The original paper, entitled Flight Planning Before Computers 1946–1959, was written by Mr D. Bulstra in 1995. Written from a civilian operator's point of view, it includes very full explanations of the principles upon which the flight planning techniques were based, including mathematical derivations, examples of meteorological charts, and tables and graphs of aircraft performance. The abridging author has aimed to produce a short and accessible paper that explains the concepts without necessarily involving the reader in further complexities, while departing as little as possible from Mr Bulstra's framework and wording. For those who wish to look more deeply into the subject, the original paper can be seen in the Cundall Library of the Royal Institute of Navigation (Ref. 400.01.14).