The Royal Aeronautical Society has been honouring outstanding achievers in the global aerospace industry since 1909 when Wilbur and Orville Wright came to London to receive the Society’s first Gold Medal. In the years that have followed, honouring world aerospace achievers has become a permanent tradition of the Society. Included among these awards are the written paper prizes.

The Royal Aeronautical Society Written Paper Prizes are awarded annually for the best papers published in The Aeronautical Journal by the Society during the previous calendar year. Awards can be conferred at Gold, Silver or Bronze level. The Written Paper Prizes are presented following the approval of the Council of the Royal Aeronautical Society on the basis of recommendations from the RAeS Medals & Awards Committee, supported by the Editor-in-Chief of The Aeronautical Journal. The Society recognises the achievements, innovation and excellence of both individual and multiple authors.

The nominations received for the 2017 Awards were highly competitive and on behalf of the RAeS Council, the Medals and Awards Committee are very pleased to announce the winners as:

The 2017 Gold Written Paper Prize

Awarded to E. R. Galea, Z. Wang and F. Jia

Numerical investigation of the fatal 1985 Manchester Airport B737 fire

The Aeronautical Journal, March 2017, Vol 121, No 1237, p 287–319.

The 2017 Silver Written Paper Prize

Awarded to D. Han and G. N. Barakos

Variable-speed tail rotors for helicopters with variable-speed main rotors

The Aeronautical Journal, April 2017, Vol 121, No 1238, p 433–448.

The 2017 Bronze Written Paper Prize

Awarded to R. Wu, C. Soutis, S. Zhong and A. Filippone

A morphing aerofoil with highly controllable aerodynamic performance

The Aeronautical Journal, January 2017, Vol 121, No 1235, p 54–72.

Awarded to D.I.A. Poll

21st-Century civil aviation: Is it on course or is it over-confident and complacent? – thoughts on the conundrum of aviation and the environment

The Aeronautical Journal, February 2017, Vol 121, No 1236, p 115–140.

The 2017 Young Persons’ Written Paper Prize

Awarded to A. Castrichini, V. Hodigere Siddaramaiah, D.E. Calderon, J.E. Cooper, T. Wilson and Y. Lemmens

Preliminary investigation of use of flexible folding wing tips for static and dynamic load alleviation

The Aeronautical Journal, January 2017, Vol 121, No 1235, p 73–94.