AVIATION RESEARCH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23595, 3 September 1938, Page 18

AVIATION RESEARCH

AN AUSTRALIAN CHAIR ESTABLISHMENT IN SYDNEY The Prime Minister of Australia (Mr Lyons) announced recently that after consultation with representatives of the Universities of Melbourne and Sydney, and consideration of the factors involved, the Commonwealth Government had decided to make funds available for the establishment of a Chair of Aeronautics at the University of Sydney. The grant will embrace the sum of £32,000, for capital expenditure in connection with the chair, covering equipment of laboratories of aeronautics and hydrodynamics, and £3OOO a year for maintenance. In reaching this decision, which is In conformity with the recommendation of the English expert, Mr H. E. Wimperis, who recently reported on the Australian requirement, Mr Lyons said the Government was actuated by the desire to make available in each of the two main centres of population in Australia facilities for stimulating aviation development. Melbourne will have the Commonwealth Aeronautical Research Laboratory and also the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation; Sydney has four chairs of engineering—mechanical, civil, and electrical and engineering technology, whereas Melbourne has only one. The basic training of aeronautical engineers ranges over a wide field, involving a variety of engineering problems. The Prime Minister also announced the Government's decision to appoint Mr L. P. Coombes, an English expert, to the position of officer in charge of the Aeronautical Research Laboratory, Melbourne.

Mr Coombes possesses high technical qualifications, has had much practical experience and holds the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Freedom of the City of London for war services. Since 1930 he has been senior science officer at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, and has lately been in charge of the performance section of the aerodynamics department of the Seaplane Testing Tank. "The fact that an Australian is not available to take the post of officer in charge is disappointing, although not unexpected," Mr Lyons added. "Opportunities for aeronautical work m Australia have been restricted. It is the intention, however, to train Australians for other positions in the laboratory." The importance of meteorology in connection with aviation was emphasised in Mr Wimperis's report. Because of this and also because of the Commonwealth Government's desire to improve the facilities for seasonal and long-range weather forecasting in the interests particularly of rural activities, Mr Lyons said it had been decided to provide for the establishment of an associate professor of meteorology at the University of Melbourne. The endowment will cover £4OOO for capital expenditure and £ISOO a year for maintenance.

The University of Melbourne has already instituted second and third-year courses in meteorology, whereas the subject is not taught in Sydney. The headquarters of the Commonwealth Meteorological Bureau are in Sydney, and experience has shown that weather conditions are best studied in the south-east corner of the continent.