It is almost four years since a series of papers on Naval Aviation was presented to the Royal Aeronautical Society in the full day session held on 7th May 1947. The first paper in that series, “Technical Problems of the Design of Naval Aircraft,” read by W. S. Farren, stated the fundamental problems clearly.

During the intervening years, the general trends in aerodynamic and power plant development have been reflected in the design of carrier-borne aircraft and are beginning to stabilise into a recognisable pattern. Thus, turbo jet and turbo-propeller engines are now accepted for Service use, there has been general aerodynamic improvement including the suppression of drag arising from the carriage of stores, and it is normal to find that prototypes are mounted on a nose-wheel type undercarriage.