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THE conference opened with the paper by Mr Woodward‐Nutt, which, together with the other papers, is summarized below. After the first session the conference luncheon was held, and the principal speakers were the Mayor of Southampton, Alderman R. E. Edmunds, who welcomed the conference to Southampton, and Sir Edward Boyle, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply, who referred to current concern about delays in fighter deliveries. He said that there had in the last year been setbacks, but the delays were due to difficulties of development rather than of production. The comparison which was often made of deliveries during the last war was not fair, because the aircraft in question had then been developed. The Spitfire took five years to develop, and this did not compare so unfavourably with the development of the Hunter, when the increase in complexity and the aerodynamic difficulties of the transonic region were considered. Flight trials were the only indication of many of these troubles, and modifications were necessary after the tests. It was for this reason that the Ministry had adopted the policy of ordering up to twenty development aircraft, with the intention that by the time the last one had been built it would be in a form suitable for the production version.

PERA is one of Britain's largest research, consultancy, training and information organisations. Established in 1946, it has a total income of over £4,500,000 per annum, and a staff of over 400 research workers, management and technical consultants, training specialists, information staff, etc. PERA's facilities include extensive laboratories, workshops, offices and a training centre on a 28‐acre site at Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire.

Details of Electrical and Electronic Apparatus with Applications in the Maintenance and Operation of Aircraft, Missiles and Space Vehicles. Pilkington Perkin‐Elmer, St. Asaph, a company in the Pilkington Optical Division, are to market a laser interferometer — which is substantially cheaper than its competitors — and a new, very high precision tooling laser. Both systems will be unconditionally guaranteed for one year.

ALUMINIUM was first produced commercially almost 100 years ago and is still a long way from realising its potential. Its high ductility, strength and toughness, light weight and corrosion resistance properties are well‐known. Mixed with particles or fibres of other materials, such as alumina, aluminium is now becoming the basis of a whole range of new metal matrix composites (MMC's) providing an extreme high strength‐to‐weight ratio.

THE fifth of these annual conferences was held on 8 and 9 January at Southampton University. As usual the conference opened with a luncheon, at which the then Minister of Supply, the Rt. Hon. Reginald Maudling, was a speaker. The Minister pointed out that the aircraft industry was the object both of immoderate praise and intemperate criticism; in order to make a fair assessment of the industry's achievements it was necessary to compare them with those of other countries, which in practice meant the U.S.A. since no other country about which information was available had an industry of comparable size. Continental countries, although they had made outstanding technical advances, were able to export only a small fraction of the aircraft and equipment which the British industry has sent abroad in recent years.

THE Machine Tool and Engineering Exhibition which is being held in Olympia, London, from August 26 to September 11, is the revival of an event which last took place in 1934. In those days the British machine tool industry was very small compared with what it has grown to be during the 14 years' interval, particularly under the stimulus of war. The number and range of machine tools to be seen are therefore of incomparably more interest than on the last occasion, and the exhibition should be visited by all concerned with the production side of the aircraft industry.

USE of labour‐saving machine‐tools in the manufacture of aeroplane engines, which may be called the high‐water mark of mechanical engineering, makes exacting demands on the designer and builder both of the machines themselves and of their tool equipment.

This aircraft, or more exactly this integrated weapons system, is undoubtedly of major importance to both the British aircraft industry and the Royal Air Force. It is beyond question the most exacting project which the British industry has undertaken and as such has demanded adoption of the latest techniques, materials, equipment and management procedures as well as pursuit of research and development programmes on an unprecedented scale. In terms of air power, this system represents a substantial advance on any comparable aircraft or system currently in service and will give the Royal Air Force a strike and reconnaissance capability at high and low level which is possibly unmatched by any other air force in the world. The design philosophy of the TSR‐2 as it applies to an aircraft designed primarily for the high‐speed, low‐level strike/reconnaissance role was described in detail in the December 1963 issue of Aircraft Engineering (Ref. 1) but since that initial appraisal of the TSR‐2 was written some eleven months ago, there has been a gradual release of further information concerning the aircraft, its systems, power plant and equipment. It is the purpose of this article to bring the story up to date in that particular context, although it should be emphasized that the TSR‐2 is still subject to the strictest security embargo and it will be many years before a detailed study of the complete weapons system can be published. It is not intended to cover the same ground as the earlier article (Ref. 1) attempted but, before proceeding to detailed consideration of the systems, a brief overall description of the aircraft is given for the sake of completeness.