Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T15:02:46.976Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Aeronautical Development in Australia and its Potential Contributions to the British Commonwealth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

L. P. Coombes
L. P. Coombes*
Affiliation:
Aeronautical Research Laboratories, Melbourne and Australian Division of the Society
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Twelfth British Commonwealth and Empire Lecture “ Aeronautical Development in Australia and its Potential Contributions to the British Commonwealth ” was given by Mr. L. P. Coombes, D.F.C., B.Sc, F.C.G.I., F.I.A.S., F.R.Ae.S., Chief Superintendent, Aeronautical Research Laboratories, Melbourne, before the Society on 22nd November 1956 at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Mr. E. T. Jones, C.B., O.B.E., F.R.Ae.S., President of the Society, presided and introduced the Lecturer

MR. E. T. Jones: The British Commonwealth and Empire Lecture was given annually and normally alternated yearly between a resident of the United Kingdom and a resident of a member country of the Commonwealth. This year the lecture was to be given by a resident of Australia and it was his great pleasure to introduce Mr. Coombes. Mr. Coombes had long been a friend and colleague of many of them but as they had a fair number of the younger generation present he would introduce Mr. Coombes properly.

Mr. Coombes had served the profession of aeronautics since 1917 when he started as a pilot in the First World War. For ithese services he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was a Fellow of the Society and a Fellow of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences. He was also a Fellow of the City and Guilds Institute. Mr. Coombes was elected Chairman of the Melbourne Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1953 and in 1956 he was elected President of the Australian Division of the Society. He was also a most active and enthusiastic member, or delegate rather, of the Commonwealth Advisory Aeronautical Research Council, a body to which he referred in the paper and which came into existence in 1946.

Mr. Coombes joined the Royal Aircraft Establishment in the Aero Department in 1924 and a year after transferred to the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe. He was recalled to Farnborough in 1930 to take charge there of the seaplane testing tank which had just been erected and many would remember that Mr. Coombes and the late Mr. W. G. A. Perring worked side by side on that tank for many years. He thought it was about 1938 when he and his family left England when there were no facilities at all in Australia for aeronautical research. Indeed there was no organisation in Australia for aeronautical research and he thought that there was no need personally or professionally for Mr. Coombes to go to Australia because he had already assured for himself an eminent aeronautical career in the British Air Ministry. Mr. Coombes therefore was just as much a pioneer, aeronautically speaking, as those men of sail who set out from England two centuries before him. Mr. Coombes was both architect and designer of the Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne and was now the leader there of a strong team of scientists and engineers who had made quite a reputation in the aeronautical sciences for the high quality of their work.

He would like now to read a message from Australia from Mr. Isbister, the honorary secretary of the Australian Division, which said: “ Please convey to our President, Mr. L. P. Coombes, best wishes for a successful British Commonwealth and Empire Lecture. From Council and members of the Australian Division.”

Type
Twelfth British Commonwealth and Empire Lecture
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 61 , Issue 554 , February 1957 , pp. 69 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1957

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Hudson Fysh, W. (1946). Australia in Empire Air Transport. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, No. 50, Vol. 421, January 1946.Google Scholar
2. Air Transport–Achievements and Economics. Published by Australian National Airways and the Bristol Aeroplane Co.Google Scholar
3. Bailey, C. M. and Richards, N. E. (1947). The Effect of Temperature on the Strength of Wooden Aircraft Structures. C.S.I.R. Division of Aeronautics Report S.M 95, May 1947.Google Scholar
4. Raborg, W. A. (1952). Mechanics of the Learning Curve. Aeronautical Digest, November 1952.Google Scholar
5. Jones, E. (1956). Economics of Aircraft Production in Australia. Lecture to the Aeronautical Branch, Institution of Engineers, Australia, July 1956. (Unpublished.)Google Scholar
6. Osborne, C. J. (1945). Examination of Failures in Stinson Model A Wing Structure. A.R.L. Report S.M. Note 134, March 1945.Google Scholar
7. Wills, H. A. (1948). The Life of Aircraft Structures. Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, Vol. 20, No. 10, October 1948.Google Scholar
8. Wills, H. A. (1949). The Life of Aircraft Structures. Second International Aeronautical Conference, New York, May 1949. Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences.Google Scholar
9. Payne, A. O. (1955). Investigation of the Fatigue Characteristics of a Typical 24ST Wing. Aust. Aero. Research Committee Report A.A.R.C. 51, November 1955.Google Scholar
10. Mann, J. Y. (1954). The Effect of Stress Concentrations on the Fatigue Resistance of 24ST Aluminium Alloy. A.R.L. Report S.M. 217, November 1954.Google Scholar
11. Mann, J. Y. (1954). The Effect of Rate Cycling on the Fatigue Properties of 24ST Aluminium Alloy. A.R.L. Report S.M. 188, August 1954.Google Scholar
12. Hooke, F. H. and Lanoford, P. A. (1955). Australian Research in the Fatigue and Life Assessment of Aircraft Structures. Australian Aeronautical Research Committee Report A.A.R.C. 34, November 1955.Google Scholar
13. Keeble, T. S. (1951). Development in Australia of a Thick Suction Wing. Third Anglo-American Aeronautical Conference, Brighton, September 1951. Royal Aeronautical Society.Google Scholar
14. Wallis, R. A. (1952). The Use of Air Jets for Boundary Layer Control. A.R.L. Aero. Note 110, June 1952.Google Scholar
15. Hurley, D. G., Keeler, A. A. and Wallis, R. A. (1955). Present Status of Boundary Layer Research in Australia. Aust. Aeronautical Research Committee Report A.A.R.C. 36, November 1955.Google Scholar
16. Hurley, D. G. (1956). The Downstream Effect of a Thickening of the Laminar Boundary Layer. Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, April 1956.Google Scholar
17. Edwards, A. R. (1947). A Physical Approach to the Problem of Developing Heat Resisting Alloys. A.R.L. Report S.M. 100, 1947.Google Scholar
18. Edwards, A. R. and Johnstone, S. T. M. (1956). The Constitutional Diagram of the System Chromium- Beryllium. Journal of the Institute of Metals, 84, 313, 1956.Google Scholar
19. McQuillan, M. K. (1951). A Provisional Constitutional Diagram of the Chromium-Titanium System. Journal of the Institute of Metals, 79, 379, 1951.Google Scholar
20. Greenaway, H. T. (1951). The Constitutional Diagram of the Chromium-Tungsten System. Journal of the Institute of Metals, 80, 589, 1951.Google Scholar
21. McQuillan, M. K. (1951). Survey of the Constitutional Diagram of the Chromium-Zirconium System. A.R.L. Report S.M. 165, 1951.Google Scholar
22. Greenaway, H. T., Johnstone, S. T. M. and McQuillan, M. K. (1951). High Temperature Thermal Analysis Using the Tungsten-Molybdenum Thermocouple. Journal of the Institute of Metals, 80, 1330, 1951.Google Scholar
23. Edwards, A. R. and Henderson, F. (1948). The Preparation of Laboratory Ware in Beryllia. A.R.L. Report S.M. 174, 1948.Google Scholar
24. Greenaway, H. T. (1954). The Electrodeposition and Refining of High Grade Chromium. Journal of the Institute of Metals, 83, 121, 1954.Google Scholar
25. Wain, H. L. and Henderson, F. (1953). Room Temperature Brittleness of Chromium. Proceedings of the Physical Society, B. 66, 515, 1953.Google Scholar
26. Henderson, F., Quaass, S. T. and Wain, H. L. (1954-55). The Fabrication of Chromium and Some Dilute Chromium-Base Alloys. Journal of the Institute of Metals, 83, 126, 1954-55.Google Scholar
28. Wain, H. L. (1956). Australian Production of Ductile (1954-55). A Study of the Room-Temperature Ductility of Chromium. Journal of the Institute of Metals, 83, 133, 1954-55.Google Scholar
28. Wain, H. L. (1956). Australian Production of Ductile Chromium Metal Progress. 69(1), 91, 1956.Google Scholar
29. Lane, J. C. and Cumming, R. W. The Role of Visual Cues in Final Approach to Landing. A.R.L. Note H.E. 1.Google Scholar
30. Thomson, T. A. (1955). Temperature Control of Blow-Down Supersonic Wind Tunnels. Aust. Aero. Research Committee Report A.A.R.C. 55, November 1955. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 60, January 1956.Google Scholar
31. Meyer, R. E. (1955). Remarks on Supersonic Nozzle Design. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 59, December 1955.Google Scholar
32. Meyer, R. E. and Mahony, J. J. (1956). Analytical Treatment of Two-Dimensional Supersonic Flow. A.R.L. Report A.93, April 1955. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., A, 248 (952), February 1956.Google Scholar
33. Hall, M. G. (1955). The Accuracy of the Numerical Method of Characteristics for Two-Dimensional Flow. A.R.L. Report A.95, September 1955. Quarterly Journal of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics, (in the press).Google Scholar
34. Meyer, R. E. (1955). Turbulent Boundary Layer Growth on Nozzle Liners. Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, 22, 572-3. 1955.Google Scholar
35. Meyer, R. E. (1956). Perturbations of Supersonic Nozzle Flows. A.R.L. Report A. 92, April 1955. The Aeronautical Quarterly, 7, 71–84, 1956.Google Scholar
36. Meyer, R. E. (1955). Note on the Accuracy of Supersonic Tunnels. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 59, p. 847, December 1955.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
37. Meyer, R. E. (1956). On the Measurement of Supersonic Airfoil Drag by Pressure Traverse. A.R.L. Report A. 97, May 1956. The Aeronautical Quarterly(in the press).Google Scholar
38. Meyer, R. E. (1956). On Supersonic Flow Behind a Curved Shock. A.R.L. Aero. Report A. 98, August 1956. Quarterly of Applied Mathematics (in the press).Google Scholar
39. Stalker, R. J. (1956). Study of a Technique for Indicating Boundary Layer Flow. A.R.L. Report A. 96, October 1956. China Film Technique for Boundary Layer Indication. Journal Royal Aeronautical Society, August 1956.Google Scholar