I. Ae. S.'s Second

Rich and famed is Charles Lanier Lawrance. designer of the Wright Whirlwind engine, onetime vice president of Curtiss-Wright Corp. One day last week big, amiable "Charley" Lawrance stood up on a rostrum of a bleak lecture hall at Manhattan's Columbia University. Gravely he drawled from a typewritten sheet: ". . . Cash on hand, $875.06. . . . Accounts receivable . . . 80-c-. . . . Net worth. $6,077.76." Amid a patter of applause Mr. Lawrance sat down.

It was an extraordinary gathering that approved such a modest financial report. It included George J. Mead, director of United Aircraft, who last month told a Senate Committee how his $207 investment zoomed to a paper profit of $7,800,000; Glenn L. Martin, builder of swift Army bombers; Commander Jerome Clarke Hunsaker, builder of Navy airships and head of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's department of mechanical engineering; Dr. Theodor von Karman, famed Hungarian aerodynamicist in charge of aeronautics research at California Tech; Willis Ray Gregg, new No. 1 U. S. Weatherman; Elmer A. Sperry of gyroscope fame and many and many another bigwig. There they were, all day long, chilling their bones and cramping their fundaments in classroom chairs, because it was the second annual meeting of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences. Prior to the business meeting at which Treasurer Lawrance had made his report, they had taken part in learned discussion of problems in meteorology, radio, metallurgy, aerodynamics, fuels, engines, instruments.

What & Why. The I. Ae. S. germinated in the minds of able "Jerry" Hunsaker and a mild-mannered, elderly gentleman named Major Lester Durand Gardner, whose voluminous record in Who's Who states his occupation as "aeronautical counselor." Onetime newshawk and magazine writer, Major Gardner in 1916 founded Aviation, oldest aeronautical magazine in the U. S., now owned by McGraw-Hill. He won his commission in the Army Air Service, has served on countless aviation committees, boards and bureaus, was onetime president of the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce. He and his good friend Hunsaker thought the U. S. needed an organization of such standing and prestige as Great Britain's venerable (1866) Royal Aeronautical Society. For five years they mulled over the idea, confided it to a few friends high in the profession including "Charley" Lawrance. One day in 1932 Mr. Lawrance invited them to the Yale Club for lunch. Also present were Edward Pearson Warner, editor of Aviation, Designer Grover Loening, Major Edwin Eugene Aldrin, aviation chief of Standard Oil of N. J. There they founded I. Ae. S. Prospective members were classified as scientific, engineering, industrial, pilot, technical. Some 700 invitations were issued. Last week President Hunsaker proudly announced that the membership totaled 655, including 132 foreigners. Before last week's meeting ended Treasurer Lawrance was elected president of the Institute. Angels' Roost. With $5 per year dues the Institute's program is modest. But many of its members are wealthy, influential, enthusiastic. Hence, with only a hatful of money in the bank, I. Ae. S. has an erudite quarterly Journal, occupies a beautiful clubroom named "The Skyport" on the 54th floor of Manhattan's RCA Building in Rockefeller Center. It was given a year's free rent by an "angel" whose name is known only to Major Gardner and two others.

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