The Fifty-Fourth Wilbur and Orville Wright Memorial Lecture, “The Well-Balanced Structure”, was given by Sir Alfred Pugsley, OBE, DSc, FRS, HonFRAeS, on 9th December 1965 in the Lecture Theatre, 4 Hamilton Place, London W.I. The Chair was taken by Sir George Gardner, KBE, CB, HonDSc, HonFRAeS, President of the Society, who opened the meeting by expressing the sympathy of the Society to their colleagues in America on the death of Dr. Hugh L. Dryden on 2nd December; not only was he a distinguished man in his own country but he was a close friend of many in this country and an Honorary Fellow of the Society.

As has become the custom, the Society's main awards for the year were presented before the lecture. The presentations were made by the President and the citations were read by Mr. A. D. Baxter, MEng, FRAeS, President-Elect; the scrolls of three Honorary Fellowships and of two Honorary Companionships, and nine medals were presented. (The names of the new Honorary Fellows and Honorary Companions and the list of awards, with their citations, were published in the December 1965 Journal, pages LXXX and LXXXI.)

Introducing the Lecturer, the President said that the year of the Wright Brothers’ first flight had been the year of birth of a number of people who had made great contributions to the development of aeronautics; one of these was Sir Alfred Grenvile Pugsley. He obtained a first class honours degree in engineering of London University and then trained as a civil engineer and Student apprentice at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich; there could be no doubt about his full qualifications as a “chartered engineer” according to the new standards. In 1925 he joined the design and research staff at Cardington working on the R101 and not only had he played his part in the design of various parts of the airship's structure, he had also taken part in the full speed trials of the airship. In 1931 Sir Alfred joined the scientific staff of the Royal Aircraft Establishment and worked on structural problems, particularly in the field of aeroelasticity. From 1941 to 1945 he was head of the Structures and Mechanical Engineering Department at Farnborough.

He was appointed Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Bristol in 1945 and was Dean of the Faculty of Engineering from 1951-54, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor from 1961-64. Sir Alfred had acted successively on the Councils of the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Institution of Structural Engineers, the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Royal Society, and was President of the Institution of Structural Engineers in 1957-58. He was Chairman of the Aeronautical Research Council from 1952-57 and was a member of the Advisory Council for Scientific Policy from 1956-59. He was knighted in 1956 and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Society in 1963.