The Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (ACA) was formed by the then War Minister, Lord Haldane with the cooperation of the distinguished physicist, Lord Rayleigh, who became its President, and Dr Richard Glazebrook, Director of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), who became its chairman. The work for which the Committee was formed was defined in an announcement made by the Prime Minister to the House of Commons on May 5th, 1909. As part of a general reorganization of British "aerial navigation" activities and "with a view to securing that the highest scientific talent shall he brought to bear on the problems which will have to be solved", the ACA was tasked to advise it on aeronautical policy and to supervise aeronautical research being undertaken at the NPL. The committee's role was purely advisory and its goal was to bring some cohesion to the investigations being carried out by several bodies including the Admiralty, the War Office and the NPL.
(a) Reasons for enquiry (l) The Momentum Theory of R. E. Fronde leads to equations which require some modification when the airscrew is working in a tunnel of dimensions comparable with the diameter of the screw. (2) Some ...
Undertaken to obtain data upon which to base nose-stiffening calculations on new airship. Distribution of pressure was measured over the whole length of the airship model at zero angle of incidence, with wind speed varying ...
The method of investigating the twist of propeller blades, which was developed in R. & M. 454, is interpreted mathematically by making a certain assumption as to the shape of the cross-sections. A general equation expressing ...
The experiments were conducted at the request of the Airship Design Department of the Admiralty in order to obtain data to assist in designing balanced control surfaces for airships of the R.38 class. Pitching moments ...
The investigation was undertaken in response to a request from the Technical Department of the Air Board for information as to the most sensitive form of yawmeter, and for a calibration curve for such an instrument. The ...