The CHAIRMAN opening the meeting, said he supposed that in aeronautics the helicopter was the dream which had taken longest to come true He believed that LEONARDO DA VINCI had dreamed it and he was certain that JULES VERNE had done so But there was a long period in a sort of borderland between dream and reality when helicopters were made which either did not fly or only just did so

In the past few years the helicopter had truly become a reality, there were many years of research and development ahead, but the helicopter had arrived In the Royal Aeronautical Society the helicopter had for long been one of the matters to which close attention had been given and in the past a number of eminent people had presented papers on the subject as well as on its sister, the “Autogiro,” before the Society and one or two eminent people had also given lectures against the helicopter and the “Autogiro”