The objectives of Society include: to support and maintain high professional standards in aerospace disciplines; to provide a unique source of specialist information and a local forum for the exchange of ideas; and to exert influence in the interests of aerospace in the public and industrial arenas.

The Society was founded in January 1866 with the name The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain. Early or founding members included James Glaisher, Francis Wenham, the Duke of Argyll, and Frederick Brearey. In the first year, there were 65 members. In 1868 the Society held a major exhibition at London’s Crystal Palace - John Stringfellow’s steam engine was shown there. The Society sponsored the first wind tunnel in 1870-71, designed by Wenham and Browning.

In 1918, the organization’s name was changed to the Royal Aeronautical Society.

During the 1940s, the RAeS responded to the wartime need to expand the aircraft industry. The Society established a Technical Department to bring together the best available knowledge and present it in an authoritative and accessible form – a working tool for engineers who might come from other industries and lack the specialised knowledge required for aircraft design. This technical department became known as the Engineering Sciences Data Unit (ESDU) and eventually became a separate entity in the 1980s.

In 1987 the Society of Licensed Aircraft Engineers and Technologists, previously called the Society of Licensed Aircraft Engineers, was incorporated into the Royal Aeronautical Society.

The Royal Aeronautical Society is now a worldwide society with an international network of nearly 70 branches. Many practitioners of aerospace disciplines use the Society’s designatory post-nominals such as FRAeS, CRAeS, MRAeS, AMRAeS and ARAeS.