Title
Airship Stressing Panel reports AS1-AS22
Reference
BNW/BB7/3
Production date
24-01-1929 - 31-01-1931
Creator
- Aeronautical Research CouncilBiographyBiography
In May 1909 the government appointed an Advisory Committee for Aeronautics to advise it on aeronautical policy and to supervise research then being undertaken into the problems of flight. The committee's role was purely advisory and it could only study problems which were referred to it. A department was set up at the National Physical Laboratory, under the laboratory's administration, to assist the committee in dealing with such problems.
During its early years the committee was responsible to the Prime Minister as Chairman of the Committee of Imperial Defence, but from 1918, although it remained independent of departmental control, it reported to and advised whichever minister was currently responsible for governmental research into aeronautics. From 1918 until 1940 the committee reported to the Secretary of State for Air, and subsequently to the ministers of Aircraft Production (1940 to 1945), Supply (1945 to 1959), Aviation (1959 to 1966) and Technology (1966 to 1970). Later it advised the Minister for Defence Procurement, Ministry of Defence, and Minister for Aerospace, Department of Industry.
The committee was reconstituted three times: in 1920, 1925 and 1945. On the first occasion, following the redistribution of responsibility for government research between the Air Ministry and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, it was renamed the Aeronautical Research Committee, and given wider terms of reference. In addition, its composition was altered to include representatives of the aircraft industry and of other outside interests. Sub-committees and panels formed the basis of the committee's internal organisation and by 1925 there were 13 sub-committees ranging in size from 3 to 12 or more members. Each sub-committee was presided over by a member of the main committee and included, as appropriate, representatives of the governmental bodies interested in aeronautical research. The principal sub-committees each developed a number of panels.
In 1945, when the committee was renamed the Aeronautical Research Council, sub-committees became known as committees and the panels became known as sub-committees. At the same time the Minister of Aircraft Production announced that the council would consist of 14 members of whom 8, including the chairman, would be non-official members.
The Aeronautical Research Council was eventually disbanded in 1979.
Scope and Content
Aeronautical Research Committee Airship Stressing Panel reports:
AS1 – Stressing of Airships
AS2 – Terms of Reference and Membership
AS3 – Stress Distribution in Airship Hulls, by Professor A J Sutton Pippard
AS4 – Flight Tests on USS “Los Angeles” Part II Stress and Strength Determination, by C F Burgess
AS5 – Flight Tests on USS “Los Angeles” Part I Full Scale Pressure Distribution Investigation, by S J De France
AS6 – Aeronautical Research in USA, Extract from 15th Annual Report of the NACA, 1929
AS7 – Note on errors arising in the calculation of loads in longitudinals and shear wires on the assumption of “plane sections”, by Lieut. Colonel V C Richmond
AS8 – Note on the effect of transverse frame distortion on loads in longitudinals and shear wires calculated on the assumption of “plane sections”, by Lieut. Colonel V C Richmond
AS9 – Note on the effect of Outer Cover Loads on Transverse Frames, by Lieut. Colonel V C Richmond
AS10 – Loading Conditions for Transverse Frames, by Lieut. Colonel V C Richmond
AS11 – Note on the nature of the loading systems which may be applied to longitudinal girders, by Lieut. Colonel V C Richmond
AS13 – Note on R & M 1170, by H Bateman
AS15 – The Flapping of Airship Covers, by Dr Max M Munk
AS16 – Investigation of “out of balance” loads, communicated by Lieut. Colonel V C Richmond
AS17 – Interim Report on Airship Stressing Investigations in Progress at Oxford, by R V Southwell and Miss L Chitty
AS18 – Data regarding vertical currents in clear air collected from information available in Meteorological Office Library, Royal Airship Works, Cardington
AS19 – A Note on the Formation of Stationary Waves in Airship Covers, by E F Relf
AS20 – An Analysis of Primary Stresses in the Shell of a Rigid Airship, by R V Southwell and Miss L Chitty
AS20b - An Analysis of Primary Stresses in the Shell of a Rigid Airship (Continued), by R V Southwell and Miss L Chitty
AS21 – Progress in Airship design from USS Shenandoah to USS Akron, by C P Burgess
AS22 – Load Factors for Airships – Copy of a letter from the Zeppelin Co. to the Air Ministry
Also includes 60 page printed booklet entitled ‘The Strength of Transverse Frames of Rigid Airships’ by Hilda M. Lyon
Extent
2 files
Language
English
Level of description
FILE
Repository name
Science Museum, London
Associated people and organisations
- Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbHBiographyBiography
Graf von Zeppelin's first airship was flown in 1900. Initially finance for the research was supplied by the count himself, by private donations, and even a lottery. With the growing success of each flight, public interest also grew. In 1908, the Zeppelin LZ 4 was destroyed during a high-profile test flight. This proved fortunate, since it caused a flood of public support. The ensuing donation campaign collected over 6 million German marks which was used to set up both
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH was set up by Graf von Zeppelin in 1908 thanks to funds raised by the public after the Zeppelin LZ 4 was destroyed during a high-profile test flight. 'Luftschiffbau' is a German word meaning building of airships. The company manufactured many Zeppelin airships for both civilian and military use over the next few decades. However, with the rise of the Nazis in 1933, focus shifted to 'heavier than air' aircraft, due to their military superiority. By the beginning of World War II demand for airships had disappeared. The last active vessel (LZ 130) was decommissioned early in the war and broken up for its aluminium.
In the late 1920s to 1940 the company worked with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company to build two Zeppelins in the United States and the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation was created to facilitate the relationship. The partnership ended after World War II began, but the American company continued to build blimps under the Goodyear name.
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin stopped manufacturing in 1938, though by the autumn of 1941 the company had accepted contracts to produce V-2 rocket propellant tanks and fuselage sections. In June 1943, Allied bombing during Operation Bellicose hit the Zeppelin V-2 facility, and production was subsequently moved to the Mittelwerk. The company continued during the war and disappeared sometime around 1945.
Almost 50 years later, the company re-emerged in Germany. The parent group company of the current Zeppelin maker was re-established in 1993 and the operating company producing the current Zeppelins was created in 2001.
Conditions governing access
Open Access
Conditions governing Reproduction
Copies may be supplied in accordance with current copyright legislation and Science Museum Group terms and conditions
Finding aids
BNW Box 15
