AERADE Reports Archive |ACA/ARC History

ACA/ARC Annual Technical Reports

Advisory Committee for

Aeronautics

1909-1920

Aeronautical Research

Committee

1920-1945

Aeronautical Research

Council

1945-1979

The Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (ACA) reported annually to the Prime Minister (and First Lord of the Treasury) from its inception in 1909 until 1918 when, following the formation of the RAF, the formal recipient of the report became the Secretary of State for Air. The Annual Technical Report comprised an overview of progress made during the year, together with a selection of relevant technical papers from the Reports & Memoranda (R&M) series. In 1919, the ACA was transformed into the Aeronautical Research Committee(ARC), but the annual publication continued in much the same form until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.

In the post-war years, the annual publications of what had by then become the Aeronautical Research Council continued as collections of relevant R&Ms but without the introductory overview. Two reviews of progress were produced, however: the first in 1949 covered the wartime and immediate post-war years from 1939 to 1948 (published as R&M 2585), while the second appeared in 1955 and covered the period 1949 to 1954. The annual compendia of R&Ms ceased altogether with the 1960 volume (which actually appeared in 1972), while the ARC itself was disbanded in 1979.

The Annual Volumes (often known as "Blue Books") were published and sold by the Stationery Office, except during World War I, when they were printed but made available for the Committee?s use only. In later years, volumes marked "For Official Use Only" were issued to the Committee before being sold more widely.

The overview parts of the ACA/ARC Annual Reports, which describe the evolution of aeronautics in the UK over the first half of the 20 the century, have now been digitised and are available in searchable PDF format via the links below*.

1909-10

1910-11

1911-12

1912-13

1913-14

1914-15

1915-16

1916-17

1917-18

1918-19

1919-20

1920-21

1921-22

1922-23

1923-24

1924-25

1925-26

1926-27

1927-28

1928-29

1929-30

1930-31

1931-32

1932-33

1933-34

1934-35

1935-36

1936

1937

1938

1939

1939-48

1949-54

* It should be noted that from 1918-19 the Annual Report Volumes also contained Supplements describing the work of the various Sub-Committees and Panels in more detail. These are not included at present but will be added in future as time and effort permits

Illustrations

1909-10 A V Roe Triplane

1910-11 De Havilland Biplane

1911-12 Barber Valkyrie

1912-13 Short Biplane

1913-14 Sopwith Tabloid

1914-15 Bristol Baby

1915-16 Martinsyde Scout

1916-17 De Havilland DH1a

1917-18 Royal Aircraft Factory SE5a1918-19 Supermarine Baby

1919-20 Vickers Vimy

1920-21 R32 Airship

1921-22 R36 Airship

1922-23 R38 Airship

1923-24 R80 Airship

1924-25 Handley Page Hyderabad

1925-26 Gloster Gamecock

1926-27 Short Singapore1927-28 Boulton Paul Sidestrand

1928-29 Bristol Bulldog

1929-30 Armstrong-Whitworth Argosy

1930-31 Fairey Firefly II

1931-32 Hawker Hart

1932-33 De Havilland Tiger Moth

1933-34 Gloster Gauntlet

1934-35 Hawker Super Fury

1935-36 Bristol Blenheim1936 Avro Anson

1937 Westland Lysander

1938 Saunders-Roe Lerwick

1939 Supermarine Spitfire

1939-48 De Havilland Vampire

1949-54 Hawker Hunter

Aircraft illustrated were generally in service at around the time covered by the particular Annual Report.

Aeroplane drawings are from "The Dumpy Book of Aircraft & the Air", Sampson Low (London), Circa 1955

Airship pictures appear by kind permission of the Airship Heritage Trust :http://www.airshipsonline.com/airships/index.html

Jet aircraft pictures are believed to be in the public domain

The webpage was developed by Geoff Butler (Farnborough Air Sciences Trust) and Paul Needham (Cranfield University) : April 2009

Further information on Farnborough Air Sciences Trust (FAST) can be found at:Farnborough Airsciences Trust homepage

Cranfield University