Sir George Cayley the Founder of British Aeronautical Science

Abstract

It is, I suppose, known to most of those present in this lecture hall that the Royal Aeronautical Society was founded in 1866–to be exact the first preliminary meeting was held, under the chairmanship of the Duke of Argyll, on January 12th, though the first meeting of members did not take place until the 27th of June following. It is, therefore, within a few days of 70 years ago that the Society came into being. That is a full and honourable age, and with it goes the distinction–in which we are entitled to take some pride–of being the oldest Aeronautical Society in the world. The anniversary may not arouse the enthusiasm usually associated with the more youthful glamour of a silver or a diamond jubilee. On the other hand it denotes another decade of progress in the growth of aeronautical science, and of even more marked developments in the application of that science, on which grounds alone it deserves passing notice.