2017 年 27 巻 1 号 p. 4-24
The present paper discusses the early development of the aeronautical standards that enabled and facilitated the safe operation of air transportation. It first refers to the accidental landings of airships beyond a national boundary that led to the international effort to develop and implement a system of aeronautical codes and standards to certify safe aircraft and guarantee the practical operation of air transportation. Using the British historical sources kept in the National Archives, it then examines the discussions concerning this complex system of aeronautical standards and explains the contents and structure of the so-called Paris Convention created and established after World War I. Next, it traces the historical process of setting up and further revising the aeronautical standards, especially the standards for the airworthiness and structural strength of the airplanes in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan. In so doing, it focusses on an American engineer who played a key role in revising the aeronautical standards in the United States and transferring technical knowledge to Japanese aeronautical engineers.
