I greatly appreciate the invitation to give the Handley Page Memorial Lecture. It has not been easy to select a reasonably suitable subject not already covered by some distinguished lecturer and I hope you will not think the subject I have chosen is too far removed from HP's interests.

I do not think it is: for he was a great practical engineer and a keen supporter of Cranfield in its early days. I doubt whether he had much time for academics except at Cranfield and maybe not for graduates even of engineering, for he had learnt his trade in a hard school and was justly proud of it. But times have changed, and just as the aircraft he designed changed to meet new markets and take advantage of advancing technology, so I think he would have approved of the new Cranfield Institute of Technology which has developed out of the old Cranfield College of Aeronautics, and particularly the Institute's very practical approach to teaching and research, and its close ties with industry from which it draws over 60% of its income.