The Air Registration Board came into being as a result of the work of the Gorell Committee. It was incorporated in February 1937 and started work on April 1 of that year. The chairman of the board was Sir Maurice Denny, and there was a very small staff— reflecting the limited duties given to it initially. By early 1938 these had grown somewhat — so, for example, the board was authorised to recommend changes to regulations and requirements and it also started to investigate the design of prototype aircraft (cautiously, the Air Ministry limited it to investigations of aircraft weighing less than 10,000lb.).

In 1936 the Air Registration Board was created by the government and given the task of recommending to the secretary of state for air the granting and renewal of certificates of airworthiness for certain classes of civil aircraft, a duty previously performed by the Air Ministry. It was understood that as time went on and the board gained experience certifying the airworthiness of more and more classes of civil aircraft would become the responsibility of the board.

The accurate prediction of ground effect aerodynamics is an important aspect of wing-in-ground effect vehicle (WIG) design. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solutions are useful alternatives to expensive (especially in the case of ground effect) wind-tunnel testing. However, the incorporation of the rigid surface effects often leads to confusion due to such a model being in a vehicle fixed reference frame (air moving, vehicle fixed) rather than the real-life situation of a ground fixed reference frame (air fixed, vehicle moving).

Lord Kings Norton’s contribution to Cranfield University was immense. He was quite literally the father of the university, having personally conceived the idea of creating what became the university. His involvement began in early 1943 when, as vice president of the Royal Aeronautical Society, he began to consider how best to create an environment in which to educate the practical young men and women who would be needed to take the aeronautical industry forward in the post-war years. Being barely a year old at this time, I personally find it hard to comprehend the degree of optimism reflected in even considering such issues, for although the Battle of Britain had been won, the Battle of the Atlantic was far from won and D-Day was still a year and a half away. But optimism, realistic achievable optimism, was a hallmark of Lord Kings Norton.

Compounding offers a way of advancing the performance of the standard helicopter significantly for a moderate increase in complexity through the addition of wings and/or auxiliary propulsion. The compound helicopter configuration has the potential advantages of increased speed, range, agility, productivity and reduced vibration levels over conventional helicopters. Despite several significant efforts, however, no compound helicopter has ever been put into production. This paper looks at three aircraft that came close to being accepted by operators and examines the reasons why they were not ultimately put into production. The cancellation of these projects appeared to be of a political nature rather than technical. Also addressed are the issues that still face prospective designers of compound helicopters and the lessons that can be extracted and applied to modern day efforts to build and sell an aircraft of this configuration.

In 1943, with the world still at war, a great discussion on the future of aeronautical education was held by the Royal Aeronautical Society. Not only would the war years, however many were still to come, demand more well-qualified aeronautical engineers, but the longed for peace years, with engineers turning swords into ploughshares, would want more. The discussion was in two parts. One took place on 25 June and the other on 23 July. Many of the leading figures in British aeronautics took part and in the chair on both occasions was Dr Roxbee Cox, a vice-president of the society. The discussion culminated in a resolution based on a proposal by Marcus Langley. That resolution and the discussion which led to it resulted in the recommendation by the Aeronautical Research Committee that a post-graduate college of aeronautical science should be established. This was followed by governmental action. Sir Stafford Cripps, then the minister responsible for aircraft production, set up a committee presided over by Sir Roy Fedden to make specific proposals, and the committee recommended in its 1944 report that such a college should be a new and independent establishment. In 1945 the government created the College of Aeronautics board of governors under the chairmanship of Air Chief Marshal Sir Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt to bring the college into existence and govern it. The first meeting of this board took place on 28 June 1945 and there were present:

Sir Edgar Ludlow Hewitt, Dr W. Abbot, Mr Hugh Burroughs, Sir Roy Fedden, Mr J. Ferguson, Sir Harold Hartley, Sir William Hil-dred, Sir Melvill Jones, Dr E.B. Moullin, Mr J.D. North, Sir Frederick Handley Page, Mr E.F. Relf, Dr H. Roxbee Cox, Air Marshal Sir Ralph Sovley, Rear Admiral S.H. Troubridge and Mr W.E.P. Ward. Sir William Stanier, who had been appointed, was not present.

I am not quite sure when I became old, but I think I must date it in my seventies when I retired from a variety of activities and settled into a more sedentary style of life. I retired from Dowty Rotol and Bergers (and so Hoechst UK) in 1975, from the Royal Institution in 1976, from Ricardo’s and British Printing Corporation in 1977 and sold Withers Estates, very profitably for the Withers family, in 1981.

I was left with the chairmanships of two tiny companies, Land-speed and Cotswold Research. While Landspeed has not served its purpose, Cotswold Research has its place in history. Both companies are concerned with the inventions of Professor Eric Laithwaite, who demonstrated in model and prototype form tracked hovercraft powered by the linear motor. Landspeed failed to develop this, through lack of funds, to a commercially viable transport system, though the Japanese appear to have done so. Cotswold Research, however, made a success of an adaptation of the linear motors to the separation of aluminium from scrap material and for their work, which ended in profitable industrial apparatus and a big saving in manpower, Mr A.P. Bird and I received the Prince of Wales Award in 1986.