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THIS month we publish the concluding part of an article describing the development of the aircraft industry in Brazil. Written by Mr K. L. C. Legg, the Head of the Department of Automobile and Aeronautical Engineering at Loughborough College of Technology, the article is based upon his own experiences as Professor of Aeronautics and Chief Designer at the Centro Tecnico de Aeronautica in Brazil, and is particularly concerned with the contribution which Britain could make towards the growth of a stable Brazilian industry.

Up to a few years ago the work in the aeronautical development department of the Brazilian Technical Centre had failed to achieve one of its major objectives, which was to produce a nucleus of trained aeronautical Brazilian engineers. This was largely due to lack of co‐operation from contracted foreign personnel and from opposition in some quarters where it was considered that the projects undertaken were over ambitious and unlikely to produce a successful production aircraft of immediate national use in a reasonable time period. The failure to achieve this nucleus team was a great disappointment to the Brazilians in their aim towards developing their own stable national aeronautical industry since this team would obviously have been the backbone of the envisaged industry.

A review is made of existing and likely future aircraft materials and their choice for use on airframes is discussed in relation to the problems of advanced aircraft design. Both technological and production problems arc included and it is finally suggested that urgent governmental action is required to remedy Great Britain's grave lack of suitable capital equipment.

SUCCESSFUL welding of commercially pure titanium and its alloys has, so far, been difficult to achieve, and this is largely due to the affinity this metal has for embrittling constituents, e.g. hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon, at high temperatures.

The author has recently returned from Brazil after completing a four‐year contract with the Brazilian Air Ministry. This paper presents some views and developments resulting from this experience and relates them to the potential and important field of co‐operative aeronautical development programmes between Britain and countries with a rapid rate of industrial detelopment such as Brazil. The paper commences with a general review of current aeronautical development in Brazil and then presents a relatively detailed account of initial project work relating to an executive/transport aircraft. Throughout these phases accent is placed on the difference of outlook of a people who are looking towards a great future development of their country. It is finally concluded that there is a potentially large development market in which Britain can and should take a leading part and from which could eminate substantial mutual advantages. This co‐operation should however only be undertaken on a national basis and with a full understanding of the particular conditions relating to such countries.

A CRITICAL stage in the process of making aircraft occurs with alarming frequency in the history of aviation.

The Glasgow Branch of B.S.A. Tools Ltd., and of the distributing organization, Burton, Griffiths & Co. Ltd., Machine Tools and Small Tools, has been moved to new premises at 46 Carlton Place, Glasgow, C.5. Telephone No.: South 1121/2.

The orientation of a rigid body is described by a position‐tensor, composed of three unit vector axes fixed in the body; rotation is effected by tensor transformations in which a rotational operator is a Cartesian matrix, formed from the co‐ordinates of the pivot axis and components of the angle of rotation; rotational sequences are represented by matrix products. Three practical applications are discussed: sequences of aircraft manoeuvres, which include composite rotations of roll and pitch, or roll, pitch and yaw, applied simultaneously; the variation of sweep, incidence and dihedral of a wing moving on any axis fixed in the aircraft; the direction of the pivot axis and the angle of rotation in the motion of a retractable undercarriage between two specified positions.

This I.A.T.A. Symposium held during the I.A.T.A. Technical Conferences at Puerto Rico in April 1953 had as its object the free exchange of views and experience primarily between helicopter manufacturers and civil aircraft operators. The helicopter has been in operation for about ten years. The types available have, however, been in the main small, single‐engined military aircraft, but technical developments now promise fairly large, multi‐engined helicopters suitable for public transport operation. At this juncture, therefore, a conference of this nature is particularly valuable. Of course, definitive conclusions could not be reached, but the results of such a gathering of the most knowledgeable people concerned with helicopter design and operation cannot fail to be of the greatest interest.

AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING was born in March 1929 of the belief that the emerging technology from which it took its title would become a fundamental element of engineering progress. The keystone of its policy was that it would attempt to meet the needs of engineers and students working in this field and that its contents should be ‘written by engineers — for engineers’. That this venture was fully justified has been amply vindicated by the achievements of the industry during the ensuing 41 years — as recorded in the first 500 issues of this Journal, the major milestone celebrated this month. This is a propitious occasion on which to review the record to date because, although aviation has always been about looking forward, history is instructive and it is the impressive performance of the aerospace industry to date that inspires and motivates confidence in its future.