Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
To have been chosen to deliver the 53rd Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture is an honour of which I am very conscious and deeply appreciative.
Upon such an occasion I think it is appropriate that we pause to consider the truly great contributions made to aviation by Wilbur Wright, his brother Orville and the many pioneers who followed them, and to consider the effects of their contributions upon our lives.
I doubt very much if the Wright brothers in their most optimistic dreams could have imagined the tremendous progress aviation would make following their first powered flight 61 years ago.