The CHAIRMAN, in introducing the Author, said that Mr HOOPER was presenting to the Association its first lecture on the subject of wind tunnel testing of helicopter models Mr Hooper had a long experience of wind tunnel techniques and had also been able to apply some of these techniques recently in investigating the aerodynamic features of one of the latest rotary-wing prototypes—namely, the Rotodyne

Mr Hooper had been engaged on aerodynamic testing for many years, and next year would be his thirtieth year with the Fairey Aviation Company He had investigated a wide range of subjects such as the aerodynamics of sails for application to racing yachts and had also been concerned with the attainment of flight speeds greater than Mach 1 Thus it was not surprising that he had taken the wind tunnel testing of helicopter models in his stride and was tonight able to give an authoritative assessment of the value of this work

The CHAIRMAN, in introducing the Author, said that Dr Kuchemann had been a member of the scientific staff at the R A E, Farnborough, since 1946, and was now head of the Supersonics Division of the Aerodynamics Department From 1930 to 1936 he studied at the Universities of Munich and Gottingen, where he obtained the degree of Dr rer nat, and from 1936 to 1946 he had worked in the Aerodynamics Research Establishment at Gottingen under Professor Betz He was, perhaps, best known on both sides of the Atlantic for his classic textbook with J Weber “Aerodynamics of Propulsion”

The integration of the aerodynamics of a propulsive system with the aerodynamics of a lifting system as achieved in the helicopter was of fundamental significance in aeronautics and promised to become much more so in the future The Author had undertaken to discuss the generalised subject of an integrated aircraft, and it would be difficult to find anyone better qualified to present a paper of this nature