As the first British jet-powered aircraft was prepared for its maiden flight almost 25 years ago, the late Dr. A. A. Griffith, then Chief Scientist of Rolls-Royce Ltd, was exercising his mind on the problem of aircraft taking off and landing vertically using jet lift. The lightweight lift jet engines of compact dimensions he predicted are now being produced. Since his classic paper on VTOL to the Aeronautical Research Council in 1941 many of the difficult engineering problems have been overcome and we are now on the threshold of a most exciting era during which we shall see operational V/STOL aircraft using jet lift.