Mr NORMAN HILL briefly outlined the proceedings and drew the attention of the meeting to the presence of Mr E MENSFORTH, C B E, M A, M I Mech E, F R Ae S, the new President of the Association, this being his first attendance as President Mr MASEFIELD was then called on to open the meeting

Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen This really has been quite a remarkable week in Aviation, and I think perhaps this evening is a fitting climax During this week we have seen some excellent new aeroplanes, both the old fashioned fixed wing types (even if they do have jet engines) and, of course, the “shape of wings to come”—a number of new helicopters I personally feel after seeing the Bristol 173 in the air that no one can now doubt that one important trend of the future of air transport—and, indeed, of transport as a whole—is in the direction of the helicopter We seem to have got out of the “gold fish bowl” stage at last with helicopters to something which looks like a real vehicle

When asked to prepare this paper it seemed that two courses were open, namely —

1. (a) the detailed consideration of a few aspects of British helicopter developments, and

2. (b) a more general survey of the British helicopter development field with references from which details of much of our work could be obtained

The latter course was chosen because it was felt to be the more useful as a work of reference and more likely to convey an accurate impression of British activities as a whole

To assist in understanding the British helicopter development situation, and because it may be of interest to some not familiar with past events in the United Kingdom, I propose to start this paper by briefly mentioning some important aspects of British developments and activities before and during the war years