Section: Research Student Profiles

Paul Kelly

Name
Paul Kelly
Organisation
Research Centre for Social Sciences, School of Social and Political Science
University of Edinburgh
Address
Old Surgeons Hall, High School Yards Edinburgh UK EH1 1LZ
E-Mail
URL
http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/gradschool/research_student_profiles/science_and_technology_studies/kelly_paul
Paul Kelly

PhD Title

Developing Aircraft Technology in the Inter-War Years, 1918-1939

Research

My research takes as its central theme the shift from the wooden and fabric covered biplanes which prevailed at the end of the First World War to the metal monoplanes which appeared just before the Second World War. My aim is to examine this shift by looking at the development of several of the technological components of aircraft and the developing body of knowledge surrounding aviation technology in the 1920s and 1930s.

Currently, I am particularly interested in:

i.   Aero-engines

ii.  Variable Pitch vs. Fixed Pitch Propellers 

iii. Metal Construction vs. Wooden Construction

iv. Retractable vs. Fixed Undercarriages

v.  The development of cantilever wings

The research is primarily concerned with the ways in which knowledge of aircraft technology was developed and how decisions and choices were made.

I am exploring this subject by examining such things as testing procedure in both public (for example, competitions and record attempts) and private (testing on aircraft and aircraft components carried out at the Royal Aeronautical Establishment, for instance) arenas. I am also interested the in the roles of the firms of the industry, the government bodies concerned with aviation (such as the Aeronautical Research Committee) and the overriding strategy and doctrine of the Royal Air Force.  

Supervisors

Dr. Graham Spinardi

Prof. Donald MacKenzie 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This page was published on 26 February 2010


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