The Duke of Sutherland & Aeroplanes

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Date:1869

Description:Following developments in the engineering of automobiles, many inventors and engineers of the late nineteenth century became involved in aeronautical experiments focussed on creating a functional aircraft. Many of these early attempts centred on experimenting with engines designed to move bicycles and cars on land, with inventors using steam powered engines to launch aircrafts. Enthusiastic about developments in aeronautical engineering, George Granville William Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1828-1892), the third Duke of Sutherland, served as Vice-President of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain and witnessed many of these early experiments, including those carried out by American inventor Sir Hiram Maxim.

Contextual information from Judith E. Rinard, The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Book of Flight (Firefly, 2001)

The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain

The Sutherland Papers contain a copy of the Fourth Annual Report of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, which was held in 1869.

The Aeronautical Society, known today as the Royal Aeronautical Society, was founded in 1866. The oldest aeronautical society in the world, the society records developments in aeronautics and aviation technology through meetings and publications.

For more information about the Royal Aeronautical Society, click on the link below to view their website. The text on these pages formed the basis of the description of the Society which features here.

George Granville William Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1828-1892), the third Duke of Sutherland was Vice-President of the Aeronautical Society and his private secretary Henry Wright was a member of the Society’s Council. The Annual Report contains ‘an Account of the Proceedings, and a Selection from the Papers and Communications received by the Society during the year, with concluding Remarks upon the present state of the Science’.

The report states that the aim of the society’s experiments ‘to obtain aerial navigation’ was ‘entirely dependent on experiment’ which would be carried out ‘by mathematicians’ and aided by ‘physical science’.

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