I must begin by confessing that when I received the kind invitation of the Royal Aeronautical Society to read a paper on the methods of aeroplane flying instruction, I had grave doubts as to whether I could make it either informative or interesting.

In the first place, by comparison with others on which papers have been read here, this subject seems “ cut and dried. ” I do not mean that flying instruction has reached such a pitch of excellence that further improvement is impossible, but that as far as the Royal Air Force is concerned the present methods are stereotyped in certain orders which the service instructor has to obey.

Secondly, I fear that a great many of those present know almost all that there is to be known on the subject, and I must ask them to be patient when I travel laboriously over ground which is very familiar to them.