1866, THE ROYAL AERONAUTICAL SOCIETY IS FORMED

Today, The Grandma has been reading about The Royal Aeronautical Society, that was founded on a day like today in London in 1866.

 

The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community.

Founded in 1866, it is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Members, Fellows, and Companions of the society can use the post-nominal letters MRAeS, FRAeS, or CRAeS, respectively. The objectives of The Royal Aeronautical Society include: to support and maintain high professional standards in aerospace disciplines; to provide a unique source of specialist information and a local forum for the exchange of ideas; and to exert influence in the interests of aerospace in the public and industrial arenas, including universities.

The Royal Aeronautical Society is a worldwide society with an international network of 67 branches. Many practitioners of aerospace disciplines use the Society's designatory post-nominals such as FRAeS, CRAeS, MRAeS, AMRAeS, and ARAeS (incorporating the former graduate grade, GradRAeS).

The RAeS headquarters is located in the United Kingdom. The staff of the Royal Aeronautical Society are based at the Society's headquarters at No. 4 Hamilton Place, London, W1J 7BQ. The headquarters is on the north-east edge of Hyde Park Corner, with the nearest access being Hyde Park Corner tube station. In addition to offices for its staff the building is used for Royal Aeronautical Society conferences and events and parts of the building are available on a private hire basis for events.

The Society was founded in January 1866 with the name The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain and is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Early or founding members included James Glaisher, Francis Wenham, the Duke of Argyll, and Frederick Brearey.

In the first year, there were 65 members, at the end of the second year, 91 members, and in the third year, 106 members.

Annual reports were produced in the first decades. In 1868 the Society held a major exhibition at London's Crystal Palace with 78 entries. John Stringfellow's steam engine was shown there. The Society sponsored the first wind tunnel in 1870-71, designed by Wenham and Browning.

In 1918, the organization's name was changed to The Royal Aeronautical Society.

In 1923 its principal journal was renamed from The Aeronautical Journal to The Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society and in 1927 the Institution of Aeronautical Engineers Journal was merged into it.

In 1940, the RAeS responded to the wartime need to expand the aircraft industry.

The Society established a Technical Department to bring together the best available knowledge and present it in an authoritative and accessible form -a working tool for engineers who might come from other industries and lack the specialised knowledge required for aircraft design. This technical department became known as the Engineering Sciences Data Unit (ESDU) and eventually became a separate entity in the 1980s.

In 1987 the Society of Licensed Aircraft Engineers and Technologists, previously called the Society of Licensed Aircraft Engineers was incorporated into The Royal Aeronautical Society.

More information: Royal Aeronautical Society

The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us
by our ancestors who, in their grueling travels across
trackless lands in prehistoric times,
looked enviously on the birds soaring
freely through space,
at full speed, above all obstacles,
on the infinite highway of the air.

Wilbur Wright