Celebrates one of Britain’s greatest engineers and inventors, Frederick William Lanchester
(1868 - 1946)
Explore the typewritten notes and letters that formed the first Lanchester material that was donated by Fred’s widow Dorothea to the library of Lanchester College of Technology, Coventry
Archive Spotlight - Baxter Correspondance
Welcome to the drawing board. Try and figure how different wing types change a plane’s flight path – Fred's gliders took to the air in 1894 and you can fly them too
Games Spotlight - Aerodone
With the Oculus Go headset you can download the Lanchester VR app and be immersed in Fred’s workshop with games, exhibits and much more
VR Spotlight
Download the app to find out how the rugged 40hp Lanchester armoured car proved itself in conflict across Europe and beyond
AR Spotlight - Armoured Car
Examine some of the drawings from three volumes of blueprints for the 21hp, 30hp, 40hp and other Lanchester cars, including the Lanchester Armoured Car that have been digitised.
Archive Spotlight - Blueprints
Build your own car in Fred’s workshop and test out different engines, suspension and components to complete the challenges – from armoured cars to Brooklands racers!
Games Spotlight - Auto Engineer
The Lanchester VR app can be downloaded for the Oculus Go headset and you can explore Fred’s workshop and play games, explore exhibits and much more
VR Spotlight - Headset
Download the app to find out how Lanchester proved his fundamental theories of flight by designing and testing his pioneering gliders in the 1890s
AR Spotlight - Pioneering Gliders
Explore the typewritten notes and letters that formed the first Lanchester material that was donated by Fred’s widow Dorothea to the library of Lanchester College of Technology, Coventry
Archive Spotlight - Fletcher Correspondance
Select the best wings, propellers airframe and components for your plane and then pilot it through the rings to reach the finish – see Fred’s innovations come to life in his workshop
Games Spotlight - Flight
Who are we?
Find out more about how this project is bringing to life the legacy of unsung engineering hero, Frederick Lanchester
‘Britain’s Leonardo da Vinci’
VR Spotlight - Auto Game
Download the app to find out how Lanchester’s prototype petrol-electric hybrid car broke new ground in 1927 with design and technology many years ahead of its time
AR Spotlight - Hybrid
Delve into dozens of glass plates that were donated by Lanchester family members and Lanchester enthusiasts, still stored in their original wooden slide storage boxes.
Archive Spotlight - Glass Plates
Use different gears and ratios to get the right amount of power to all the components in the gear box – starts off simple, but can you get that worm gear working?
Games Spotlight - Gears
Explore the unique exhibits in the heart of Fred’s workshop in stunning VR, only via the Oculus Go app - Play games, explore exhibits and much, much more
VR Spotlight - Armoured Car
Download the app to find out how over 100 years ago, Lanchester’s patents outlined many innovations we see on aircraft today, like upturned winglets and contra-rotating propellers
AR Spotlight - Upturned Wings
Discover some of the first ideas about aeronautical and automotive engineering put down on paper by Fred in 49 of these remarkable handwritten notebooks, written from 1894 onwards
Archive Spotlight - Notebooks
Welcome to the drawing board. Try and figure how different wing types change a plane’s flight path – Fred's gliders took to the air in 1894 and you can fly them too
Games Spotlight - Aerodone
With the Oculus Go headset you can download the Lanchester VR app and be immersed in Fred’s workshop with games, exhibits and much more
VR Spotlight
Download the app to find out how the rugged 40hp Lanchester armoured car proved itself in conflict across Europe and beyond
AR Spotlight - Armoured Car
Delve into the patents for over 200 ingenious automotive and aeronautical inventions that Fred and his brothers successfully filed patents for, as well as many more crazy machines!
Archive Spotlight - Patents
Build your own car in Fred’s workshop and test out different engines, suspension and components to complete the challenges – from armoured cars to Brooklands racers!
VR Spotlight - Auto Game
The Lanchester VR app can be downloaded for the Oculus Go headset and you can explore Fred’s workshop and play games, explore exhibits and much more
VR Spotlight - Headset
Download the app to find out how Lanchester proved his fundamental theories of flight by designing and testing his pioneering gliders in the 1890s
AR Spotlight - Pioneering Gliders
Check out two volumes of photographs featuring cars and parts taken for manuals and sales brochures. Also included are interior and exterior pictures of the Armourer Mills factory.
Archive Spotlight - Photo Albums
Select the best wings, propellers airframe and components for your plane and then pilot it through the rings to reach the finish – see Fred’s innovations come to life in his workshop
Games Spotlight - Flight
Build your own car in Fred’s workshop and test out different engines, suspension and components to complete the challenges – from armoured cars to Brooklands racers!
VR Spotlight - Auto Game
Download the app to find out how Lanchester’s prototype petrol-electric hybrid car broke new ground in 1927 with design and technology many years ahead of its time
AR Spotlight - Hybrid
Flick through the drawings, designs, graphs and calculations that describe Fred’s pioneering work. 14 fascinating original volumes of inventions and innovation.
Archive Spotlight - Sketchbooks
Use different gears and ratios to get the right amount of power to all the components in the gear box – starts off simple, but can you get that worm gear working?
Games Spotlight - Gears
Explore the unique exhibits in the heart of Fred’s workshop in stunning VR, only via the Oculus Go app - Play games, explore exhibits and much, much more
VR Spotlight - Armoured Car
Who are we?
Find out more about how this project is bringing to life the legacy of unsung engineering hero, Frederick Lanchester
‘Britain’s Leonardo da Vinci’
AR Spotlight - Upturned Wings
20th August 2024
Frederick Lanchester’s legacy is worldwide. Learn more about our archive, how the Indian Maharajas favoured the Lanchester cars over Rolls Royce & how the Peaky Blinders series took inspiration from the influential members of the Lanchester family. Coventry University’s Lanchester […]
19th October 2021
Today we celebrate the 153rd birthday of the engineer, scientist, inventor, author, poet and possibly the first ‘ingeniator’ – Fred Lanchester. On October 23rd 1868, in Lewisham Octavia and Henry welcomed Fred Lanchester into the world and alongside his brothers […]
6th April 2021
NASA’s Perseverance rover, having survived its own hair-raising landing on Mars, has released a unique machine that is set to become the first vehicle to undertake powered flight on another planet. The Ingenuity helicopter didn’t have far to travel (about […]
8th March 2021
We would like to share with you a story which tells of the life of Edith ‘Biddy’ Lanchester, younger sister of Henry, Frank and Frederick. In the late 1890’s Edith was making the front pages of newspapers from Birmingham to […]
25th November 2020
Welcome to another inspiring Lanchester SketchClub. We’re continuing online as winter approaches, but we hope to be able to resume the SketchClub in our public space soon. As always, you can share images of your creative work on our social […]
