I've never come across an eye-witness report before Dave-fascinating.
What you say is clearly accurate [although the Langran-Hamilton mechanics aspect is new to/beyond me] but I suppose it was the overall attitude that shocked me at the time. His colleagues seemed deeply uncomfortable with their own actions, even if he was wrong. The Professor was clearly an open target like Tesla and suffered for it.
Similarly, Laithewaite never even seemed to get proper recognition for the magnetic levitation system that he developed which was both a ground breaking re-configuration of the AC motor and not isubject to any technical dispute.
Professional jealousy? or possibly because the Japanese built a High Speed Railway System while we were still trying to get from Manchester to London in two hours.
Ironically there is now a new resurgence in anti-gravity propulsion research at present in both the "alternative" and traditional disciplines. Or is that just what we knew already finally coming to light. It's no secret that the stealth fighter had long been in service before it was officially rolled out in the eighties. Maybe I'm biased but the Royal Society Xmas Lectures given by Eric in the sixties have always stuck in my memory as a piece of metal levitated across the lecture room. Proper stuff, no patronising delivery and likely to give future Health and Safety Officers a heart attack
Cheers,
Dave W