Lanchester’s Cyclic Theory of. Lift and Its Early Reception

The commonly distinctive feature of a modern mathematical treatise, in any branch of physics, is that the investigation of any problem is initially conducted on the wid­est and most comprehensive basis, equations being first obtained in their most gen­eral form. . . . The author has endeavoured to minimise any difficulty on this score by dealing initially with the simpler cases and afterwards working up to the more general solutions.

f. w. lanchester, Aerodynamics, constituting the First Volume of a Complete Work on Aerial Flight (1907)1

By the beginning of the Great War the British experts on the Advisory Committee who were responsible for research in aerodynamics had effec­tively abandoned the discontinuity theory of lift. There was, however, a known alternative: the circulatory or vortex theory that had been developed by Frederick Lanchester. It would be reasonable to expect that this theory would now become an object of some interest even if it had been ignored at the outset of the committee’s work when they had concentrated on Rayleigh’s achievements. But, rather than turning to the circulation theory, the ACA again treated it as if it were of no merit. Lanchester was a member of the committee but his ideas were passed over—for a second time. Given that the circulation theory later came to be accepted as the correct account of lift, this insistent rejection has long been seen as a puzzle. Why did it happen? In this chapter I lay the foundations for an explanation of this negative response. The explanation is developed and tested as the analysis is carried further in subsequent chapters.

I begin by introducing the basic ideas and technical vocabulary of the cir­culatory theory.2 This will give access to the (largely) qualitative version of the theory developed by Lanchester and lay the basis for my discussion in later chapters of the quantitative versions that were subsequently developed in Germany. In this chapter I also have more to say about Lanchester’s treatment at the hands of the so-called practical men. Their opinion of Lanchester was divided. While some recognized him as one of their own, others saw him as selling out to the state-funded academic scientists, theorists, and mathemati-

cians who were so reviled by the spokesmen of industry. Lanchester hit back in a characteristically forthright way and became involved in some bruising, but revealing, encounters with the antigovernment press. While Lanchester was defending the Advisory Committee, the Royal Aircraft Factory, and the National Physical Laboratory, the experts within these bodies were articulat­ing a systematic rejection of the circulatory theory of lift. They were hostile or indifferent to Lanchester’s approach. Lanchester was thus in the unenviable position of being attacked for belonging to a group that, while not actually excluding him, was certainly marginalizing him. It is vital to understand both the external politics and the internal politics that were woven together in this episode. Both are described in this chapter. The first step, however, must be to understand the conceptual basis of Lanchester’s theory.