Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gvh9x Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-21T12:16:10.610Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Automatic flight controls in fixed wing aircraft–The first 100 years

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

R. W. Howard
R. W. Howard*
Affiliation:
Marconi-Elliott Avionic Systems Ltd
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In 1973, automatic flight controls is one of the most exacting fields of technology, requiring a balanced combination of art, science and human understanding, and the efforts of large project management teams backed by adequate resources to bring any new concept to fruition.

Today's systems derive almost entirely from the technology of the past 25 years, and hence it is little known that there was some activity in automatic flight control for fixed wing aircraft as long ago as 1873, some 30 years before the world-changing events at Kittyhawk and when mechanical flight was still confined to balloons and a few rudimentary gliders.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 77 , Issue 755 , November 1973 , pp. 533 - 562
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1973 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References and Bibliography

1. Dollfus, Charles and Bouche, Henri. Histoire de l'Aeronautique. p 120, 1932.Google Scholar
2. Bryan, G. H. Stability in aviation. Macmillan & Co. London, 1911.Google Scholar
3. Turner, . Charles, C. Aerial navigation to today. 1910.Google Scholar
4. Maxim, Hiram Stevens. Improvements in and relating to aeronautic apparatus: Patent application No 19228, AD 1891.Google Scholar
5. Maxim, Sir Hiram S. Artificial and natural flight. Whittaker & Co, 1908.Google Scholar
6. Gibbs-Smith, C. H. The Wright Brothers. HM Stationery Office, London, 1967.Google Scholar
7. Gibbs-Smith, C. H. Aviation. HM Stationery Office, London, p 102, 1970.Google Scholar
8. Flight, p 766, 1917.Google Scholar
9. Hughes, Thomas Parke. Elmer Sperry, inventor and engineer. The John Hopkins University Press, p 176.Google Scholar
10. Ferris, Richard. How to fly. Thomas Nelson & Sons, pp 170–173, 1910.Google Scholar
11. Nansouty, Max. Aerostation-aviation. Boivin, Paris, pp 599–609, 1911.Google Scholar
12. Capper, Col J. E. Flight, p 431, 17th July 1909.Google Scholar
13. J.C.S. Automatic Stability. Flight, p 190, 2nd March 1912.Google Scholar
14. Dr-Xler, Franz. Zur Frage der automatischen Flugmachinensteuerung der Motorwagen, pp 833–836, 1912, and pp 69 and 184-187, 1913.Google Scholar
15. Wright patent automatic stabiliser. Flight, pp 406–407, 10th July 1909.Google Scholar
16. O'gorman, Mervyn. Stability devices. Royal Aeronautical Society, read 29th January 1913.Google Scholar
17. Reference 13, p 191.Google Scholar
18. Reference 7, p 166, and Reference 9, p 184.Google Scholar
19. Ovington, Earle L. Flight, p 588, 29th June 1912.Google Scholar
20. Clarke, T. W. K. Flight, p 622, 6th July 1912.Google Scholar
21. Flight, pp 974 and 1008, 1913.Google Scholar
22. Reference 9, p 195.Google Scholar
23. Sperry, Lawrence B. The Sperry automatic stabiliser. Flight, p 74, 29th January 1915.Google Scholar
24. McKee, Alexander. The friendless sky. Mayflower Dell, pp 42 and 76-77.Google Scholar
25. Bairstow, L., Melvill Jones, B. and Thompson, B. A. Investigation into the stability of an aeroplane. ARC R&M77, 1913.Google Scholar
26. Glazebrook, R. T. Dr. Flight, p 89, 5th February 1915.Google Scholar
27. Reference 23, p 76.Google Scholar
28. Reference 9, p 259.Google Scholar
29. Loening, Grover Cleveland. Our wings grew faster. Doubleday, Doran, Garden City, NY, p 93, 1935.Google Scholar
30. Reference 9, p 261.Google Scholar
31. Glass-Hooper, C. T. The electric control of large aeroplanes. Flight, pp 1118–1119, 21st December 1916.Google Scholar
32. Hucks, Captain B. C. A further three years’ flying experience. Flight, pp 588–591, 14th June 19.7.Google Scholar
33. Melvill Jones, Sir B. Cloud flying in the First World War. Royal Aeronautical Society Centenary Journal, p 207.Google Scholar
34. Reference 9, p 235.Google Scholar
35. Möller, W. Die Entwicklung des Fernkompasses and seine Bedeutung für d e automatische Steurerung. Zeitschrift für Flugtechnik and Motoriuftschiffahrt. 24 Heft, p 643, 21 Jahrg, 1930.Google Scholar
36. The Aveline stabiliser. Flight, pp 73–75, 3rd February 1921; p 97, 10th February 1921; p 707, 27th October 1921.Google Scholar
37. Flight, p 19, 2nd January 1919.Google Scholar
38. Meredith, F. W. Automatic landing of aeroplanes. ARC R & M 909.Google Scholar
39. Reference 35.Google Scholar
40. Wilde, K. Uber neuere Arbeiten auf dem Gebiet der automatischen Steuerungen, Jahrbuch 1938 der deutschen Luftfahrtforschung, pp 243–247.Google Scholar
41. La stabilité et la direction automatiques des avions, 1930. (Mémoire descriptif d'un appareil de pilotage automa tique).Google Scholar
42. Stabilisateur automatique pour aéroplanes à actionnement pneumatique. L. Marmonier, 146, Avenue Felix-Faure, Lyon. Brochure.Google Scholar
43. Meredith, F. W. and Cooke, P. A. Aeroplane stability and the automatic pilot. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Vol 41, pp 415–436, 1937; and The automatic pilot (Instruction Manual), Smiths Aircraft Instruments, 1932.Google Scholar
44. Hopkin, H. R. and Dunn, R. W. Theory and development of automatic pilots, 1937-47. RAE Report, IAP 1459, pp 26, 33, 34.Google Scholar
45. Wünsch, G. Kursteuerrung von Flugzeugen. VDI Zeitschrift, Bd 85, No 4, p 92, 25th January 1941.Google Scholar
46. Fischel, E. Verfahren und Bauglieder automat'scher Flugzeugsteuerungen. Jahrbuch 1938 der deutschen Luftfahrtforschung-Erganzungsband. p 234.Google Scholar
47. Sperry Gyroscope Company Limted (UK). Aircraft Gyroscopic Flight Instrumentation, 1950.Google Scholar
48. Thauss, A. and Kaull, B. V. Der autopilot. Siemens-Zeitschrift, 1 Heft, Berlin, Jahrgang 15, p 2, January 1935.Google Scholar
49. Reference 44, p 70.Google Scholar
50. Aeroplane automatic control Mk IV. Air Publication 1469A; and ref 44, p 57.Google Scholar
51. Reference 44, p 59.Google Scholar
52. Doetsch, K. H. Probleme der automatischen steuerung von flugzeugen. Jahrbuch 1955 der WGL, pp 72–78.Google Scholar
53. Garner, H. M. Lateral stability with special reference to controlled motion. ARC R & M 1077, October 1926.Google Scholar
54. Doetsch, G. Theorie und Anwendung der Laplace Transformation. Springer, Berlin, 1937.Google Scholar
55. Reference 44, pp 63 and 64.Google Scholar
56. Anast, J. L. All weather landing. PGANE, June 1959.Google Scholar
57. McDonald, J. A. Flight International, p 737, 30th April 1964.Google Scholar
58. Anast, J. L. Automatic aircraft control. Aeronautical Engineering Review, Vol 7, No 7, July 1948.Google Scholar
59. Meredith, F. W. The modern autopilot. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Vol 53, pp 409–432, May 1949.Google Scholar
60. White, Roland J. Invest'gation of lateral dynamic stability in the XB-47 airplane. Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, Vol 17, No 3, March 1950.Google Scholar
61. Bollay, William. Aerodynamic stability and automatic control. The Fourteenth Wright Brothers Lecture. Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, Vol 18, No 9, September 1951.Google Scholar
62. Pateman, J. E. Improvements in or relating to control systems for aircraft. Patent No 777938.Google Scholar
63. Klein, Gerald. Bedeutung automatischer Steuerungen für die Blindlanding. Jahrbuch 1955 der WGL, pp 62–71. 1955.Google Scholar
64. Howard, R. W. Concepts of redundancy for “all-weather” landing. IATA Fifteenth Technical Conference, Lucerne, April 1963. Conf 15/WP-110.Google Scholar
65. Webber, G. W. Safe automatic landing for the airlines— the Vickers Approach on the VC10 family. Paper No 435A. Society of Automotive Engineers Inc, National Aeronautic & Space Engineering and Manufacturing Meeting, Los Angeles, California, 9th-13th October 1961.Google Scholar
66. Howard, R. W., Barltrop, R. K., Bishop, G. S. and Bevan, F. H. Reliability in automatic landing. Flight, 7th October 1960.Google Scholar
67. Wilkinson, K. G. Automatic landing in BEA's Trident operations—A review of effort and achievement. Royal Aeronautical Society Geoffrey de Havilland Memorial Lecture, 16th April 1969.Google Scholar
68. Foody, J. J. Control of VTOL aircraft. Eighth Anglo-American Aeronautical Conference, pp 457–488, September 1961. Published by Royal Aeronautical Society.Google Scholar