Quite often, those whose honour it has been to deliver the Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture have used the occasion to present a survey of progress along a fairly broad front and thence to predict what the future holds in store.

It may be that the courage, insight in experiment, and skill in craftsmanship, which culminated in that successful demonstration of fifty years ago last December, have excited those whose privilege it has been to commemorate that achievement to undertake flights in the realm of prophesy. A time so near the fiftieth anniversary might be considered unusually appropriate to historical review and philosophic speculation, but since Sir Harry Garner's 1952 Lecture “Prophesy and Achievement in Aviation,” the Royal Aeronautical Society has been busily converting crystal balls into models of the Montgolfiere balloon.