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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0285.PDF
PLIGHT, 26 February 1960 OLDEST AERONAUTICAL SOCIETY . . . «ion of the activities of the Society," among which was a proposalfor the formation of what are, today, the branches. The proposals were discussed at a meeting on September 15 out of which arosesuggestions for graduates, informal discussions and "local societies." The December notices announced donations of £250 from theSBAC and the same each year for five years from the Air Ministry. On January 12, 1926, the 60th anniversary was celebrated witha conversazione at the Science Museum. The hon librarian gave a talk emphasizing the historical associations of the Society. Mem-bership was down to 740. On April 13, 1926, Sir Sefton Brancker was elected President,from October the Master of Sempill was Chairman of Council, Pritchard was Hon Secretary. A formidable trio. On January 1,1927, Pritchard was appointed Secretary. The Yeovil Branch had been formed as from December 14, 285 Dr A. M. Ballantyne, TD, PhD, BSc, FRAeS, secretary since 7957 centring on Westlands; a year or so earlier the Coventry Branchhad come into existence. The February 1927 Journal announced that S. Scott-Hall had had to resign secretaryship of the Students'Section in order to take up an appointment outside London. On January 1, 1927, membership was 1,049, but this included342 branch members. On January 27, members of the Society and of the Institution of Aeronautical Engineers met and agreed toamalgamate. In the annual report of the council for 1926-27 it was announced that an endowment fund stood at £582. InFebruary 1927 the first six Data Slieets of the Society were issued; they were free to members who required them. The Report for 1927-28 naturally shows an increase in member-ship, after amalgamation with the IAE. With branch membership it was now up to 2,940. In 1926 the Guggenheim Fund had madea grant of 5,000 dollars. In October 1927 a letter had been sent, describing how the money had been spent, with the result thata further similar sum had been forthcoming. Money seemed to be coming in from all directions. On May 31, 1927, a banquetwas given to a man named Lindbergh; in July there was a lunch to Gen Balbo; and in October a banquet was given to the SchneiderTrophy team. Most of these were combined efforts with the Royal Aero Club, the Air League and the SBAC. Those werethe days! In the report for 1929-30 it was announced that with a finalgrant of 10,000 dollars, the Guggenheim Fund's donations to the Society had totalled 25,000 dollars. The SBAC and SMMT andAir Ministry continued to give yearly grants of £250. At the International Aero Exhibition at Olympia a historical exhibit wasarranged by J. E. Hodgson—the best of its kind that had ever been shown. The number of branches now numbered nine.Without donations the balance sheet showed a debit balance of £862. Donations made a credit of £981.In June and July of 1930 the secretary visited Canada and the United States, and the Master of Sempill was succeeded as presi-dent in October by C. R. Fairey. A tribute to the Master of SempilFs work for the Society appeared in the December 1930Journal over the initials J. L. P. On April 21 Maj B. F. S. Baden-Powell completed 50 years' membership of the Society.In 1931 was started a series of prepared lectures to Public Schools. In the last three months of the year 22 of these addresses weregiven. In March 1933, the SBAC wrote a letter to the effect that theyhad watched the Society's activities for a number of years and were now convinced that a responsible post in industry should begiven to an Associate Fellow or Associate Member in preference to one not so qualified. In 1934 C. R. Fairey finished a four-year term of office aspresident and was succeeded by J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon. A tribute was paid to Mr Fairey for his work in improving thefinancial position of the Society. At the annual general meeting on March 31, 1937, it wasannounced that His Majesty the King had been graciously pleased Below, left: Mrs Joan Bradbrooke, ARAeS, edi- tor of the RAeS Journal; and Miss Florence E. Barwood, MBE, assistant to the secretary to become patron of the Society. An obituary in the 1937 volumewas that of Baden-Powell, who had died at the age of 77. In 1938 the membership of the Society reached 2,000 and thethreat of a second world war was looming large. The endowment fund had reached £12,000 and in 1939 the Society moved toits present premises on March 25; the formal opening was on June 16 and 17. In September war broke out. Arrangements weremade for emergency headquarters in the country should condi- tions make it necessary and valuable records and material wereremoved from the library. During the war years the membership was more than doubled.The Society's prestige inevitably increased, although its activities did not, perhaps, capture the public imagination to the extent thatthey had when aviation was still a novelty. With the end of the war there was a certain amount of loins-girding. The technical department was largely re-organized, with a resulting increase in the issue of the Data Sheets that the industrynow finds so useful. Even closer co-operation was made with the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences by the establishmentof the Anglo-American Conferences. In 1951, with the Brighton conference as his swan-song, Laurence Pritchard retired from thesecretaryship after over 26 years of unselfish service to the Society. He was succeeded by Dr A. M. Ballantyne, who holds office today.The progress of the Society in the past eight years will be common knowledge to most readers of Flight. The formationof specialist sections to deal with guided missiles, agricultural aviation, manpowered flight and aeronautical history is an indica-tion of the Society's awareness of the present needs of aeronautical engineers and the interests of others connected with aviation. TheData Sheets produced by the technical department show not only awareness of the needs of the present but anticipate the require-ments of the future. What the future holds one can but guess; but one might, without disrespect, suggest a motto for the Societyin its aim to cope with lunar targets as well as with strange vehicles that hover just above the surface of the water—Quo Vadis? The imposing library contains thousands of aeronautical works
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