NA TURE 



20 1 



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1921. 



Editorial and Publishing Offices: 



MACMILLAN y CO.. LTD., 



ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON, W.C.2. 



Advertisements and business letters should be 



addressed to the Publishers. 



Editorial communications to the Editor. 



Telegraphic Address: PHUSIS, LONDON. 

 Telephone Nunber : GERRARD 8830. 



The Aeronautical Research Gommittee. 



THE report of the Court of Inquiry into the 

 loss of R38 on August 24 has been issued 

 by the Air Ministry, Its findings are important 

 and disquieting. Having described what actually 

 happened when the accident took place, the Court 

 makes comment on the initiation and development 

 of the design. Briefly summarised, the report 

 states that a great advance on previous British 

 airships was made with insufficient preparation 

 and with an unsuitable organisation. It is stated 

 that further inquiry is being made by the Aero- 

 nautical Research Committee. It is of interest, 

 therefore, to turn to the recently issued Report ^ 

 of that body and to read the notes relating to ex- 

 periments and research on airships. Pages 11 and 

 21 will be found to be connected intimately with 

 R38 and other airships, and a relevant extract is 

 given later in this article. 



In addition to the importance given to it by the 

 accident, the Report of the Aeronautical Research 

 Corrlmittee for the year 1920-21 is a docu- 

 ment of considerable general scientific interest. 

 Not only does it give an account of work done, 

 but it also furnishes matter for comment on the 

 growth of a new subject, and illustrates a present- 

 day tendency to widen the idea of research to 

 cover anything new. It is self-evident that the 

 pursuit of new things is not necessarily desirable, 



I Report of the Aeronautical Research Committee for the year 1920-21- 

 Pp.52. (London : H..M. Stationerj' Office.) Cmd. 1458. -id. 



NO. 271 1, VOL. 108] 



and if due economy is to be observed, either a 

 return is required to the older usage of "re- 

 search " to mean progress, or a new word is 

 necessary to express the latter idea. 



At present there is a Directorate of Research 

 in the Air Ministry*, as well as the Aeronautical 

 Research Committee, and the Report under 

 review indicates a confusion of functions. In 

 many respects the older organisation was better, 

 and consisted of a Technical Department in the 

 Air Ministry, an advisory committee to which it 

 could refer new problems, and research establish- 

 ments at the National Physical Laboratory and 

 the Royal Aircraft Establishment for the assist- 

 ance of the Committee. When first formed in 

 1909 by Mr. Asquith, the Advisory Committee 

 for Aeronautics consisted of a small number of 

 men of science dealing with an undeveloped 

 subject; the state of aeronautics compelled them 

 to look for general knowledge and to leave 

 application to the internal working of the Admir- 

 alty Air Department and the Directorate of Mili- 

 tary Aeronautics. 



During the war, as in many other branches of 

 science, extension of the boundaries of knowledge 

 of aeronautics almost ceased in the endeavour 

 to apply to warfare the results of earlier research, 

 with the consequence that the Advisory Com- 

 mittee became almost wholly occupied with tech- 

 nical matters. The references were so numerous 

 that sub-committees were formed to deal with 

 separate branches of the subject. An organisa- 

 tion essentially of war type has now become a 

 regular part of the peace system of the country, 

 and has been called the Aeronautical Research 

 Committee. On pages 4, 5, and 6 of the Report 

 appear lists of the personnel of the various Com- 

 mittees, and, in spite of the repetition of names, 

 the lists indicate a very large body of people act- 

 ing as advisers. The number appears to be out 

 of all proportion to the staffs available for carry- 

 ing on research, and can be justified only, if at 

 all, on the ground that the members are there as 

 technical experts, and not as supervisors of re- 

 search. 



The Committee has no executive powers, and 

 work for it is carried out at the National Physical 

 Laboratory through the Department of Scientific 

 and Industrial Research, or at the Royal Aircraft 

 Establishment through the Directorate of Re- 

 search. In such circumstances it is clear that 

 sympathetic administration is needed if progress 

 is to be possible ; at the present moment the con- 



