A simplified panel model is described, together with a number of assumptions about the mode of its bucking. The approach to the calculation of the buckling stress is by splitting the panel into a number of flat plates and treating these by the ordinary plate theory. Use of the boundary conditions between these plates leads to a relation between the buckling stress and the variables of the panel geometry. The results thus obtained are compared with two sets of recent experimental work; and an appendix is included to show the effect of initial panel irregularities on the experimental determination of buckling stresses.