Frederick W. Lanchester and Aerodynamics: Why an Automotive Engineer Wrote a Book for Aerodynamic Education
13 February 2025
Last update: 30/06/25 13:30
The Aeronautical Journal January 2025 Vol 129 No 1331
Frederick W. Lanchester was a well-known automotive engineer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in England. While he was very prolific and capable at designing and manufacturing automobiles, he also spent a great deal of time researching aerodynamic and flight dynamics, among a number of other subjects. While a great deal has been written about Lanchester over the years (especially through the RAeS Lanchester Memorial Lectures), it is hard to imagine finding something new to discuss about his efforts in aerodynamics.
Many of the previous Lanchester Memorial Lectures discussed topics such as wing aerodynamics, aircraft concepts and design, unsteady rotor aerodynamics, aerodynamics research, and a wide variety of other related aerodynamic topics. However, there has never been a lecture about Lanchester’s book Aerodynamics as a tool for aerodynamics education in the early 20th century. Included in the article is an attempt to understand why Lanchester wrote Aerodynamics, including what his goals and reasons were. These reasons include his total lack of success at having his research published in journals early in his career and his desire to convey material that he considered to be very important to the future of his country.
That said, there was a common complaint at the time that Lanchester’s treatment of aerodynamics was done without presenting significant theory, but rather concentrating on physical concepts. In order to understand this better, the article will discuss his book relative to other aerodynamics books before and after 1907, and discover how Lanchester’s book had a very distinct, and important, contribution to make towards aerodynamic education.
His efforts will also be compared with modern developments in aerodynamics in order to show that Lanchester may have been far ahead of his time in showing what was really important for students to know about aerodynamics, something which can be applied to modern aerodynamics education and the need to update and expand our understanding of how aerodynamics should be taught.
Read the Special Issue of The Aeronautical Journal, featuring a curated selection of peer-reviewed papers from Volume 129 – Issue 1331 of The Aeronautical Journal.
The Royal Aeronautical Society is the world’s only professional body dedicated to the entire aerospace community. Established in 1866 to further the art, science and engineering of aeronautics, the Society has been at the forefront of developments ever since.
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