In 1951 Ainley and Mathieson published a method of predicting the design and off-design performance of an axial turbine (British ARC, R & M 2974). The flow and hence the losses were calculated at a single “reference diameter” for each blade row. This method has been widely used ever since. A critical review of the method has been made, based on detailed comparisons between the measured and predicted performance of a wide range of modern turbines. As a result, improvements have been made in the formulas for secondary loss and tip clearance loss prediction. The accuracy of the improved method has been assessed. Despite its relatively simple approach, it is believed that it will remain of great value in project work and preliminary design work.