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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1093.PDF
3«4 FLIGHT. APRIL 13, 1939 HERE and THERE The R.Ae.S. at Its New Home AT the annual general meeting of the Royal Aeronautical Society, the president, Air. A. H. R. Fedden, spoke of the Society's recent move into its new headquarters at No. 4, "Hamilton Place, London, W.i, at the bottom of Park Lane. It was, he explained, a major event in the history of the Society, as for the first time during its 73 years of existence it had acquired its own building, a building worthy of its long tradition. No. 4, Hamilton Place is a four-storey building which will allow^for the expanding activities of the Society for some years to come. It will enable the Society to hold many of its chief functions in its own home. The library will be undoubtedly one of the finest and best-equipped aeronautical libraries in the world. There will be, in addition, a reading and other rooms for members and special committee rooms for the use of the many aeronautical committees which are now sitting. The president announced that to meet the increasing work of the Society and the upkeep of its new premises a fund of £100,000 was being aimed at, to which over ^60,000 had already been promised It was of urgent importance that, generous as the gifts already given were, the total sum required should be raised as quickly as possible to enable the Society to carry out. the work for which it is constituted. Mr. Fedden also stated that it was felt that the time had come for spending more money on the Society's Journal, and steps were being taken to carry this view into effect. There had been a feeling for some time that there were too many grades in the Society, and a proposal was being con sidered for abolishing the grades of Member and Associate Member and merging them into the other grades. One of the most important coming events in the history of the R.Ae.S was announced at the meeting. In July, 1940, the Society will hold an international aeronautical conference at Stratford-on-Avon. The active support of the Air Ministry and the Society of British Aircraft Constructors in this country and of the leading authorities in America, France, Germany and Italy has already been promised. The ballot for the election of new members of the Council of the Royal Aeronautical Society gave the following results: Capt. P. D. Acland (Companion), managing director of West- land Aircraft, Ltd.; Mr. D. L. Ellis, B.Sc., A.R.T.C. (Associate Fellow), head of Vickers-Armstrongs Aerodynamics Dept.; Professor F. I'. Hill (Fellow), Assistant Professor, Aero nautics, Imperial College; Air Coradre. R. M. Hill, M.C., A.F.C. (Fellow), Director of Technical Development, Air Ministry; Lt. Col. W Lockwood Marsh, LL.B., O.B.E., M.A., A.F.I.Ae.S., M.I.A.E. (Fellow), ; Lt. Col. J. T. C. Moore- Brabazon, M.C., M.P. (Fellow), Past President of the R.Ae.S.; Major B. W. Shilson, O.B.E., M.I.Mech.E., M.I.A.E., F.R.G.S. (Fellow), Assistant Director of Production, Air Ministry; Mr. F. M. Thomas (Associate Fellow), head of the Airscrew Division of the De Havilland Aircraft Co., Ltd.; Dr. H. C. Watts, M.B.E., D.Sc, M.Inst.C.E. (Fellow), technical director of the Airscrew Co., Ltd.; Mr. R. T. Youngman, B.Sc. (Fellow), head of Technical Dept., Faire.y Aviation Co., Ltd. Empire Air Day ON Saturday, May 20, in celebration of Empire Air Day, 78 aerodromes, including 63 R.A.F. stations, will be open to the public. This is 20 more than were open last year. Stations will normally be open from 2 p.m. until about 7 p.m. Admission for adults will be a shilling and for children threepence. Profits will be allotted by the Air Ministry to charitable and philanthropic objects connected with aviation. "Swap" at Southampton SOUTHAMPTON AIRPORT had an interesting visitor on March 29 in the person of Major Alexander P. de Seversky, who arrived in the single-seat Seversky pursuit machine which he has brought over from America. Major Seversky was paying a friendly call at the Southamp ton Airport works of Vickers-Armstrongs, where the Spitfires are assembled, and during the afternoon he took up a Spitfire while F/O. J. K. Quill, Supermarine test pilot, went up in the Seversky. Major Seversky had quite an aerobatic session in the 362-m.p.h. Supermarine, but F/O. Quill was a little more cautious. The American aircraft manufacturer, who is his own designer and test pilot, was full of praise for the Spitfire after his flight. "She handles very well," he said, "and she is delightfully stahle. The visibility, too, is much better than I thought it was going to be when I first sat in the machine." Major Seversky was impressed with the Spitfire's armament, which is superior to that of his own fighter, but the exceptionally long range of the American "ship" c-ame in for a lot of congratulatory comment while Major Seversky and Supermarine officials were comparing notes. Major Seversky went to Southampton from Martlesham, where one of his two-seater "Convoy" fighters is being tried out.
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