It is a great honour to have been asked by The Royal Aeronautical Society to give the foundation British Commonwealth and Empire Lecture, and I have accepted, having in mind the Australian pioneers of the air from whose past has sprung the beginning of our Australian part in the common effort of to-day.

I would like to congratulate the Society on founding this lecture, which it takes little prediction to forecast will grow into one of the most important annual aviation events in the Empire–as well as facilitating the assembling together in the Journal of information, opinion and suggestion from the four corners of the Empire. This, in itself, is only made possible by air travel, and as an illustration of what can be done, you should know that this is my third visit to this country from Australia in this year of 1945.