Black Box to Black Hawk: Sixty Years of Aeronautical
Research in Australia
 From
the 1957 invention of the Black Box flight recorder to the forensic
investigation of the 1996 Black Hawk air collision, scientists at DSTO's
Fishermans Bend site have been keeping Australia’s aeronautical research
at the cutting edge…and on the world map.
Introduction
In 1999 Australia celebrates the 60th anniversary of
organised aeronautical research and development in the country. The
Melbourne suburb of Fishermans Bend is the birthplace of aeronautical
research activity in Australia. It is here, in 1939, that the then
Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) set up the
Aeronautical and Engine Research Test Laboratory.
The new laboratory was established to support the RAAF, civil
aviation, and the aircraft and automotive industries, all of which had
started on a small scale at the time.
Understandably the laboratory was located at Fishermans Bend near the
centre of aircraft manufacturing and aviation operations – the
Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, the Government Aircraft Factory, and
the Laverton RAAF base nearby.
Operating as CSIR’s Division of Aeronautics, the laboratory was
preoccupied during the war years with finding solutions to operational,
manufacturing and design problems.
After WWII it took up long-term aeronautical research, particularly
in relation to aircraft structures. The laboratory’s pioneering work in
estimating aircraft life through full scale fatigue tests brought
scientific acclaim and international prominence.
Since then, the laboratory has been synonymous with aeronautical
research excellence in Australia and around the world. In 1949 it was
transferred to the Department of Supply and renamed the Aeronautical
Research Laboratories (ARL) with specific responsibility for defence
research.
The Department of Defence took over responsibility for the laboratory
in 1974 under its Defence Science & Technology Organisation (DSTO). When
DSTO was reorganised in 1994 the laboratory acquired its present name –
the Aeronautical & Maritime Research Laboratory (AMRL).
Today, DSTO's AMRL is home to research which is at the cutting edge -
using technology, materials and methods unheard of 60 years ago, and
undreamed of before that. Over the 60 years many aeronautical
achievements have come from the scientists and engineers working at
Fishermans Bend.
These inventions, innovations and technological breakthroughs reflect
DSTO’s commitment to supporting the Australian Defence Force to provide
safe, efficient, and cost effective ways of defending Australia.
Looking back
Looking ahead
DSTO continues to make advances in its traditional capabilities and
is in the forefront of technological developments that underpin
Australia’s air defence. Research is carried out at both its
laboratories in Melbourne and Edinburgh (formerly Salisbury).
CSIR…ARL…AMRL - A chronology
1935 – Australian Aeronautical Research Committee of the Royal
Aeronautical Society (Australia Branch) calls on Commonwealth government
to set up industrial research facilities.
1937 – At the invitation of the Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR) H. E. Wimperis, former Director of Scientific Research,
British Air Ministry, visits Australia to study the possibility of
establishing an aeronautical research laboratory.
1937 (December) – Wimperis recommends creation of an engineering
research establishment under CSIR. Also recommends an Australian
Aeronautical Research Committee to advise government, a University Chair
and a Department of Aeronautics at Sydney University.
1939 (January) – Lawrence Coombes of the Royal Aircraft Establishment
starts as head of the newly created Aeronautical & Engine Research Test
Laboratory of the CSIR. Temporary HQ in Post Office Place, Melbourne.
Prof. A.V. Stephens appointed to the Chair of Aeronautical Engineering
at Sydney University.
1939 (August) – Building construction begins at Fishermans Bend.
1940 (March) – First laboratory buildings ready for occupation.
Sixteen staff move in. New laboratories formally recognised as CSIR’s
Division of Aeronautics.
1941 – First wind tunnel commissioned two days before attack on Pearl
Harbour. CSIR sets up a Division of Industrial Chemistry, co-located
with the Division of Aeronautics at Fishermans Bend. First type test in
Australia of an aircraft engine (Gypsy Major) satisfactorily completed.
Special Duties and Performance Flight established for flight trials –
later became the Aircraft Research & Development Unit (ARDU).
Australian Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (AACA) formed.
1943 – Structures Wing Bay completed for full-scale structural tests.
1944 – AACA renamed Australian Council for Aeronautics (ACA) to
promote aeronautical research and develop the aircraft industry.
1945 – Australia’s first high subsonic speed, variable pressure wind
tunnel is built.
1946 – Commonwealth Advisory Aeronautical Research Council (CAARC)
formed to coordinate research among British Commonwealth countries.
1947 – ACA replaced by the Australian Research Consultative
Committee (ARCC) attached to the CSIR.
1948 – First meeting of CAARC - H. A. Wills appointed to
coordinate structural research in the British Commonwealth.
1949 (February) – Division of Aeronautics transferred from CSIR to
the Department of Supply & Development with particular responsibility
for defence research. Renamed Aeronautical Research Laboratories (ARL)
and becomes one of a group of laboratories forming the Australian
Defence Scientific Service. ARCC replaced by the Australian
Aeronautical Research Committee (AARC), an advisory body to the Minister
for Supply.
1949 (May) – H. A. Wills presents paper at 2nd
International Aeronautical Conference, New York on the pioneering work
of aircraft fatigue life prediction.
1951 – ARL restructured. Four divisions established of which the High
Speed Aerodynamics Division (HSAD) was located in Salisbury, South
Australia, where construction started on a 15" supersonic wind tunnel.
1952 – Structures Laboratory opens.
1954 – Compressor Test House and High Pressure Combustion and Engine
Testing facilities commissioned.
1955 – All defence establishments in South Australia amalgamated into
the Weapons Research Establishment (WRE). HSAD becomes Aerodynamics
Division of WRE.
1957 (October) - Long Tom rocket first fired at Woomera.
1962 – Mechanical Engineering Division building and hemispherical
test dome for 3-D optical displays opens.
1964 – L. P. Coombes retires.
1967 – First launch of Australian satellite WRESAT at Woomera.
Materials Division building and Mechanical Engineering No. 6 Test House
commissioned.
1969 – AARC disbanded.
1972 – ARL transferred to the Department of Manufacturing Industry.
1973 – H.A.Wills Fatigue Laboratory opens.
1974 – Department of Defence reorganised. Defence Science &
Technology Organisation (DSTO) created by integrating the Australian
Defence Scientific Service, the in-house R&D units of the Armed Services
(except ARDU and ATEA) and the Science Branch of the Department of
Defence. ARL transferred to DSTO.
1985 – Small Engines Test House becomes operational.
1987 (December) – Aeronautical Research Laboratories renamed
Aeronautical Research Laboratory as part of the reorganisation of DSTO.
1989 (October) – Structural Test Laboratory opens; capable of
accommodating both F/A-18 and F-111 aircraft. Combustion Test Facility
commissioned.
1990 – Cooperative Research Centres Program established by Department
of Prime Minister and Cabinet. ARL becomes member of CRC for Aerospace
Structures and CRC for Intelligent Decision Systems.
1994 (July) – Materials Research Laboratory and ARL merge to form the
Aeronautical & Maritime Research Laboratory (AMRL). Two Salisbury
laboratories merge to form Electronics & Surveillance Research
Laboratory.
1995 – Air Operations Simulation Centre becomes operational.
1995 – Minister launches International Follow-On Structural Test
Project on the F/A-18 Hornet.
1996 (January) – PC-9 fatigue tests begin.
1999 – New transonic wind tunnel opens.
2001 - DSTO Salisbury renamed DSTO Edinburgh.
2002 – AMRL in Melbourne to be consolidated at one site in Fishermans
Bend with the transfer of facilities and functions from Maribyrnong.
A more detailed history of what is now DSTO's Aeronautical & Maritime
Research Laboratory is available in
Sixty years of Aeronautical Research in Australia - A Brief History. |
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