Some New Thinking about Aerodynamic Lift: Frederick Lanchester

At the time that Samuel Langley was attending an aeronautics session at the August 1886 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was about to begin two decades of experimental aerodynamics and flying-machine design, a young man was walking through the doors of the Royal College of Science (now the Imperial College of Science and Technology) in South Kensington, London, to begin studies in engineering and mining. That man was Frederick W. Lanchester, and he would later formulate the concepts underlying a scientific breakthrough in our understanding and calculation of aerodynamic lift – the circulation theory of lift.

Lanchester (Figure 6.1) was born October 23, 1868, in Lewisham, England. The son of an architect, Lanchester became interested in engineering at an early age (he was told by his family that his mind was made up at the age of 4). Lanchester spent three years as a student at the Royal College of Science, but never officially graduated. He was a quick study and innovative thinker, and he became a designer at the Forward Gas Engine Company in 1889, specializing in internal-combustion engines. In 1899 he formed the Lanchester Motor Company and sold automobiles of his own design. To this day he is remembered in England for his early automobiles. Lanchester married in 1919, but they had no children. He maintained his interest in automobiles and related mechanical devices until his death on March 8, 1946, at the age of 77.

In the early 1890s, Lanchester became interested in aeronautics. He divided his time between designing and developing high-speed engines and carrying out aerodynamic ex­periments using model gliders. In particular, during 1891–2 he tested a series of airfoils with curved shapes (i.e., cambered airfoils). He was totally unaware of the earlier work by Phillips and Lilienthal on cambered airfoils.