The Royal Aero Club (RAeC) is the national co-ordinating body for

air sport The term "air sports" covers a range of aerial activities, including air racing, aerobatics, aeromodelling, hang gliding, human-powered aircraft, parachuting, paragliding and skydiving. Recognized and regulated air sports Many air sports ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. It was founded in 1901 as the Aero Club of Great Britain, being granted the title of the "Royal Aero Club" in 1910.

History

The Aero Club was founded in 1901 by

Frank Hedges Butler Frank Hedges Butler (17 December 1855 – 27 November 1928) was a British wine merchant, and a founding member of the Aero Club of Great Britain. Early life Frank Hedges Butler was born in London on 17 December 1855, the fifth son of the wine ...

, his daughter Vera and the Hon

Charles Rolls Charles Stewart Rolls (27 August 1877 – 12 July 1910) was a British motoring and aviation pioneer. With Henry Royce, he co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with ...

(one of the founders of

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

), partly inspired by the Aero Club of France. It was initially concerned more with

ballooning Ballooning may refer to: * Hot air ballooning * Balloon (aeronautics) * Ballooning (spider) * Ballooning degeneration, a disease * Memory ballooning See also * Balloon (disambiguation) A balloon is a flexible container for (partially or fully) co ...

but after the demonstrations of heavier-than air flight made by the Wright Brothers in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1908, it embraced the aeroplane. The original club constitution declared that it was dedicated to 'the encouragement of aero auto-mobilism and ballooning as a sport.' As founded, it was primarily a London gentlemen's club, but gradually moved on to a more regulatory role. It had a clubhouse at 119

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Court, ...

, which it retained until 1961.Anthony Lejeune, ''The Gentlemen's Clubs of London'' (London, 1978) p.178 The club was granted its Royal prefix on 15 February 1910. From 1910 the club issued Aviators Certificates, which were internationally recognised under the

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The (; FAI; en, World Air Sports Federation) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintai ...

(the FAI) to which the club was the UK representative. The club is the governing body in the UK for air sports, as well as for records and competitions. Muswell-Manor

The club established its first flying ground on a stretch of marshland at Shellbeach near Leysdown on the

Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale. ''Sheppey'' is derived ...

in early 1909. A nearby farmhouse, Mussell Manor (now called Muswell Manor) became the flying ground clubhouse, and club members could construct their own sheds to accommodate their aircraft. Among the first occupants of the ground were

Short Brothers Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...

. Two of the brothers,

Eustace Eustace, also rendered Eustis, ( ) is the rendition in English of two phonetically similar Greek given names: *Εὔσταχυς (''Eústachys'') meaning "fruitful", "fecund"; literally "abundant in grain"; its Latin equivalents are ''Fæcundus/Fe ...

and

Oswald Oswald may refer to: People *Oswald (given name), including a list of people with the name *Oswald (surname), including a list of people with the name Fictional characters *Oswald the Reeve, who tells a tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbur ...

, had previously made balloons for Aero Club members and been appointed the official engineers of the Aero Club. They had also enlisted their eldest brother, Horace, when they decided to begin constructing heavier-than-air aircraft. They acquired a licence to build copies of the

Wright aircraft The Wright Company was the commercial aviation business venture of the Wright Brothers, established by them on November 22, 1909, in conjunction with several prominent industrialists from New York and Detroit with the intention of capitalizing o ...

and set up the first aircraft production line in the world at Leysdown. On 1 May 1909

John Moore-Brabazon Lieutenant-Colonel John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara, , HonFRPS (8 February 1884 – 17 May 1964), was an English aviation pioneer and Conservative politician. He was the first Englishman to pilot a heavier-than- ...

(later Lord Brabazon of Tara) made a flight of 500 yards in his

Voisin Voisin (French for "neighbour") may refer to: Companies *Avions Voisin, the French automobile company :*Voisin Laboratoire, a car manufactured by Avions Voisin *Voisin (aircraft), the French aircraft manufacturer * Voisin, a Lyon-based chocolat ...

at Shellbeach. This is officially recognised as the first flight by a British pilot in Britain. The same week the Wright brothers visited the Aero Club flying ground at Shellbeach. After inspecting the Short Brothers' factory, a photograph was taken outside Mussell Manor of the Wright Brothers with all of the early British aviation pioneers to commemorate their visit to Britain. In October 1909, the club recognised the Blackpool Aviation Week, making it Britain's first official

air show An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are exhibited. They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground. The largest air show m ...

. On 30 October Moore-Brabazon was also the first to cover a mile (closed circuit) in a British aeroplane, flying the Short Biplane No. 2, and so winning a prize of £1,000 offered by the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' newspaper. On 4 November 1909, he decided to take up a piglet, which he named Icarus the Second, as passenger, thereby disproving the adage that "pigs can't fly". It moved the next year to nearby

Eastchurch Eastchurch is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Sheppey, in the English county of Kent, two miles east of Minster. The village website claims the area has "a history steeped in stories of piracy and smugglers". Aviation history Eastchu ...

, where the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

had established a flying school. Until 1911 the British Military did not have any pilot training facilities. As a result, most early military pilots were trained by members of the club and many became members. By the end of the First World War, more than 6,300 military pilots had taken RAeC Aviator's Certificates. After the loss of its Piccadilly clubhouse in 1961, the club was lodged at the

Lansdowne Club The Lansdowne Club is a private members' club in London, England occupying a large building, notable in its own right. It was established in 1935 and occupies most of 9 Fitzmaurice Place, a street connecting Berkeley Square to Curzon Street in ...

at 9 Fitzmaurice Place until 1968. It then moved for a short spell to the

Junior Carlton Club The Junior Carlton Club was a London gentlemen's club, now dissolved, which was established in 1864 and was disbanded in 1977. History Anticipating the forthcoming Second Reform Act under Benjamin Disraeli, numerous prospective electors decide ...

's modern building at 94 Pall Mall. In June 1973 the club merged with the

United Service Club The United Service Club was a London gentlemen's club founded in 1815 for the use of senior officers in the British Army and Royal Navy – those above the rank of Major or Commander – and the club was accordingly known to its members as "The ...

and moved into its premises at 116 Pall Mall. All its aviation-related activities were then transferred to the Aviation Council (United Service and Royal Aero Club) Ltd incorporated on 15 February 1973. In June 1975, the United Service and Royal Aero Club merged with the Naval and Military Club and on 1 August 1975 the Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom was officially launched and endowed with all its awards, library and memorabilia and took the place of the Aviation Council. By 1977, the club had ceased to be a members club but continued to carry out the function previously carried out by its Aviation Council, with the Secretariat based at the Leicester premises of the

British Gliding Association The British Gliding Association (BGA) is the governing body for gliding in the United Kingdom. Gliding in the United Kingdom operates through 80 gliding clubs (both civilian and service) which have 2,310 gliders and 9,462 full flying members (i ...

. Today the Royal Aero Club continues to be the national governing and coordinating body of air sport and recreational flying. The governing bodies of the various forms of sporting aviation (for example

British Aerobatic Association The British Aerobatic Association (BAeA) handles all domestic aerobatic competitions in the United Kingdom. History It was formed on 1 May 1974. Its members teach and fly aerobatics at many airfields around the United Kingdom, for example the ...

) are all members of the Royal Aero Club, which is the UK governing body for international sporting purposes. The Royal Aero Club also acts to support and protect the rights of recreational pilots in the context of national and international regulation.

First aviator certificates

The following were the first ten people to gain their aviator certificates from the Royal Aero Club: # J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon – 8 March 1910 # Hon. C. S. Rolls – 8 March 1910 # Alfred Rawlinson – 5 April 1910 # Cecil Stanley Grace – 12 April 1910 #

George Bertram Cockburn George Bertram Cockburn OBE (8 January 1872 – 25 February 1931) was a research chemist who became an aviation pioneer. He represented Great Britain in the first international air race at Rheims and co-founded the first aerodrome for the army ...

– 26 April 1910 #

Claude Grahame-White Claude Grahame-White (21 August 1879 – 19 August 1959) was an English pioneer of aviation, and the first to make a night flight, during the ''Daily Mail''-sponsored 1910 London to Manchester air race. Early life Claude Grahame-White was born ...

– 26 April 1910 # A. Ogilvie – 24 May 1910 # A. M. Singer – 31 May 1910 # L. D. L. Gibbs – 7 June 1910 # S. F. Cody – 14 June 1910: made first aeroplane flight in Britain The first women to be awarded their aviator certificates from the Royal Aero Club were

Hilda Hewlett Hilda Beatrice Hewlett (17 February 1864 – 21 August 1943) was an early aviator and aviation entrepreneur. She was the first British woman to earn a pilot's licence. She founded and ran two related businesses: the first flying school in the ...

on 29 August 1911( certificate No.122) followed by Cheridah de Beauvoir Stocks (certificate No. 153) on 7 November 1911.''Flight'' 11 Nov. 1911

Air races and awards

Air races

A number of air races were organised by the club: *The Kings Cup * SBAC Cup *The Kemsley Trophy *The Norton-Griffths Cup *The

Grosvenor Cup The Grosvenor Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Grosvenor Cup, was a trophy presented by Lord Edward Grosvenor in 1923 to the winner of a light aircraft time trial competition.Dorman 1951, p. 188. Entries were initially restricted to Britis ...

*The Siddeley Trophy *The Air League Cup

Britannia Trophy

The

Britannia Trophy The Britannia Trophy is a British award presented by the Royal Aero Club for aviators accomplishing the most meritorious performance in aviation during the previous year. In 1911 Horatio Barber, who was a founder member of the Royal Aero Club, w ...

is presented by the Royal Aero Club for aviators accomplishing the most meritorious performance in aviation during the previous year.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.royalaeroclub.org/raechome.htm 1901 establishments in the United Kingdom Flying clubs Aviation organisations based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Leicestershire Organizations established in 1901 Sports governing bodies in the United Kingdom