As the third man to serve as Chief Test Pilot at Farnborough, Sqn Ldr Winfield Smith flew many of the pre-World War I aircraft types before they entered service. In this entertaining lecture, he tells us about his time learning to fly at Brooklands and recounts stories from the early years of his flying career, including the time he became the first Briton to loop-the-loop in a British aircraft and when he broke the world height record. He also takes us through many of the aircraft types he flew during the period.

Sqn Ldr S. C. Winfield Smith DSO gave his lecture, British Aviation Fifty Years Ago, to a meeting organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Historical Group on 8 February 1965. The lecture is introduced by J. L. Nayler FRAeS FAIAA, the recording was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.