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

It is the custom of the Association for the Chairman to introduce to you formally all its lecturers In the case of our lecturer this evening, there is no such necessity to do so, for we all know full well the name PETER MASEFIELD and the work that he has done and is doing in all branches of commercial and other aviation and doubtless some of us would wish to know something more of his background than is already available

In 1945, Peter Masefield was appointed by the Minister of Civil Aviation to be the first British Civil Air Attache at the British Embassy in Washington In 1946 he was appointed Director General of Long Term Planning and Projects at the British Ministry of Civil Aviation in London He led the British delegation to the South Pacific Air Defence Council in 1948 in Wellington, New Zealand In January, 1949, he joined British European Airways and was appointed Chief Executive and member of the Board in October, 1949, Lord Douglas of Kirtleside having been appointed Chairman a short while previously

You are all aware of the problems associated with the title of this lecture and, m order to avoid overlapping with Mr Hafner, I shall limit my part to the work that has been carried out on the Skeeter

In many respects the helicopter resembles an aircraft engine unit, and it therefore suggests itself that the routine method of testing engines should be applied to the helicopter Indeed at the beginning of 1951, a draft proposal to this effect was put forward, and is as follows

• (1) The aircraft should be tested for functioning on the ground followed by the strain gauging of its transmission, control and rotor systems During the strain gauging a complete range of flight control should be covered

• (2) Records made of these tests should be examined for any undue stress levels and stress oscillations

The CHAIRMAN, in his introductory remarks, said Mr Stewart left Glasgow University in 1942, since when he has been at R A E and has specialized in helicopter work since 1945 He has made some extremely valuable contributions to the study of helicopters and is now the leader of a group doing flight testing at R A E He gave an important lecture to the Royal Aeronautical Society on the research of helicopters in 1948, and to-night he is giving an account of some more recent work

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

Had Daedalus, prior to his legendary flight from Crete on wings of wax and feathers, resorted to a little ground testing under simulated flight conditions, he would possibly not have lost his son Icarus and the art of aeronautical engineering might have joined the ranks of the great classics However, this Greek aircraft designer did not happen to have on this occasion the benefit of a development contract for such test work Indeed, I understand the whole venture was undertaken strictly without the authority of the local Ministry of Aviation, and so the chances for a successful completion of this note-worthy effort were somewhat restricted The designer then, very wisely and no doubt realising the short-comings of the situation, advised strict adherence to a very limited flight envelope, so that there would be a safety margin for contingencies during the ensuing flight

It is a good thing to occasionally lift our sights from the job in hand and focus our attention on the broader purpose of our actions For example, if we ask ourselves what the purpose of maintenance is, we might answer that it is to keep the equipment we are using in a condition which does not fall below a certain standard In the narrow sense, a definition of some such sort would pass, but surely, if we accept it as a complete answer to our question, we are really saying that maintenance is an end unto itself This, of course, is quite ridiculous because maintenance is not just done for the fun of it, rather its purpose is to carry out certain work, m close association with quite different types of work, so that the integrated effort enables the equipment in use to satisfactorily perform the task in handm the case of a commercial airline, this would be to earn money by giving the best possible public service Some such reply I think would be a more complete answer to our question