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The origin of the Lynx stems from a Memorandum of Understanding, signed by British and French Governments in 1967, whereby it was agreed to co‐operate in the design and development of a helicopter ‘package’ for utilisation in the Armed Forces of both Nations.

Development and research activity was an outstanding feature of the 1980 Farnborough Display and Exhibition, both as regards existing aircraft where the results of increasing sophistication and advanced technology were evident, and also in the trends that are apparent and will be realised in the next few years. Looking further ahead, design organisations are embarked upon a course of action that will produce safer, more environmentally acceptable and more fuel‐efficient aircraft in the future.

This article outlines the procedures being used at Westland Helicopters Limited to establish the fatigue lives of the dynamic and structural components of the Lynx and to demonstrate how an adequate safety level is achieved under the loading sustained by the aircraft. For the newcomer to the fatigue problem a brief introduction to the phenomenon of fatigue will be provided and it will be shown how it is applicable to a helicopter. A philosophical outline of the fatigue procedures in current use at Westlands follows and then a description of the Lynx is given. The article will then describe the fatigue testing, flight testing and substantiation procedures used with the Lynx and it will be shown how the eventual fatigue lives are estimated. Finally some thoughts are put forward about the future of fatigue substantiation.

I. The Gendarmerie: Historical Background The Gendarmerie is the senior unit of the French Armed Forces. It is, however, difficult to give a precise date to its creation. What can be asserted is that as early as the Eleventh Century special units existed under the sénéchal (seneschal), an official of the King's household who was entrusted with the administration of military justice and the command of the army. The seneschal's assistants were armed men known as sergents d'armes (sergeants at arms). In time, the office of the seneschal was replaced by that of the connétable (constable) who was originally the head groom of the King's stables, but who became the principal officer of the early French kings before rising to become commander‐in‐chief of the army in 1218. The connétable's second in command was the maréchal (marshal). Eventually, the number of marshals grew and they were empowered to administer justice among the soldiery and the camp followers in wartime, a task which fully absorbed them throughout the Hundred Years War (1337–1453). The corps of marshals was then known as the maréchaussée (marshalcy) and its members as sergeants and provosts. One of the provosts, Le Gallois de Fougières, was killed at Agincourt in 1415; his ashes were transferred to the national memorial to the Gendarmerie, which was erected at Versailles in 1946.

ON May 17 the Secretary of State for Defence, Mr Healey, informed the House of Commons that the Government had that day signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ with the French Government on the joint development of two military aircraft. The first is a supersonic fixed‐wing aircraft which will be adopted by both the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy as an advanced trainer to replace the Hunter and Gnat, while the French will use the aircraft in both the trainer and light strike roles. Both governments will commit enough funds to enable the prototype stage of aircraft and engine to be completed and both countries intend to proceed to full production.

Rolls‐Royce Ltd. designs, develops and manufactures gas turbine engines for aircraft and marine industrial purposes and in 1971 the gas turbine business was reconstructed to continue independently of the motor car and other piston engine manufacture. The British Government is the sole shareholder, but the Company determines its own commercial policy.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how visionary system architects wean the development of a new technology away from the seductions of the path of least resistance – a complementary relationship with the entrenched system.

The paper draws on two cases wherein critical players started pursuing visions of a full‐fledged system while the technology was still an appendage to an established one: Theodore Vail and the development of the Bell telephone system; and the US Navy and the development of wireless telegraphy. Vail's interests were of a commercial nature, securing competitive advantage over Western Union and future rivals. The US Navy's interests were of a geopolitical nature, overthrowing Britain's monopoly on trans‐oceanic cable telegraphy.

The pursuit of system benefits requires long‐term thinking. In terms of day‐to‐day actions it requires a persistent effort against the seductions of a complementary relationship or the path of least resistance. Vail was compelled to form a separate organization – AT&T – to maintain focus on system formation in the face of short‐term distractions. The US Navy pushed for rules against cross ownership of cable and wireless and opposed international treaties that clubbed the two technologies into the same category, as it wanted the latter to develop independently of the former.

The failure of anticipation, in the case of network technologies, is largely rooted in our inability to see beyond the path of least resistance. Drawing on strategies employed by Vail and the US Navy to wean the development of a new technology away from the path of least resistance, the paper alerts us to possibilities other than the seemingly obvious ones.

The purpose of this paper is to contest Edwards et al.’s (2002) findings that resistance to the introduction of double-entry bookkeeping and the form that it took when implemented by the British Government in the mid-nineteenth century was the result of ideological conflict between the privileged landed aristocracy and the rising merchant middle class.

The study draws upon a collection of documents preserved as part of the Grigg Family Papers located in London and the Thomson Papers held in the Mitchell Library in Sydney. It also draws on evidence contained within the British National Archive, the National Maritime Museum and British Parliamentary Papers which has been overlooked by previous studies of the introduction of DEB.

Conflict and delays in the adoption of double-entry bookkeeping were not primarily the product of “ideological” differences between the influential classes. Instead, this study finds that conflict was the result of a complex amalgam of class interests, ideology, personal antipathy, professional intolerance and ambition. Newly discovered evidence recognises the critical, largely forgotten, work of John Deas Thomson in developing a double-entry bookkeeping system for the Royal Navy and the importance of Sir James Graham’s determination that matters of economy would be emphasised in the Navy’s accounting.

This study establishes that crucial to the ultimate implementation of double-entry bookkeeping was the passionate, determined support of influential champions with strong liberal beliefs, most especially John Deas Thomson and Sir James Graham. Prominence was given to economy in government.

APPLIED Technology, Middle East and European marketing and technical support representative of PF Industries Inc, will exhibit ground support equipment supplied to airlines worldwide.

THE Twenty‐fifth S.B.A.C. Flying Display and Exhibition is to be held at Farnborough during the week Monday, September 5, to Sunday, September 11, promises to be one of the most interesting yet held as for the first time member companies of the Society have nominated for entry aircraft from member countries of the European A.I.C.M.A. (Association Internationale des Contructeurs de Materiel Aérospatial) that are powered by British engines. Seven European aircraft will be taking part, four of them sponsored by Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd. and three by Rolls‐Royce Ltd. The dominant theme of the Show will be collaboration, and it is fitting that the foreign aircraft have been sponsored by the aero engine manufacturers as they have advanced farther along this road than the airframe companies. Between them, they have close associations with practically all the major engine manufacturers in the Western world. Apart from the models and displays which will be mounted by the major airframe and engine manufacturers reflecting their growing involvement with European projects, the stands of the Associate Members of the Society of British Aerospace Companies will have many examples of materials, techniques and equipment that these companies are producing in support of current programmes, some of which will be for the American military aircraft now on order for the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy.