On 8 July 2006 a team from the University of Toronto flew a full-sized, piloted, flapping-wing aircraft. In this entertaining lecture the project’s leader, Prof James DeLaurier, shows us the inspiration behind the project and guides us through the research, design, testing, construction and certification stages, before taking us through the events of an early morning in 2006 when a pilot flew the Ornithopter No.1, nick named “The Big Flapper”, for fourteen seconds over Bombardier’s Airfield in Toronto.

Prof James DeLaurier MRAeS presented his lecture. Ornithopter Research, to a meeting of the Royal Aeronautical Society on 12 September 2007. The lecture was introduced by AVM David Couzens FRAeS and the film & podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

Rewind: Designing & flying a man-carrying Ornithopter by Prof James DeLaurier MRAeS

“Oh come on, surely it was the Wright Brothers who did this!” In his lecture Dr John Ackroyd FRAeS tries to persuade us that Sir George Cayley, not the Wright Brothers, defined the concepts behind the aeroplane and flew it in 1804.

After exploring Sir George’s early life and some of his non-aeronautical designs of early tractors, engines and artificial hands, Dr Ackroyd explores Cayley’s key breakthrough, his discovery in 1799 that flapping wings would not lead to flight and what was needed was a complete separation of the lifting from the propulsion system.

Dr Ackroyd then analyses Cayley’s results from his glider flights, experiments and concepts using modern aerodynamic techniques and compares Sir George’s achievements to those who came after. He also explores how Sir George learnt from aerodynamic shapes found in nature and that the challenges facing aviation could be divided into the four basic areas which remain the fundamentals of aeronautics today: aerodynamics, structures, flight dynamics and propulsion.

The recording concludes by showing how Cayley’s work influenced and compared to the work of future generations, most notably how the Wright Brothers built on Cayley’s work to be the first to conquer the challenge of powered flight.

The lecture was specially recorded to mark the 250th Anniversary of Sir George Cayley’s birth and was produced by Peter Laws CEng MRAeS. 

Find out more about Sir George Cayley by visiting www.aerosociety.com/cayley250

Cayley

Classic Lecture: The invention of the aeroplane near Scarborough at the time of Trafalgar

One of the towering figures in post-war aeronautics, Sir George gives his views on the challenges and opportunities facing the British aerospace industry in the early 1970s, from his seat at the head of British Aircraft Corporation’s board. 

Starting off with a look at the growth of aviation and the state of British exports, Sir George turns to the advantages and disadvantages of international projects such as the SEPECAT Jaguar and Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde, discusses the BAC Intelsat IV satellite and concludes by giving his frank views on the impact that politicians played in the post-war aerospace industry. 

Sir George started off his career under Barnes Wallis at Vickers, before moving through the company. Amongst his roles at Vickers was to head aircraft projects including the design of the Vickers Viscount and Valiant. His last roles were to mould BAC, first as Managing Director and then as Chairman.

The Lecture was the Sixth Tizard Memorial Lecture to the RAeS Boscombe Down Branch and was delivered on 29 February 1972. The podcast was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and it was digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.

Classic Lecture Series: UK aerospace – a personal view, by Sir George Edwards Hon FRAeS

Putting tens of thousands of extra people through an airport in a short period is always a challenge, especially if they have three times the average amount of luggage containing such things as firearms, specialist wheelchairs and canoes – now try putting it through the world’s third busiest airport; a bad press might affect future plans and, by the way, twenty thousand of those additional customers are from the world’s media. 

Andy Garner, BAA’s London 2012 Director and the man responsible for the smooth running of the Olympic Traffic at Heathrow tells members of the RAeS Air Transport Group Lecture about the challenges the airport faced in 2012 and how they overcame them with record-breaking customer satisfaction rates. 

Andy Garner FRAeS addressed a meeting of the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Air Transport Group on 23 October 2012 and the podcast was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

Rewind - Handling the Olympic and Paralympic traffic at Heathrow by Andy Garner FRAeS

This webinar will be delivered by Dr Michael John Pryce MRAeS, Senior Air Systems Analyst of Future Projects Research. Mike will explore the challenges in meeting the future needs for combat aircraft across the globe.

He will also look at enduring issues that challenge the development and support of future combat aircraft, and how to overcome them within resource constraints and political limitations.

Three main areas will be explored:
- Design for Combat Air
- A Low Cost Industry
- Combat Air Transformation

These build on work done as an advisor during the development of the UK Combat Air Strategy. The webinar will take into account recent developments in the United States, Europe and East Asia, where public debates are rapidly evolving, and explore their implications for the UK.

RAeS Webinar: The Supply of Future Combat Aircraft

The Royal Aeronautical Society is the world's only professional body dedicated to the entire aerospace community. Established in 1866 to further the art, science and engineering of aeronautics, the Society has been at the forefront of developments in aerospace ever since.

Classic Lecture Series: UK aerospace – a personal view, by Sir George Edwards Hon FRAeS

AeroSociety Podcast

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