The CHAIRMAN, in opening the meeting, said that Mr Zimmerman, a member of the scientific staff of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, at Langley Field, Virginia, had long been concerned with the development of S T O L aircraft, having originated and developed the Chance-Vought circular-wing project during the war at Stratford, Connecticut In the rotary wing field, he was perhaps best known as the originator of the Flying Platform, having designed and built at Nicholls, Connecticut, shortly after the war, his so-called “Aerial Motor-cycle,” which had two side-by-side lifting propellers of disc loading about 20, interconnected by a tiny platform which he strapped to his feet like skis By 1947, he was able to demonstrate to his satisfaction that this device required no controls other than a throttle for the two engines, and that he could hover safely by applying the same reactions to his feet as he used for balancing himself when standing on the ground

The CHAIRMAN, in opening the meeting, said that the paper, which Mr Stallabrass had come over from Canada to present, dealt with a very important subject in the helicopter field, having as a practical objective the eventual achievement of all-weather helicopter operation The National Research Council of Canada had been studying the problem of aircraft icing long before it was necessary to devote attention to the special problems of helicopter de-icing, no doubt the climate in that part of the world having had something to do with this

Mr Stallabrass had served in the Royal Air Force from 1941 to 1947 and had experience as a pilot with Coastal Command in anti-submarine operations Later, he took an honours degree at London University in electrical engineering and worked for a year on guided missiles with the General Electric Company In 1952 he went over to Canada, where he worked on various aspects of icing research at the low temperature laboratory of the National Research Council