The Flying Mathematicians of World War I

by Tony Royle

Keith Lucas was killed instantly when his BE2 biplane collided with that of a colleague over Salisbury Plain on 5 October 1916. As a captain in the Royal Flying Corps, Lucas would have known that his death was a very real risk of the work he was doing in support of Britain's war effort. But Lucas wasn't a career pilot - he was a scientist. The Flying Mathematicians of World War I details the advances and sacrifices of a select group of pioneers who left the safety of their laboratories to drive aeronautics forward at a critical moment in history. These mathematicians and scientists, including Lucas, took up the challenge to advance British aviation during the war and soon realized that they would need to learn how to fly themselves if they were to complete their mission. Set in the context of a new field of engineering, driven apace by conflict, the book follows Lucas and his colleagues as they endured freezing cockpits and engaged in aerial versions of Russian roulette in order to expand our understanding of aeronautics. Tony Royle deftly navigates this fascinating history of technical achievement, imagination, and ingenuity punctuated by bravery, persistence, and tragedy. As a result, The Flying Mathematicians of World War I makes accessible the mathematics and the personal stories that forever changed the course of aviation.

Genres: History

288 pages, Hardcover

Published October 22, 2020

Reviews

[Norman Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an overview of the research teams in Britain during the First World War, at the Royal Aircraft Factory and Farnborough, with descriptions of the work done by a number of mathematicians to solve questions around structural integrity, stability, control, and so on. A number of the mathematicians took up flying as well to test their hypotheses, and in so doing a number lost their lives.

The title might make this sound like something akin to "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen". It isn't that adventurous.

In fact, if you are math-averse, it will likely seem over-long and off-putting. I have a degree in mathematics (computer science, as it was called at the time) and I found the math to be pretty darned opaque.

Nonetheless, it does provide a very good description of how aviation advanced from the British equivalents of the Blériot XI type of aircraft of 1914 to the Fokker D.VII aircraft of 1918.