Aeronautical Research Committee
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | April 30, 1909 |
| Dissolved | 1979 |
| Jurisdiction | Government of the United Kingdom |
| Footnotes | |
| later "Aeronautical Research Committee" then "Aeronautical Research Council", disbanded 1979 | |
The Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (ACA) was a United Kingdom agency founded on April 30, 1909 to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. In 1919 it was renamed the Aeronautical Research Committee, later becoming the Aeronautical Research Council.
Following the establishment of this committee, other countries created similar agencies, notably the French L’Etablissement Central de l’Aérostation Militaire in Meudon (now Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aerospatiales), the Russian "Aerodynamic Institute of Koutchino" and the U.S.A.'s National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, founded in 1915.
The Aeronautical Research Council was disbanded in 1979.
The idea for the creation of the ACA originated with the then Secretary of State for War, R.B.Haldane (later First Viscount Haldane), who was supported in his efforts by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom H. H. Asquith.
Asquith announced the committee's appointment in a statement to the House of Commons on May 5, 1909, in which he stated:
"With a view to securing that the highest scientific talent shall he brought to hear on the problems which will have to be solved in the course of the work of the two departments, the National Physical Laboratory has been requested to organize at its establishment at Teddington a special department for continuous investigation, experimental and otherwise,of questions which must from time to time be solved in order to obtain adequate guidance in construction.
"For the superintendence of the investigations at the National Physical Laboratory and for general advice on the scientific problems arising in connection with the work of the Admiralty and War Office in aerial construction and navigation, I have appointed a special Committee...."
Haldane was criticised for what some considered the undue preponderance of academics on the committee (7 of the original 10 members were Fellows of the premier British learned society for science, the Royal Society, founded in 1660). To these criticisms Asquith replied in the House of Commons:
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