The Royal Aeronautical Society and the History of British Aviation

Since its formation in 1866, the Royal Aeronautical Society, the oldest aeronautical society
in the world, has been recording developments in aeronautics, aviation and aircraft/aerospace technology through its meetings, lectures, publications and library.

Over the years the Society (and under its former title of The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain) has published a large number of publications and currently its ongoing publications include three journal titles The Aeronautical Journal, Aerospace International and The Aerospace Professional plus many published proceedings of conferences and symposia that the Society has organised. The prefix ‘Royal’ was granted by King George V in 1918, the same year the Society’s Journal become a monthly and not quarterly, publication.

In 1909 it was established — in agreement with the Royal Aero Club and the Aerial League of the British Empire — that the Society was to be the ‘paramount scientific authority on aeronautical matters’ and that year the Society’s first Gold Medal was awarded to Wilbur and Orville Wright “for their distinguished service to aeronautical science.”

Through its data sheets the Society pioneered the collection, critical evaluation and presentation of engineering information in a form immediately usable by designers and technicians. A founding member of the Council of Engineering Institutions, the Society is a nominated body of its successor, the Engineering Council. The Society is regularly asked for its professional advice and during WW2 its Advisory Committee to the Minister of Aircraft Production played a vital role. The Society is a world-wide organisation operating an international network of over 60 Branches — with over 19,000 members from more than 100 countries. In 1953 the first of the Society’s Specialist Group committees, the Historic Aircraft Group, was founded.

There are now more than 20 of these Groups, each of which enjoys a degree of autonomy from the Council, organising lectures and conferences providing a continuous record of aeronautical achievement. The Society has always retained the diverse nature of its membership and is the home of the aerospace professional, whatever their discipline.

For more information, contact:

Sam Phillips
2008 Project Officer
Royal Aeronautical Society
No 4 Hamilton Place
London W1J 7BQ, UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7670 4371
e-mail: 2008@raes.org.uk