I remember that on V-J Day in 1945 a heroic band of Common-wealth delegates, greatly reinforced by the cooperative presence of colleagues from the United States, decided that they would not rise in celebration of victory but would continue their work, which included an estimate of the probable air-traffic density at the world's great airports in or about this year 1950. We made the best estimate we could of the numbers in which aircraft would in this present year be likely to be moving in and out of Heathrow (as it was then called), of Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris. Looking back through the mist of five years I detect a band of enthusiastic and starry-eyed optimists.

In this year of 1950 the British aircraft industry has an absolute and undisputed lead in the design and manufacture of civil turbo-jet and turbo-propeller aircraft. This time again I look forward, but I warn myself that we are another group of starry-eyed optimists if we think that another five years hence Britain will hold that undisputed lead, or will be comfortably established in a position of monopoly in the sale of jet-propelled civil aircraft.