THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS Report on the correspondence and papers of ARTHUR RODERICK COLLAR (1908-1986 ) aeronautical engineer deposited in Bristol University Library Reproduced for the (NCUACS 3/2/88) National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS NRA 31135 Quality House; Quality Court, Chancery Lane, London: WC2ZA LHP 1988 All rights reserved No 88/7 NCUACS 3/2/88 National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists under the guidance of the Royal Society's National Committee for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology Catalogue of papers and correspondence of ARTHUR RODERICK COLLAR FRS (1908 - 1986) Compiled by Peter Harper and Timothy E Powell Deposited in the Library of the University of Bristol 1988 All rights reserved University of Bath A.R.Collar NCUACS 3/2/88 The work of the National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists, and the production of this catalogue, are made possible by the support of the following societies and organisations: The Biochemical Society The British Library The: City. of Bath The Geological Society Pergamon Books The Royal Society Shell UK Ltd The Institute of Physics The Royal Society of Chemistry The Society of Chemical Industry A RveCollar NCuUACS 3/2/88 LIST OF CONTENTS GENERAL INTRODUCTION SECTION BIOGRAPHICAL SECTION AERONAUTICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (ARC) With an introductory note B.1-B.22 SECTION LECTURES, BROADCASTS, PUBLICATIONS SECTION SCIENTIFIC CORRESPONDENCE A; R.Colltax NCUACS 3/2/88 GENERAL INTRODUCTION PROVENANCE The papers were received from Professor Alan Simpson, Collar's colleague in the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at Bristol University, and Mr M J Collar, elder son, in March and May 1988, respectively. OUTLINE OF THE CAREER OF A R COLLAR Arthur Roderick Collar was born in West Ealing on 22 February 1908. He was educated at the Simon Langton School in Canterbury, before winning a scholarship to Emmanuel College Cambridge in 1926 to read for the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Triposes. He graduated in 1929, joining the Aerodynamics Department at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington. Here Collar worked on propellors, airship dynamics, wind-tunnel design, and particularly on flutter and matrix analysis. His book, Elementary Matrices, written in 1938 with colleagues R A Frazer and W J Duncan, soon became a standard work in this field. the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough. In 1946, partly through his pre-war work for the Aeronautical 1964-68. During the war Collar headed research work on aeroelasticity at Committee (later Council). He served in various capacities with the Council Chair of Aeronautical Engineering at Bristol University. In addition to and its subcommittees until its abolition in 1980, holding the Chairmanship From 1936 Collar was also involved with the work of the Aeronautical Research Research Committee, Collar was offered the newly established Sir George White Collar was appointed Professor Emeritus. Doctorate of Laws was conferred upon him in 1969 and upon retirement in 1973 his duties as Professor, he served as Dean of the Engineering Faculty 1954-57, and in 1968-69 temporarily as Vice-Chancellor. An honorary A.R.Collar NCUACS 3/2/88 Among many other distinctions gained, Collar was made a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1944, serving as President 1963-64. He was awarded the Society's Gold Medal in 1966 and Hodgkin Prize in 1979. Collar was honoured with the CBE in 1964 and elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society a year later. For a full account of the life and work of Collar see RED Bishop, ‘Arthur Roderick Collar 1908-1986', Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 33, 1987. DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION The presentation of the material follows the sequence given in the List of Contents. In this small collection Collar's lectures and, to a lesser extent, his Aeronautical Research Committee (later Council) papers predominate. E (A.2) Section A (Biographical) is very slight but includes notes on Section B (Aeronautical Research Council) presents a sequence his professional career sent to the Minister of Technology in 1967 and a copy of R D Bishop's Royal Society memoir (A.5). of research papers and papers dealing with matters of internal organisation covering the period 1935-80; of some interest are items B.13 - B.15 which own request after his death. relate to the 1958 Munich air disaster. a number of research papers prepared while Collar worked for the Royal Aircraft Establishment during the war. part of Collar's Aeronautical Research Council papers were destroyed at his Also included in this section are It should be noted that a great A.R.Collar NCUACS 3/2/88 Section C (Lectures, Broadcasts and Publications) is the most substantial of the collection. There are lectures on aeronautics and matrices and lectures to a wide variety of audiences on more general scientific topics, such as engineering education and science and society. In his later years Collar gave talks on humorous poetry, of which he was both very fond and extremely knowledgeable. A few sets of ms notes for these talks can bee found atzC. 45. Section D (Scientific Correspondence) is again slight, but what survives serves chiefly to illustrate Collar's interest in matrices, a field in which he was an acknowledged authority. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are very grateful to Professor Simpson and Mr Collar for making the material available, and for their advice and encouragement. T E Powell P Harper Bath 1988 ACR. Collar NCUACS 3/2/88 SECTION A BIOGRAPHICAL Certificate of election as a Fellow of the Royal Society, 18 March 1965. 4pp list of publications dated November 1966, Notes on the Professional Career of Collar. and additions and note "as sent to Minister of Technology 22, .6ye. < Lids 2pp typescript With ms Interview given to Nonesuch, the Bristol University student newspaper, 22 November 1968. In his capacity as Vice-Chancellor, Collar discusses the issue of student participation in university administration in the light of student discontent. Certificate of election as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 25 October 1973. Collar Family Tree. ‘Arthur Roderick Collar 1908-1986' by RE D Bishop, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 33, uOST lp ms (photocopy). A.R.Collar NCUACS 3/2/88 SECTION B AERONAUTICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (ARC) 1935 - 1980 Collar's association with the Aeronautical Research Committee (later Council) dates from 1936, when he became Secretary of the Oscillation Subcommittee; he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the ARC 1939-40. Collar's acceptance of the Sir George White Chair in Aeronautics at Bristol University in 1946 took him out of the scientific civil service and he was therefore able to sit on the reconstituted ARC as an Independent (as opposed to Official) Member. Collar was the first person to chair all three of its standing committees (Materials and Structures, Aerodynamics and Propulsion) and served as ARC Chairman 1964-68. His membership of various committees and subcommittees of the ARC continued until its abolition in 1980. The material consists of a chronological sequence of duplicated typescript papers prepared by Collar for the ARC and its committees and subcommittees, together with a number of notes and reports he wrote while working at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), Farnborough, during the Bols = "Bui S. See B.22 for a photocopy of the 1909 interim report of the course of his wartime work on aeroelasticity. Collar's association with the investigations into the Munich air disaster of 1958 is represented by Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (the predecessor of the ARC) which Collar kept with his ARC papers. AzcRi. Col lar NCUACS 3/2/88 Aeronautical Research Council ARC Stability and Control Subcommittee, 'Note on the a Safety Device', 20 Use of a Dead-Centre Control as November 1935. 2pp. ARC Aerodynamics Subcommittee, 'The Performance of the "Hurricane" and "Spitfire" Aeroplanes', 24 June 1940. lp and 3pp figs. RAE Technical Note, flutter', August 1943. 'Interim note on Typhoon elevator lOpp and 3pp figs. RAE Technical Note, Flutter', February 1944. 3pp. 'Virtual Inertia and Control Surface ARC Oscillation Subcommittee, 'Mass Balancing of Controls and Flutter Prevention Devices', 29 July 1944. 5pp. ARC Oscillation Subcommittee, 'Note on the Computation of the Sub-Dominant Latent Roots of a Matrix', 28 September 1944. 5pp. D Sharpe), October 1945. 19pp and lp ms table Design of Sweptback Wings', 1 January 1946. 4pp. RAE Technical Note, by an aerodynamic servo and avoiding large mass-balance weights', December 1944. "SRI has been asked for authority to put job out to Lockheed's". 'A proposal for a control system operated 2 copies, the second with ms note 5pp. ARC Stability and Control Subcommittee, 'Some Problems in the RAE Report, 'Mass-balance for spring tab flutter prevention' (with G showing the effectiveness of mass-balancing for various aircraft. 28pp and 8pp figs. RAE Report, 'An Elaboration of the Criterion for Wing Torsional Stiffness' an appendix on Flutter Speeds' by E January 1946. 'The Effect of Taper on Wing Flexure-Torsion (with E G Broadbent and Elizabeth B Puttick), with G Broadbent and Elizabeth B Puttick, A.R.Collar NCUACS 3/2/88 Aeronautical Research Council British Intelligence Objectives Subcommittee reports, "German Aircraft Industry - Aeroelasticity' A Robinson and E Received 30 May 1946. G Broadbent). (with H A Jahn, 29pp. Paper 'On the Solution of a Particular Set of Linear Algebraic Equations’. Received Stamped "Aeronautical Research Council". 8 October 1949. 8pp. ARC Oscillation Subcommittee, 'Note on Irreversible Controls', 10 November 1953. 3pp. ARC Oscillation Subcommittee, 'Note on the Development of Stiffness Criteria', 28 November 1953. correspondence. With related 5pp. 'On the Effect of Wing Bending on the Acceleration ARC, due to Landing Impact', June 1954. 5pp and lp figs. 'On the Drag Due’ to Slush’, 9 January 1961. ARC, 14pp and 2pp figs. This report considers the effect of slush on the tricycle undercarriage in impeding the normal take-off of aircraft. This was the principal cause of the crash of the BEA Elizabethan aircraft on 6 February 1958 in which eight members of the Manchester United football team were killed. Items B.14 and B.15 below are Collar's copies of the reports of the subsequent inquiries. 1959) srepr.. L965. "Report by the Federal Republic of Germany relating to the Inquiry into the Accident to G-ALZU AS 57 Ambassador (Elizabethan) on 6th February 1958 at Munich - Riem Airport', ALReCollar NCUACS 3/2/88 Aeronautical Research Council 'Report of the German Federal Office of Aviation relating to the re-opened Inquiry into the Accident to BEA Ambassador (Elizabethan) Aircraft G-ALZU on 6th February 1958 at Munich Riem Airport and RAE memorandum on "Application of the Results of Slush Drag Tests on the Ambassador to the Accident at Munich" submitted as evidence to the Inquiry', 1967. ARC Constitution Panel, 19 April.1967.,..Spp. 'A possible new A.R.C. structure', ARC Constitution Panel report on ARC committee structure, 26 April L967: 5pp and 3pp figs. ARC,'A note on the possible utilization of very long-range atreraftt', ¢:1970 (ARC No. 30151). 3pp. ARC Civil Aircraft Research Committee, ‘Long-term civil aircraft requirements: in AzD. 2000". With lp ms continuation. a note on the volume of air traffic 5pp and 2pp figs. Received 5 January 1972. 3Spp. ARC, ARC, 2pp and 2pp figs. 2pp. Both items were attached to C.44. 'The ARC and Flight Systems', 31 October 1975. 'Note on a Systems Committee', ll April. 1975. ARC, Flight Systems Committee, 'The Genesis of the Flight Systems Committee of the Aeronautical Research Council', 29 June 1976. 4pp. ARC Aerodynamics Committee, 'A Note on Trailing Vortices', March 1977. ARC Working Party on Committee Structure, on ARC Committee Structure', 21 November 1976. 'A Further Note 2pp. AcR.CoLlar NCUACS 3/2/88 Aeronautical Research Council ARC, 13th and Final Report of the Airframe Materials: and Structures Committee, April 1980. 7pp. In its first year in office the newly elected Conservative government abolished numerous 'quangos', among them the ARC and its committees. As a prologue to this report Collar laments the dissolution of the Council in verse. Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Interim Report, 1909. 5pp and lp list of committee members (photocopy) . AcR.Collar NCUACS 3/2/88 SECTION C LECTURES, BROADCASTS, PUBLICATIONS LECTURES CrclieGe25 Aeronautics C126 Matrix Algebra C.27-C.44 General Scientific Topics C.45 Literary Topics BROADCASTS C.48,C.49 PUBLICATIONS AsRe Collar NCUACS 3/2/88 LECTURES Aeronautics Lectures, broadcasts, publications A chronological sequence of drafts and notes for lectures on aeronautics delivered between 1947 and 1977. "Some Aspects of Stability and Control', Bristol Branch, Royal Aeronautical Society, 4 March 1947. @raft and lp list of slides. l3pp typescript "Stiffness and Strength', Bristol University Engineering Society, 17 March 1947. 1l2pp typescript draft. 'The Effects of Distortion on Stability and Control', College of Aeronautics, 14 January 1948. draft and lp list of slides. l3pp typescript 25pp "Stiffness and Strength', Brough Branch, Royal Aeronautical Society, 16 November 1949. l3pp typescript draft. "Some Speculations on the Aeroelastic Problems of Rotary Wing Systems’, Helicopter Association of Great Britain and the Royal Aeronautical Society, 26 November 1949. typescript draft with ms corrections. 'The Influence of Aeronautics on History', Social and Economic History students, 7 February 1950;). ms additions. additions. "The Influence of Aeronautics on History', Ottawa Aeronautical Society, 13 September 1950. 8pp typescript notes with ms "Aeronautics', 10 March 1950. ms notes. part 2; 2lsFebruary 1950. 7pp typescript notes with University of Bristol. Part 1, 2pp typescript notes and lp A.R.Col lar NCUACS 3/2/88 Lectures, broadcasts, publications "Aeronautics - Larger and Faster', Bristol Science Club, lp typescript notes with ms notes of audience C1050, and approximate date, and lp typescript list of slides. ‘After Farnborough, what?', (Bristol 2) Air Squadron, 30 October 1952. 2pp typescript notes. University "Aeroelasticity', Manchester University, 13 March 1953, 18pp typescript draft and lp typescript summary. 'Flutter', Preston Branch, Royal Aeronautical Society, 7 October 1953. 13pp typescript draft and 3pp ms notes. "Barriers in Flight', Colston's School Science Society, 27 October 1956. 7pp ms notes. "Aeroelasticity', RAF course, c. later ms note of audience and approximate date. 1961. 2pp ms notes with "Trouble crossing the Severn', Institute of Physics and the Physical Society, Swansea, 7 July 1962, and lp list of slides. 1p ms notes "Some physical problems posed by hypersonic gas speeds', c.1961. date. 6pp ms notes with later ms note of approximate 'The compressibility phenomena arising from increase of aircraft speed'. and purpose not known prob. RAF course circa 1961'. Seven over the Severn, Aluminium Wire and Cable Co.Ltd. (1960). conductors to carry electricity across the rivers Wye and Severn. 8pp brochure on the construction of seven 15pp ms draft with later note 'Date Found with the preceding. A.R.Collar NCUACS 3/2/88 Lectures, broadcasts, publications ‘Industrial aerodynamics', Clifton College, 10 October 1964. lp ms notes. "Research in the University of Bristol', Royal Aeronautical Society, 17 February 1965. 6pp ms notes. Lecture on the use of models and wind tunnels, 4 March 1965. lp ms notes headed "architects. 4 iii 65". 'The Use of Wind Tunnels in the Study of Problems in Industrial Aerodynamics', Royal Aeronautical Society, 1 December 1965. and lp fig with ms corrections. 9pp typescript and lp ms list of slides 'The Use of Wind Tunnels in the Study of Industrial Aerodynamic Problems', 1966. of Lecture to architects, March 1966' with later note ‘Original of R.Ae.Soc.' 16pp ms draft and lp refs headed 'Basis "Aeronautics Down to Earth', 17pp ms draft for the preceding. lp ms notes. "Industrial Aerodynamics', Presidential address, Bristol Association of Engineers, 14 October 1975. "Aeronautics Down to Earth', The Kingsford-Smith Memorial Lecture, Sydney, 21 August 1968. S9pp typescript draft. "Aeronautical Research', first stage students, University of Bristol, 5 March 1970. "Down-to-Earth Aerodynamics', Southern Africa Division, Royal Aeronautical Society, Johannesburg, 5 September 1968. 9pp typescript draft. 8pp ms notes. A.R.Collar NCUACS 3/2/88 Lectures, broadcasts, publications 'Aeroelasticity', first stage students, Aeronautics Department, University of Bristol, 22 January 1976. 6pp ms notes. 'Aeroelasticity', first stage students, Aeronautics Department, University of Bristol, 18 January 1977. new first paragraph to the above. lp ms notes forming 'The First Fifty Years of Aeroelasticity', Royal Aeronautical Society Historical Group, 13 December 1977. 18pp typescript draft and title page with summary. Matrix Algebra C.26 "Matrix Algebra', n.d. 12pp ms draft 'Purpose, date not known'. General Scientific Topics Ca27 2pp typescript Lecture on Isaac Newton, Presidential address, Engineering Society, 19 February 1953. ms corrections. 8pp typescript synopsis with "Mathematics From the Point of View of the Engineer', Bristol Mathematical Society, 8 December 1952. introduction with ms notes for lecture on back of page 2. A chronological sequence of notes and drafts for lectures delivered between 1952-1975 to audiences of both scientists and laymen on a wide variety of subjects with a less specialised scientific content. 6pp ms notes. 'A Specification for Engineering Education', The Fourth Barnwell Memorial Lecture, 13 March 1957. draft with ms corrections. 20pp typescript "Engineering Education', nautical Society, 30 October 1957. "Technical Education'. 18 and 22 October 1956: typescript insertions for 22 October lecture. 8pp typescript draft and 2pp Rotary Clubs of Swindon and Bristol, Southampton branch, Royal Aero- A.R.Collar NCUACS 3/2/88 Lectures, broadcasts, publications "Moths and Caterpillars', Presidential address on mechanical transport, Bristol University Engineering Society, 25 November 195 Vie typescript account of the lecture. 18pp typescript draft with ms corrections, and 2pp 'The work of the National Council for Technological Awards', Kent Summer School, 8 August 1960. lOpp ms draft. 'EFarth, Water, Fire and Air', Presidential address on transport, Bristol branch, Royal Aeronautical Society, 5 October 1960. 19pp typescript draft with ms corrections, and lp ms list of slides. "Supersonic. Flight', O.L.A.,; 29 October, 1964. lp ms notes. ‘Technology and Change', Coombe Lodge, Bristol, 15 January 1971. 7pp ms notes (photocopy) and 4pp ms diagrams. An account of Collar's lecture is Coombe Lodge Reports 4GL971)% - 24. ‘Space Exploration', Clifton College Sixth Form, 6 March 1971. 2pp ms notes. "Science and Society', Bristol Grammar School, 6 December 1971. 3pp ms notes and lp diagram. ‘Social Reactions to Science', British Commonwealth Society, 11 January 1972. 7pp ms notes and 5pp diagrams. ‘On the Future of Further Education', VOL. 4 >..no, lL given pp 17 6pp ms notes. "Science, Space and Society', Evesham Rotary Club, 31 October Oi ‘Isaac Newton', Bristol Probus Club, 25 June 1974. 2pp ms notes. "Space, Science and Society', Soroptimists, 12 November 1973. Postcard with ms notes. A.R-CoLiar NCUACS 3/2/88 Lectures, broadcasts, publications "Science and Society', Bristol District Retirement Council, 20 May 1975. 2pp ms notes. ‘Engineering and Economics', 16 December 1975. lp ms notes. Rolls-Royce Technical College, 'Space"™, n.d. lp ms notes. "Social Responsibility', n.d. lecture to RMCS' delivered 8 February 1973 which Collar intended to incorporate into a lecture. lp ms ‘summary of Dainton's "The folly of prognostication in aviation', n.d. notes and with these notes. 7pp diagrams. See B.17 for ARC papers found 4pp ms Literary Topics c.45 BROADCASTS Extract 1 October 1968. Brief ms notes for eight lectures on the theme of humorous poetry delivered between 4 April 1973 - 6 September 1982. from William Morris's A Dream of John Eall, dated "Supersonic Airliners', typescript copy of BBC West of England Home Service radio discussion in which Collar participated, together with headed 'University Outlook', possibly a radio talk. "Aerodynamics Down to Earth', n.d. related material on the sonic boom. 27 June 1962. 15pp duplicated 4pp ms draft (photocopy) A.R.Collar NCUACS 3/2/88 PUBLICATIONS Lectures, broadcasts, publications no 3 (1962). Jl. Mech. C Aitken who encouraged publication and the editors "On centrosymmetric ard centroskew matrices', Q. appl. Math. vol 15, A of the Quarterly Journal of Mechanics and applied Mathematics, D M 16 January 1962. Correspondence with A Leggett and C W Jones, 20 April 1961 - a letter, Among the correspondence with Aitken is dated 15 May 1961, in which Aitken apologises for not replying to a letter of Collar's, explaining that the delay was due to a recurrent condition "thought by my doctor to be a long-range after-effect of 13 days in the first battle of the Somme". Aitken refers to an account of his war- time experiences, published in 1963 as Gallipoli to the Somme. "Education in Engineering', Western Daily Press, 14 July 1971. 3pp typescript draft. ALR Collar. NCUACS 3/2/88 SECTION D SCIENTIFIC CORRESPONDENCE British Cellophane Ltd. Reports of investigations into the performance of a chimney stack at Barrow-in-Furness, with note acknow- ledging payment of consultancy fee. Conn, Jd: F.C Paper by Collar (and R W Traill-Nash) on the effects of shear flexibility and rotatory inertia on bending vibrations. Dubris, Yolande Matrix problems. Duncan, W J 1956-60 Matrices, Aeronautical Research Council. 1964-65 1959-60 Dunning, J E P Goodey, W J Garrick; LE Solution of geometrical problem. Collar's letter commenting on draft paper on 'Historical Development of Flutter' by Garrick and Wilmer H Reed III and the draft paper with Collar's ms comments. Correspondence re Mott's ‘Elements of Wave Mechanics' Approximate solutions of linear second-order differential equations. Mott, N F 1957-53
COLLAR, Arthur Roderick v2
Published: 16 January, 2024 Author: admin