Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith (22 March 1909 – 3 December 1981)Charles Gibbs-Smith, famous people from Teddington
at Information Britain web site was a British

polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...

historian of aeronautics and aviation. His obituary in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' described him as "the recognised authority on the early development of flying in Europe and America" Richard P. Hallion called him "The greatest of all historians of early aviation".

Biography

Charles Gibbs-Smith was born in

Teddington Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long me ...

, Greater London in 1909 to a medical family which included in its line John Harvard, the founder of

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

. Gibbs-Smith attended King's College School, Cambridge, and

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

in central London before earning a Master of Arts degree at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1932. The same year, he gained employment as an assistant keeper at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

. In 1939 he organised the Exhibition of Early Photographs to Commemorate the Centenary of Photography, 1839–1939. He was seconded to the Ministry of Information in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and conducted training in aircraft recognition for the

Royal Observer Corps The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Great Britain. It operated in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 Decembe ...

—this experience catalysed a deep interest in aviation history. He authored the government's manual on aircraft recognition in 1944 as well as being a contributor to the training journal ''

Aircraft Recognition Aircraft recognition is a visual skill taught to military personnel and civilian auxiliaries since the introduction of military aircraft in World War I. It is important for air defense and military intelligence gathering. Aircraft recognition g ...

'', then became the ministry's Director of the Photographic Division in 1945. Between 1947 and 1971 he was Keeper of the Department of Public Relations at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The department, the first public relations department of any English museum, was initially called the Museum Extension Services. In this role he arranged museum exhibitions, conducted scholarly research, and wrote on a variety of topics, including a study of the Bayeux Tapestry and a centenary collection of

the Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took p ...

of 1851. Starting in 1976 he had a Research Fellowship at the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in ...

in London. Upon retirement, he was chosen as the first Charles A. Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History at the National Air and Space Museum in 1978, for which he spent a year in the United States studying the papers of the Wright brothers.

Research and writings

In ''The Invention of the Aeroplane 1799–1909'', Gibbs-Smith wrote a concise account of aeronautical developments which led slowly to functional fixed-wing aircraft. Gibbs-Smith investigated the disputed subject of inventor

Clément Ader Clément Ader (2 April 1841 – 3 May 1925) was a French inventor and engineer who was born near Toulouse in Muret, Haute-Garonne, and died in Toulouse. He is remembered primarily for his pioneering work in aviation. In 1870 he was also one ...

's 1897 aeronautical experiments. Gibbs-Smith's 1968 book on Ader thoroughly described the documented evidence that Ader did not make a controlled flight in 1897, and only claimed to have done so in 1906, after others had already flown. In his 1960's "definitive" work ''The Aeroplane: An Historical Survey Of Its Origins And Development'', Gibbs-Smith wrote for the

about the controversy over

Henri Coandă Henri Marie Coandă (; 7 June 1886 – 25 November 1972)''Flight'' 1973 was a Romanian inventor, aerodynamics pioneer, and builder of an experimental aircraft, the Coandă-1910 described by Coandă in the mid-1950s as the world's first jet, a co ...

's early aircraft—the

Coandă-1910 The Coandă-1910, designed by Romanian inventor Henri Coandă, was an unconventional sesquiplane aircraft powered by a ducted fan. Called the "turbo-propulseur" by Coandă, its experimental engine consisted of a conventional piston engine dri ...

—which Coandă said was the first jet aircraft. Gibbs-Smith wrote a rebuttal to Coandă, describing how the aircraft had no injection or combustion of fuel in the air stream. Gibbs-Smith said that it would have been suicidal to the pilot to attain combustion of the turbine-compressed air as the open cockpit would be subjected to the heat of the exhaust. Gibbs-Smith also investigated reports of the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

, including ghosts, flying saucers and

parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near ...

. He defended his studies among more sceptical colleagues.

Honours

*The Danish government appointed him to the Order of the Dannebrog for his work on a 1948 exhibition. *The

Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Members, Fellows, ...

awarded him an Honorary Companionship.

Selected publications

*''The Aircraft Recognition Manual'' (1944) – formerly ''Basic Aircraft Recognition'' *''The Great Exhibition of 1851'' (1951). London: His Majesty's Stationery Office *''The Wright Brothers: A Brief Account of their Work, 1899–1911'' (1963). London: Science Museum. *''Sir George Cayley's Aeronautics, 1796–1855'' (1962)
Sir George Cayley's aeronautics, 1796–1855
' entry at National Library of Australia site *''The Invention of the Aeroplane 1799–1909'' (1966), London: Faber & Faber. *''A Directory and Nomenclature of the First Aeroplanes 1809 to 1909'' (1966). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office *''Clément Ader – his flight claims and his place in history'' (1968), London: Science Museum *''Aviation: an historical survey from its origins to the end of World War II'' (1960; 1970; 1985), London: Science Museum * ''The Bayeux Tapestry'' (1973), London ; New York, Phaidon ; Praeger *''The Rebirth of European Aviation 1902–1908'' (1974). London: Science Museum

References

External links

*

in ''Flight International'', 15 May 1975 p. 806 (Link inaccessible 4/5/2020)

''Flight'' 1960

by Gibbs-Smith in ''Flight International'', 1962, at Flightglobal/Archive

''Flight'' April 1959
Television interview with Gibbs-Smith on the subject of UFOs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbs-Smith, Charles Harvard 1909 births 1981 deaths People educated at Westminster School, London People of the Royal Observer Corps 20th-century British historians Harvard University alumni Alumni of King's College, Cambridge