . with great enthusiasm, said :— " I am very pleased indeed to come here this morning and open this Conference, and to welcome to London so many leading experts in all branches of aeronautics who are present as Government representatives, as representatives of aero clubs and societies all the world over, and also as private individuals. This is a red-letter day, because it is the first time that the International Air Congress has been held in London, although we possess, I think,- the oldest-known aeronautical body in the Royal Aeronautical Society, which has had a continuous existence ever since 1866. We at the present time have been very fortunate in that we have been able to see the achievement of an ambition that has always been to the forefront of human endeavour, and by that I mean the attainment of flight by men. " We look back into history, and there is hardly any great brain which did not inquire into the possibilities of flight, and one can think of many names, such as Roger Bacon and Leonardo da Vinci, but it has remained for us in this century to see its fulfilment. We all of us in this room know of the great uses of aeronautics in war. We most sincerely hope that we and the generations to come won't ever have to go through that experience again ; but there is no doubt that the Great War helped flight out of all proportion. Money at that time was of no consequence, and its growth was very rapid indeed ; far more so, probably, than if there had never been a war ; but the result of this is that we come to see great possibilities of the air and aeronautics in peace time. That is why we all of us gather together in London to develop it. " I know that you have a lot of business in hand, and there is only one more thing I would say—if there ever was a branch of human knowledge that was essentially international in character it is the science of aeronautics. The effect of so immensely great, and increasing, speed of locomotion in an element that is independent of the accustomed frontiers of land and water must be very beneficial to the growth of international good feeling. It is for this reason, and because the development of aeronautics, to which all branches of science and engineering contribute, is such a potent force in the advancement of the total sum of human knowledge, that I have much pleasure in declaring open and wishing all possible success to the first International Air Congress held in London." The Duke of Sutherland, as Chairman of the Main Com- mittee, welcomed the representatives and delegates, and said that we were on the eve of far-reaching advances in aviation, that might, within the next decade or two, bring about an adjustment of our manner of living and means of transportation. We hoped, he said, that the time had come when the great aerial energies that were expended in the War by all the nations could now be diverted along channels of progress and good will, for the benefit of the whole human race. He believed, too, that civil aviation would, when properly developed, be of immense commercial advantage to all countries. It was to assist in bringing about this great purpose that the Congress had been called, but to achieve their ends it was necessary that all the Governments concerned should give their continued support. The day, His Grace said, had gone by when these things could be left to develop themselves, and the stakes were too great for us to stand negligently by while the world's greatest secrets were almost within our grasp. The development of civil and commercial aviation between all countries on a scale hitherto unrealised, and the evolution of a popular, cheap, light aeroplane for the public use, were both essential factors for the future. The Prince of Wales had referred to our possession of the oldest aeronautical body in the world—the Royal Aeronautical Society. He (the Duke of Sutherland) would like to point out that this country also had the distinction of having held the first aeronautical exhibition, which took place at the Crystal Palace in 1868, at which appeared John String- fellow's steam-driven model. His Grace, continuing, said he hoped that a regular series of such congresses would be held in the future. Frank and free discussion of ideas between workers of all nations was the best way to further progress. Science should recognise no distinctions of nationality, but should all work together for the common cause. Concluding, the Duke of Sutherland said that any resolu- tions which might be agreed upon would be brought up for general adoption at the concluding meeting on Saturday morning, when the Secretary of State for Air would preside. He believed the labours of the congress would do much to advance us further along the hard road of aeronautical research. They all regretted most deeply the sad accidents to aviators that had occurred from time to time, but these accidents increased the importance of scientific research. The names of these gallant aviators would be added to the roll of honour, ar"* our international motto henceforth must be " Safety first." In the evening a reception of the delegates and members of the Congress took place at the Hotel Victoria, the guest of honour being Group Captain His Royal Highness the Duke of York, with whom was her Royal Highness the Duchess of York. The Royal guests were received by the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, supported by Lady Maud Hoare. PAPERS READ AT THE INTERNATIONAL AIR CONGRESS IN view of the fact that no less than 60 papers—many of them of considerable length—are being read before the International Air Congress, it is obviously impossible for us to publish in FLIGHT all the papers in full, or even any of them in extenso. In the present and subsequent issues we shall, however, endeavour to publish such extracts as appear to us to deal with new matter, or with subjects not already widely known, but demanding immediate attention. In doing so we feel that we cannot hope altogether to escape omitting things which, in the view of some, should have been included, nor can we expect to do full justice to the various authors by quoting certain passages only from papers which must, in many cases, have involved a very great amount of work. We would, therefore, ask the indulgence not only of our. readers, but also of the various eminent scientists and engineers whose work we are compelled to quote but briefly. For a full account of the papers and of the dis- cussions we would rfefer readers to the proceedings of the International Air Congress, which will be published, without any avoidable delay, we hope, after the closing of the Congress. STANDARDISATION OF METHODS OF RESEARCH ___?•.• By Sir Richard Glazebrook, K.C.B., F.R.S. THE progress of aeronautics owes much to research ; to full scale research as carried out at the R.A.E. and at various stations in other countries,* but specially to research on models carried out in wind tunnels of various designs ; for by this means most oi the fundamental quantities required in order to predict the behaviour of aircraft can be determined with a considerable degree of accuracy and at a cost far less than would be required if it were always necessary to build and test a complete machine, to say nothing of the risk to the pilot and the difficulty of making the full scale tests. We know now that if due care is taken in making the tests, the results of model and full scale work are_]very closely in agreement. • In this connection special reference should be made to the work at LanglaField, so admirably described in Prof. Ames' recent Wilbur Wright Lecture. But there are various forms of channels. Can we be sure that the results from all of these are comparable ? Correc- tions have to be made to the direct measurements. Do we know these corrections to the accuracy now needed ? In passing from model to full-scale there will be a scale effect expressible as a function of vlly. Can we be sure that this function is a constant at the values of vl at which we are compelled to work ? We know that the Lift and Drift can be expressed as kp~V~Sf (vljv), and in pre-war days much informa- tion was obtained of great value on the assumption that / (vl/p) was constant. Is that assumption a safe one to make in view of the higher accuracy now demanded ? Or again, an aeroplane moves in free air ; the flow in a channel is straightened and confined by the walls. How does 347
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