- Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom
Trade, professional and other related organisations
Location:
Leicester, Leicestershire
History:
- In 1901, during a recreational balloon flight, three wealthy motorists - Frank Hedges Butler, his daughter Vera and the Hon Charles Rolls – conceived and later formed an Aero Club of Great Britain, partly inspired by the Aero Club of France. The club was dedicated to 'the encouragement of aero auto-mobilism and ballooning as a sport' and initially was a London club focussed on ballooning. Unusually for the time membership was open to both men and women by election. After the Wright Brothers’ demonstration flights in France in 1908 the club also embraced aeroplanes. In 1909 the club established a flying ground at Muswell Manor, near Leysdown, Isle of Sheppey, where in the same year Short Brothers - balloon makers to the club - set up the world’s first aircraft production line nearby at Leysdown. The club was granted a royal prefix in 1910 and was renamed the Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom (RAeC). From 1905 it issued aeronauts' certificates for balloonists and from 1910 aviators' certificates for aircraft pilots, internationally recognised under the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. As the UK’s representative on the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the club was responsible for the control of all UK private and sporting flying, including records and competitions. By the end of the First World War more than 6,300 military pilots had been awarded aviator certificates, but after the war the club recognised the need to promote civil flying. Under the influence of Sir Sefton Brancker, Director of Civil Aviation from 1922 and chairman of the club’s racing committee from 1921, the Royal Aero Club - Light Aeroplane Club scheme was formed. Between 1925 and 1939 around 60 flying clubs were established, training over 5,000 pilots and thereby both supporting the aircraft sector and providing pilots for the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. The Royal Aero Club awarded gold, silver and bronze medals, diplomas and certificates of merit recognising achievement in aviation from 1908 and organised the Schneider Trophy races that took place in Britain. Today the club is made up of institutional and individual members and remains the national co-ordinating body for recreational and competitive air sport in the UK. HM the Queen Elizabeth II is the club’s patron.
Records 1:
Minutes, accounts, reports, correspondence, maps, plans, photographs and drawings 1865-2007 [L001-2370].
Records 2:
Papers re the establishment, governance and development of the Royal Aero Club 1909-70.
CID: