The Royal Aero Club Collection

Treasures from the Royal Aero Club Archives

Introduction

Because the Royal Aero Club archives are of national and international importance to the history of flight and an important starting point for research into aviation in the United Kingdom, the Royal Aero Club Trust took steps to ensure that these archives, comprising written, printed and photographic items, were safeguarded for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations.

Thanks to many hundreds of hours of dedicated work by NADFAS (National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies aka The Arts Society) Heritage Volunteers spread over two years at the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, the archives which were in serious danger of deterioration, have now been stabilised.

To unlock their research potential and to make the information from the archives more accessible to anyone – at work, school, college and home – from anywhere in the world the 907 files of the archives now need to be indexed. This task will require specialist skills and knowledge.

After indexing it is essential that they are microfilmed and digitised (a) to ensure their long-term conservation and (b) so that the contents can be made available on the web. This work can only be undertaken when we have obtained the necessary financial resources.

In the meantime it has now been decided to publish the basic listing of the contents of the 907 files on the Royal Aero Club Trust website. We hope that this transitional measure will immediately provide researchers and the public with the means of conducting further searches through access to documents.

Listing

Listing of the contents of the boxes comprising the Trust's archive collection - searchable pdf version

Please note that the catalogue is best searched using the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader which is free to download.

Searching instructions

To search the listings please follow the steps below:

• 1. Click the link to open the document (it will open in a new window or tab)

  2. Hold down the Ctrl key and press F OR select Edit->Find

  3. A right hand box will appear in the top right (or bottom left in Firefox)

  4. In the box type the word or phrase you would like to search for e.g. Rolls Royce

  5. Press Enter, each time you press Enter it will take you to the next location of that search term

  6. When you have gone through each instance, it will tell you it has reached the end of the document

  7. To see an item in further detail within the document just click on it

If you have any problems please feel free to email us selecting the 'website' subject option.

More Treasures from the Collection

Research Subjects new

Bev Snook Collection

Index of Frank Hedges Butler Albums

Pins and Needles...and Paperclips - an article written by Tony Newton about the Royal Aero Club and its archives.

The Royal Aero Club Trust Collection

Acknowledgements

The Royal Aero Club Trust wish to thank the following people and organisations for the preparation of this catalogue:

• • Mr Andrew Dawrant, as team leader of NADFAS Heritage Volunteers

  • Mr Peter Elliott, previously Senior Keeper Department of Research and Information Services Royal Air Force Museum

  • The Canadian Museums Association

The Royal Aero Club Trust | Registered with The Charity Commission | No. 1068451

© All Content Copyright The Royal Aero Club Trust 2021 (exception some photographs: details available from the Trust on request).

webmaster@royalaeroclubtrust.org