initial commit of ebook 777HEADmain

2 files changed, 5713 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/old/tmota10.txt b/old/tmota10.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d5a19e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/tmota10.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5713 @@
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Mastery of the Air by Claxton
+
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check
+the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!!
+
+Please take a look at the important information in this header.
+We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an
+electronic path open for the next readers.  Do not remove this.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations*
+
+Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and
+further information is included below.  We need your donations.
+
+
+The Mastery of the Air
+
+by William J. Claxton
+
+January, 1997  [Etext #777]
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Mastery of the Air by Claxton
+*****This file should be named tmota10.txt or tmota10.zip******
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, tmota11.txt.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, tmota10a.txt.
+
+
+This etext was created by Dianne Bean, Chino Valley, Arizona.
+
+
+We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance
+of the official release dates, for time for better editing.
+
+Please note:  neither this list nor its contents are final till
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.  To be sure you have an
+up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes
+in the first week of the next month.  Since our ftp program has
+a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a
+look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a
+new copy has at least one byte more or less.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+fifty hours is one conservative estimate for how long it we take
+to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.  This
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If our value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour this year as we release thirty-two text
+files per month:  or 400 more Etexts in 1996 for a total of 800.
+If these reach just 10% of the computerized population, then the
+total should reach 80 billion Etexts.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext
+Files by the December 31, 2001.  [10,000 x 100,000,000=Trillion]
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only 10% of the present number of computer users.  2001
+should have at least twice as many computer users as that, so it
+will require us reaching less than 5% of the users in 2001.
+
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+
+All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/BU":  and are
+tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. (BU = Benedictine
+University).  (Subscriptions to our paper newsletter go to BU.)
+
+For these and other matters, please mail to:
+
+Project Gutenberg
+P. O. Box  2782
+Champaign, IL 61825
+
+When all other email fails try our Executive Director:
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+We would prefer to send you this information by email
+(Internet, Bitnet, Compuserve, ATTMAIL or MCImail).
+
+******
+If you have an FTP program (or emulator), please
+FTP directly to the Project Gutenberg archives:
+[Mac users, do NOT point and click. . .type]
+
+ftp uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu
+login:  anonymous
+password:  your@login
+cd etext/etext90 through /etext96
+or cd etext/articles [get suggest gut for more information]
+dir [to see files]
+get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files]
+GET INDEX?00.GUT
+for a list of books
+and
+GET NEW GUT for general information
+and
+MGET GUT* for newsletters.
+
+**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor**
+(Three Pages)
+
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here?  You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault.  So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you.  It also tells you how
+you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement.  If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from.  If you received this etext on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-
+tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor
+Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at
+Benedictine University (the "Project").  Among other
+things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext
+under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works.  Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects".  Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this
+etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from.  If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy.  If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS".  NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors,
+officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost
+and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or
+indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause:
+[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification,
+or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     etext or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word pro-
+     cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The etext may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the etext (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the
+     net profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Benedictine
+     University" within the 60 days following each
+     date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare)
+     your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time,
+scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty
+free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution
+you can think of.  Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg
+Association / Benedictine University".
+
+*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*
+
+
+
+
+
+This etext was created by Dianne Bean, Chino Valley, Arizona.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MASTERY OF THE AIR
+
+by WILLIAM J. CLAXTON
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+This book makes no pretence of going minutely into the technical
+and scientific sides of human flight:  rather does it deal mainly
+with the real achievements of pioneers who have helped to make
+aviation what it is to-day.
+
+My chief object has been to arouse among my readers an
+intelligent interest in the art of flight, and, profiting by
+friendly criticism of several of my former works, I imagine that
+this is best obtained by setting forth the romance of triumph in
+the realms of an element which has defied man for untold
+centuries, rather than to give a mass of scientific principles
+which appeal to no one but the expert.
+
+So rapid is the present development of aviation that it is
+difficult to keep abreast with the times.  What is new to-day
+becomes old to-morrow.  The Great War has given a tremendous
+impetus to the strife between the warring nations for the mastery
+of the air, and one can but give a rough and general impression
+of the achievements of naval and military airmen on the various
+fronts.
+
+Finally, I have tried to bring home the fact that the fascinating
+progress of aviation should not be confined entirely to the
+airman and constructor of air-craft; in short, this progress is
+not a retord of events in which the mass of the nation have
+little personal concern, but of a movement in which each one of
+us may take an active and intelligent part.
+
+I have to thank various aviation firms, airmen, and others who
+have kindly come to my assistance, either with the help of
+valuable information or by the loan of photographs.  In
+particular, my thanks are due to the Royal Flying Corps and Royal
+Naval Air Service for permission to reproduce illustrations
+from their two publications on the work and training of their
+respective corps; to the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain;
+to Messrs.  C. G. Spencer & Sons, Highbury; The Sopwith Aviation
+Company, Ltd.; Messrs. A. V. Roe & Co., Ltd.; The Gnome Engine
+Company; The Green Engine Company; Mr. A. G. Gross (Geographia,
+Ltd.); and M. Bleriot; for an exposition of the
+internal-combustion engine I have drawn on Mr. Horne's The Age of
+Machinery.
+
+
+
+PART I.  BALLOONS AND AIR-SHIPS
+
+I.      MAN'S DUEL WITH NATURE
+II.     THE FRENCH PAPER-MAKER WHO INVENTED THE BALLOON
+III.    THE FIRST MAN TO ASCEND IN A BALLOON
+IV.     THE FIRST BALLOON ASCENT IN ENGLAND
+V.      THE FATHER OF BRITISH AERONAUTS
+VI.     THE PARACHUTE
+VII.    SOME BRITISH INVENTORS OF AIR-SHIPS
+VIII.   THE FIRST ATTEMPTS TO STEER A BALLOON
+IX.     THE STRANGE CAREER OF COUNT ZEPPELIN
+X.      A ZEPPELIN AIR-SHIP AND ITS CONSTRUCTION
+XI.     THE SEMI-RIGID AIR-SHIP
+XII.    A NON-RIGID BALLOON
+XIII.   THE ZEPPELIN AND GOTHA RAIDS
+
+PART II.  AEROPLANES AND AIRMEN
+
+XIV.    EARLY ATTEMPTS IN AVIATION
+XV.     A PIONEER IN AVIATION
+XVI.    THE "HUMAN BIRDS"
+XVII.   THE AEROPLANE AND THE BIRD
+XVIII.  A GREAT BRITISH INVENTOR OF AEROPLANES
+XIX.    THE WRIGHT BROTHERS AND THEIR SECRET EXPERIMENTS
+XX.     THE INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE
+XXI.    THE INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE (Con't.)
+XXII.   THE AEROPLANE ENGINE
+XXIII.  A FAMOUS BRITISH INVENTOR OF AVIATION ENGINES
+XXIV.   THE WRIGHT BIPLANE (CAMBER OF PLANES)
+XXV.    THE WRIGHT BIPLANE (Cont.)
+XXVI.   HOW THE WRIGHTS LAUNCHED THEIR BIPLANE
+XXVII.  THE FIRST MAN TO FLY IN EUROPE
+XXVIII. M. BLARIOT AND THE MONOPLANE
+XXIX.   HENRI FARMAN AND THE VOISIN BIPLANE
+XXX.    A FAMOUS BRITISH INVENTOR
+XXXI.   THE ROMANCE OF A COWBOY AERONAUT
+XXXII.  THREE HISTORIC FLIGHTS
+XXXIII. THREE HISTORIC FLIGHTS (Cont.
+XXXIV.  THE HYDROPLANE AND AIR-BOAT
+XXXV.   A FAMOUS BRITISH INVENTOR OF THE WATER-PLANE
+XXXVI.  SEA-PLANES FOR WARFARE
+XXXVII. THE FIRST MAN TO FLY IN BRITAIN
+XXXVIII.THE R.F.C. AND R.N.A.S.
+XXXIX.  AEROPLANES IN THE GREAT WAR
+XL.     THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE BAROMETER
+XLI.    HOW AN AIRMAN KNOWS WHAT HEIGHT HE REACHES
+XLII.   HOW AN AIRMAN FINDS HIS WAY
+XLIII.  THE FIRST AIRMAN TO FLY UPSIDE DOWN
+XLIV.   THE FIRST ENGLISHMAN TO FLY UPSIDE DOWN
+XLV.    ACCIDENTS AND THEIR CAUSE
+XLVI.   ACCIDENTS AND THEIR CAUSE (Cont.)
+XLVII.  ACCIDENTS AND THEIR CAUSE (COnt.)
+XLVIII. SOME TECHNICAL TERMS USED By AVIATORS
+XLIX.   THE FUTURE IN THE AIR
+
+
+
+THE MASTERY OF THE AIR
+
+PART I-BALLOONS AND AIR-SHIPS
+
+CHAPTER I
+Man's Duel with Nature
+
+Of all man's great achievements none is, perhaps, more full of
+human interest than are those concerned with flight.  We regard
+ourselves as remarkable beings, and our wonderful discoveries in
+science and invention induce us to believe we are far and away
+the cleverest of all the living creatures in the great scheme of
+Creation.  And yet in the matter of flight the birds beat us;
+what has taken us years of education, and vast efforts of
+intelligence, foresight, and daring to accomplish, is known by
+the tiny fledglings almost as soon as they come into the world.
+
+It is easy to see why the story of aviation is of such romantic
+interest.  Man has been exercising his ingenuity, and
+deliberately pursuing a certain train of thought, in an attempt
+to harness the forces of Nature and compel them to act in what
+seems to be the exact converse of Nature's own arrangements.
+
+One of the mysteries of Nature is known as the FORCE OF GRAVITY. 
+It is not our purpose in this book to go deeply into a study of
+gravitation; we may content ourselves with the statement, first
+proved by Sir Isaac Newton, that there is an invisible force
+which the Earth exerts on all bodies, by which it attracts or
+draws them towards itself.  This property does not belong to the
+Earth alone, but to all matter--all matter attracts all other
+matter.  In discussing the problems of aviation we are concerned
+mainly with the mutual attraction of The Earth and the bodies on
+or near its surface; this is usually called TERRESTRIAL gravity.
+
+It has been found that every body attracts very other body with a
+force directly proportionate to its mass.  Thus we see that, if
+every particle in a mass exerts its attractive influence, the
+more particles a body contains the greater will be the
+attraction.  If a mass of iron be dropped to the ground from the
+roof of a building at the same time as a cork of similar size,
+the iron and the cork would, but for the retarding effect of the
+air, fall to the ground together, but the iron would strike the
+ground with much greater force than the cork.  Briefly stated, a
+body which contains twice as much matter as another is attracted
+or drawn towards the centre of the Earth with twice the force of
+that other; if the mass be five times as great, then it will be
+attracted with five times the force, and so on.
+
+It is thus evident that the Earth must exert an overwhelming
+attractive force on all bodies on or near its surface.  Now, when
+man rises from the ground in an aeroplane he is counter-acting
+this force by other forces.
+
+A short time ago the writer saw a picture which illustrated in a
+very striking manner man's struggle with Nature.  Nature was
+represented as a giant of immense stature and strength, standing
+on a globe with outstretched arms, and in his hands were shackles
+of great size.  Rising gracefully from the earth, immediately in
+front of the giant, was an airman seated in a modern
+flying-machine, and on his face was a happy-go-lucky look as
+though he were delighting in the duel between him and the giant. 
+The artist had drawn the picture so skilfully that one could
+imagine the huge, knotted fingers grasping the shackles were
+itching to bring the airman within their clutch.  The picture was
+entitled "MAN TRIUMPHANT"
+
+No doubt many of those who saw that picture were reminded of the
+great sacrifices made by man in the past.  In the wake of
+the aviator there are many memorial stones of mournful
+significance.
+
+It says much for the pluck and perseverance of aviators that they
+have been willing to run the great risks which ever accompany
+their efforts.  Four years of the Great War have shown how
+splendidly airmen have risen to the great demands made upon them. 
+In dispatch after dispatch from the front, tribute has been paid
+to the gallant and devoted work of the Royal Flying Corps and the
+Royal Naval Air Service.  In a long and bitter struggle British
+airmen have gradually asserted their supremacy in the air.  In
+all parts of the globe, in Egypt, in Mesopotamia, in Palestine,
+in Africa, the airman has been an indispensable adjunct of the
+fighting forces.  Truly it may be said that mastery of the air is
+the indispensable factor of final victory.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+The French Paper-maker who Invented the Balloon
+
+In the year 1782 two young Frenchmen might have been seen one
+winter night sitting over their cottage fire, performing the
+curious experiment of filling paper bags with smoke, and letting
+them rise up towards the ceiling.  These young men were brothers,
+named Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, and their experiments
+resulted in the invention of the balloon.
+
+The brothers, like all inventors, seem to have had enquiring
+minds.  They were for ever asking the why and the wherefore of
+things.  "Why does smoke rise?" they asked.  "Is there not some
+strange power in the atmosphere which makes the smoke from
+chimneys and elsewhere rise in opposition to the force of
+gravity?  If so, cannot we discover this power, and apply it to
+the service of mankind?"
+
+We may imagine that such questions were in the minds of those two
+French paper-makers, just as similar questions were in the mind
+of James Watt when he was discovering the power of steam.  But
+one of the most important attributes of an inventor is an
+infinite capacity for taking pains, together with great patience.
+
+And so we find the two brothers employing their leisure in what
+to us would, be a childish pastime, the making of paper balloons. 
+The story tells us that their room was filled with smoke, which
+issued from the windows as though the house were on fire.  A
+neighbour, thinking such was the case, rushed in, but, on being
+assured that nothing serious was wrong, stayed to watch the tiny
+balloons rise a little way from the thin tray which contained the
+fire that made the smoke with which the bags were filled.  The
+experiments were not altogether successful, however, for the bags
+rarely rose more than a foot or so from the tray.  The neighbour
+suggested that they should fasten the thin tray on to the bottom
+of the bag, for it was thought that the bags would not ascend
+higher because the smoke became cool; and if the smoke were
+imprisoned within the bag much better results would be obtained. 
+This was done, and, to the great joy of the brothers and their
+visitor, the bag at once rose quickly to the ceiling.
+
+But though they could make the bags rise their great trouble was
+that they did not know the cause of this ascent.  They thought,
+however, that they were on the eve of some great discovery, and,
+as events proved, they were not far wrong.   For a time they
+imagined that the fire they had used generated some special gas,
+and if they could find out the nature of this gas, and the means
+of making it in large quantities, they would be able to add to
+their success.
+
+Of course, in the light of modern knowledge, it seems strange
+that the brothers did not know that the reason the bags rose, was
+not because of any special gas being used, but owing to the
+expansion of air under the influence of heat, whereby hot air
+tends to rise.  Every schoolboy above the age of twelve knows
+that hot air rises upwards in the atmosphere, and that it
+continues to rise until its temperature has become the same as
+that of the surrounding air.
+
+The next experiment was to try their bags in the open air. 
+Choosing a calm, fine day, they made a fire similar to that used
+in their first experiments, and succeeded in making the bag rise
+nearly 100 feet. Later on, a much larger craft was built, which
+was equally successful.
+
+And now we must leave the experiments of the Montgolfiers for a
+moment, and turn to the discovery of hydrogen gas by Henry
+Cavendish, a well-known London chemist.  In 1766 Cavendish proved
+conclusively that hydrogen gas was not more than one-seventh the
+weight of ordinary air.  It at once occurred to Dr. Black, of
+Glasgow, that if a thin bag could be filled with this light gas
+it would rise in the air; but for various reasons his experiments
+did not yield results of a practical nature for several years.
+
+Some time afterwards, about a year before the Montgolfiers
+commenced their experiments which we have already described,
+Tiberius Cavallo, an Italian chemist, succeeded in making, with
+hydrogen gas, soap-bubbles which rose in the air.  Previous to
+this he had experimented with bladders and paper bags; but the
+bladders he found too heavy, and the paper too porous.
+
+It must not be thought that the Montgolfiers experimented solely
+with hot air in the inflation of their balloons.  At one time
+they used steam, and, later on, the newly-discovered hydrogen
+gas; but with both these agents they were unsuccessful.  It can
+easily be seen why steam was of no use, when we consider that
+paper was employed; hydrogen, too, owed its lack of success to
+the same cause for the porosity of the paper allowed the gas
+to escape quickly.
+
+It is said that the name "balloon" was given to these paper craft
+because they resembled in shape a large spherical vessel used
+in chemistry, which was known by that name.  To the brothers
+Montgolfier belongs the honour of having given the name to this
+type of aircraft, which, in the two succeeding centuries, became
+so popular.
+
+After numerous experiments the public were invited to witness the
+inflation of a particularly huge balloon, over 30 feet in
+diameter.  This was accomplished over a fire made of wool and
+straw.  The ascent was successful, and the balloon, after rising
+to a height of some 7000 feet, fell to earth about two miles
+away.
+
+It may be imagined that this experiment aroused enormous interest
+in Paris, whence the news rapidly spread over all France and to
+Britain.   A Parisian scientific society invited Stephen
+Montgolfier to Paris in order that the citizens of the metropolis
+should have their imaginations excited by seeing the hero of
+these remarkable experiments.  Montgolfier was not a rich man,
+and to enable him to continue his experiments the society granted
+him a considerable sum of money.  He was then enabled to
+construct a very fine balloon,  elaborately decorated and
+painted, which ascended at Versailles in the presence of the
+Court.
+
+To add to the value of this experiment three animals were sent up
+in a basket attached to the balloon.  These were a sheep, a cock,
+and a duck.  All sorts of guesses were made as to what would be
+the fate of the "poor creatures".  Some people imagined that
+there was little or no air in those higher regions and that the
+animals would choke; others said they would be frozen to death. 
+But when the balloon descended the cock was seen to be strutting
+about in his usual dignified way, the sheep was chewing the cud,
+and the duck was quacking for water and worms.
+
+At this point we will leave the work of the brothers Montgolfier. 
+They had succeeded in firing the imagination of nearly every
+Frenchman, from King Louis down to his humblest subject. 
+Strange, was it not, though scores of millions of people had seen
+smoke rise, and clouds float, for untold centuries, yet no one,
+until the close of the eighteenth century, thought of making a
+balloon?
+
+The learned Franciscan friar, Roger Bacon, who lived in the
+thirteenth century, seems to have thought of the possibility of
+producing a contrivance that would float in air.  His idea was
+that the earth's atmosphere was a "true fluid", and that it had
+an upper surface as the ocean has.  He quite believed that on
+this upper surface--subject, in his belief, to waves similar to
+those of the sea--an air-ship might float if it once succeeded in
+rising to the required height.  But the difficulty was to reach
+the surface of this aerial sea.  To do this he proposed to make a
+large hollow globe of metal, wrought as thin as the skill of man
+could make it, so that it might be as light as possible, and this
+vast globe was to be filled with "liquid fire".  Just what
+"liquid fire" was, one cannot attempt to explain, and it is
+doubtful if Bacon himself had any clear idea.  But he doubtless
+thought of some gaseous substance lighter than air, and so he
+would seem to have, at least, hit upon the principle underlying
+the construction of the modern balloon.  Roger Bacon had ideas
+far in advance of his time, and his experiments made such an
+impression of wonder on the popular mind that they were believed
+to be wrought by black magic, and the worthy monk was classed
+among those who were supposed to be in league with Satan.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+The First Man to Ascend in a Balloon
+
+The safe descent of the three animals, which has already been
+related, showed the way for man to venture up in a balloon.  In
+our time we marvel at the daring of modern airmen, who ascend to
+giddy heights, and, as it were, engage in mortal combat with the
+demons of the air.  But, courageous though these deeds are, they
+are not more so than those of the pioneers of ballooning.
+
+In the eighteenth century nothing was known definitely of the
+conditions of the upper regions of the air, where, indeed, no
+human being had ever been; and though the frail Montgolfier
+balloons had ascended and descended with no outward happenings,
+yet none could tell what might be the risk to life in committing
+oneself to an ascent.  There was, too, very special danger in
+making an ascent in a hot-air balloon.  Underneath the huge
+envelope was suspended a brazier, so that the fabric of the
+balloon was in great danger of catching fire.
+
+It was at first suggested that two French criminals under
+sentence of death should be sent up, and, if they made a safe
+descent, then the way would be open for other aeronauts to
+venture aloft.  But everyone interested in aeronautics in those
+days saw that the man who first traversed the unexplored regions
+of the air would be held in high honour, and it seemed hardly
+right that this honour should fall to criminals.  At any rate
+this was the view of M. Pilatre de Rozier, a French gentleman,
+and he determined himself to make the pioneer ascent.
+
+De Rozier had no false notion of the risks he was prepared to
+run, and he superintended with the greatest care the construction
+of his balloon.  It was of enormous size, with a cage slung
+underneath the brazier for heating the air.  Befors making his
+free ascent De Rozier made a trial ascent with the balloon held
+captive by a long rope.
+
+At length, in November, 1783, accompanied by the Marquis
+d'Arlandes as a passenger, he determined to venture.  The
+experiment aroused immense excitement all over France, and a
+large concourse of people were gathered together on the outskirts
+of Paris to witness the risky feat.  The balloon made a perfect
+ascent, and quickly reached a height of about half a mile above
+sea-level.  A strong current of air in the upper regions caused
+the balloon to take an opposite direction from that intended, and
+the aeronauts drifted right over Paris.  It would have gone hard
+with them if they had been forced to descend in the city, but the
+craft was driven by the wind to some distance beyond the suburbs
+and they alighted quite safely about six miles from their
+starting-point, after having been up in the air for about half an
+hour.
+
+Their voyage, however, had by no means been free from anxiety. 
+We are told that the fabric of the balloon repeatedly caught
+fire, which it took the aeronauts all their time to extinguish. 
+At times, too, they came down perilously near to the Seine, or to
+the housetops of Paris, but after the most exciting half-hour of
+their lives they found themselves once more on Mother Earth.
+
+Here we must make a slight digression and speak of the invention
+of the hydrogen, or gas, balloon.  In a previous chapter we read
+of the discovery of hydrogen gas by Henry Cavendish, and the
+subsequent experiments with this gas by Dr. Black, of Glasgow. 
+It was soon decided to try to inflate a balloon with this
+"inflammable air"--as the newly-discovered gas was called--and
+with this end in view a large public subscription was raised in
+France to meet the heavy expenses entailed in the venture.  The
+work was entrusted to a French scientist, Professor Charles, and
+two brothers named Robert.
+
+It was quickly seen that paper, such as was used by the
+Montgolfiers, was of little use in the construction of a gas
+balloon, for the gas escaped.  Accordingly the fabric was made of
+silk and varnished with a solution of india-rubber and
+turpentine.  The first hydrogen balloon was only about 13 feet in
+diameter, for in those early days the method of preparing
+hydrogen was very laborious and costly, and the constructors
+thought it advisable not to spend too much money over the initial
+experiments, in case they should be a failure.
+
+In August, 1783--an eventful year in the history of aeronautics--
+the first gas-inflated balloon was sent up, of course
+unaccompanied by a passenger.  It shot up high in the air much
+more rapidly than Montgolfier's hot-air balloon had done, and was
+soon beyond the clouds.  After a voyage of nearly an hour's
+duration it descended in a field some 15 miles away.  We are told
+that some peasants at work near by fled in the greatest alarm at
+this strange monster which settled in their midst.  An old print
+shows them cautiously approaching the balloon as it lay heaving
+on the ground, stabbing it with pitchforks, and beating it with
+flails and sticks.  The story goes that one of the alarmed
+farmers poured a charge of shot into it with his gun, no doubt
+thinking that he had effectually silenced the panting demon
+contained therein.  To prevent such unseemly occurrences in the
+future the French Government found it necessary to warn the
+people by proclamation that balloons were perfectly harmless
+objects, and that the experiments would be repeated.
+
+We now have two aerial craft competing for popular favour: the
+Montgolfier hot-air balloon and the "Charlier" or gas-inflated
+balloon.   About four months after the first trial trip of the
+latter the inventors decided to ascend in a specially-constructed
+hydrogen-inflated craft.    This balloon, which was 27 feet in
+diameter, contained nearly all the features of the modern
+balloon. Thus there was a valve at the top by means of which the
+gas could be let out as desired; a cord net covered the whole
+fabric, and from the loop which it formed below the neck of the
+balloon a car was suspended; and in the car there was a quantity
+of ballast which could be cast overboard when necessary.
+
+It may be imagined that this new method of aerial navigation had
+thoroughly aroused the excitability of the French nation, so that
+thousands of people were met together just outside Paris on the
+17th December to see Professor Charles and his mechanic,
+Robelt, ascend in their new craft.  The ascent was successful in
+every way; the intrepid aeronauts, who carried a barometer, found
+that they had quickly reached an altitude of over a mile.
+
+After remaining aloft for nearly two hours they came down. 
+Professor Charles decided to ascend again, this time by himself,
+and with a much lighter load the balloon rose about two miles
+above sea-level.  The temperature at this height became very low,
+and M. Charles was affected by violent pain in his right ear and
+jaw.  During the voyage he witnessed the strange phenomenon of a
+double sunset; for, before the ascent, the sun had set behind the
+hills overshadowing the valleys, and when he rose above the
+hill-tops he saw the sun again, and presently saw it set again.
+There is no doubt that the balloon would have risen several
+thousand feet higher, but the professor thought it would burst,
+and he opened the valve, eventually making a safe descent about 7
+miles from his starting-place.
+
+England lagged behind her French neighbour's in balloon
+aeronautics--much as she has recently done in aviation--for a
+considerable time, and,it was not till August of the following
+year (1784) that the first balloon ascent was made in Great
+Britain, by Mr. J. M. Tytler.  This took place at Edinburgh in
+a fire balloon.  Previous to this an Italian, named Lunardi, had
+in November, 1783, dispatched from the Artillery Ground, in
+London, a small balloon made of oil-silk, 10 feet in diameter and
+weighing 11 pounds.  This small craft was sent aloft at one
+o'clock, and came down, about two and a half hours later, in
+Sussex, about 48 miles from its starting-place.
+
+In 1784 the largest balloon on record was sent up from Lyons. 
+This immense craft was more than 100 feet in diameter, and stood
+about 130 feet high.  It was inflated with hot air over a straw
+fire, and seven passengers were carried, including Joseph
+Montgolfier and Pilatre de Rozier.
+
+But to return to de Rozier, whom we left earlier in the chapter,
+after his memorable ascent near Paris.  This daring Frenchman
+decided to cross the Channel, and to prevent the gas cooling, and
+the balloon falling into the sea, he hit on the idea of
+suspending a small fire balloon under the neck of another balloon
+inflated with hydrogen gas.  In the light of our modern knowledge
+of the highly-inflammable nature of hydrogen, we  wonder how
+anyone could have attempted such an adventure; but there had been
+little experience of this newly-discovered gas in those days.  We
+are not surprised to read that, when high in the air, there was
+an awful explosion and the brave aeronaut fell to the earth and
+was dashed to death.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+The First Balloon Ascent in England
+
+It has been said that the honour of making the first ascent in a
+balloon from British soil must be awarded to Mr. Tytler.  This
+took place in Scotland.  In this chapter we will relate the
+almost romantic story of the first ascent made in England.
+
+This was carried out successfully by Lunardi, the Italian of whom
+we have previously spoken.  This young foreigner, who was engaged
+as a private secretary in London, had his interest keenly aroused
+by the accounts of the experiments being carried out in balloons
+in France, and he decided to attempt similar experiments in this
+country.
+
+But great difficulties stood in his way.  Like many other
+inventors and would-be airmen, he suffered from lack of funds to
+build his craft, and though people whom he approached for
+financial aid were sympathetic, many of them were unwilling to
+subscribe to his venture.  At length, however, by indomitable
+perseverance, he collected enough money to defray the cost of
+building his balloon, and it was arranged that he should ascend
+from the Artillery Ground, London, in September, 1784.
+
+His craft was a "Charlier"--that is, it was modelled after the
+hydrogen-inflated balloon built by Professor Charles--and it
+resembled in shape an enormous pear.  A wide hoop encircled the
+neck of the envelope, and from this hoop the car was suspended by
+stout cordage.
+
+It is said that on the day announced for the ascent a crowd of
+nearly 200,000 had assembled, and that the Prince of Wales was an
+interested spectator.  Farmers and labourers and, indeed, all
+classes of people from the prince down to he humblest subject,
+were represented, and seldom had London's citizens been more
+deeply excited.
+
+Many of them, however, were incredulous, especially when an
+insufficiency of gas caused a long delay before the balloon could
+be liberated.  Fate seemed to be thwarting the plucky Italian at
+every step.  Even at the last minute, when all arrangements had
+been perfected as far as was humanly possible, and the crowd was
+agog with excitement, it appeared probable that he would have to
+postpone the ascent.
+
+It was originally intended that Lunardi should be accompanied by
+a passenger; but as there was a shortage of gas the balloon's
+lifting power was considerably lessened, and he had to take the
+trip with a dog and cat for companions.  A perfect ascent was
+made, and in a few moments the huge balloon was sailing
+gracefully in a northerly direction over innumerable housetops.
+
+This trip was memorable in another way.  It was probably the only
+aerial cruise where a Royal Council was put off in order to
+witness the flight.  It is recorded that George the Third was in
+conference with the Cabinet, and when news arrived in the Council
+Chamber that Lunardi was aloft, the king remarked:  Gentlemen, we
+may resume our deliberations at pleasure, but we may never see
+poor Lunardi again!"
+
+The journey was uneventful; there was a moderate northerly
+breeze, and the aeronaut attained a considerable altitude, so
+that he and his animals were in danger of frost-bite.  Indeed,
+one of the animals suffered so severely from the effects of the
+cold that Lunardi skilfully descended low enough to drop it
+safely to earth, and then, throwing out ballast, once more
+ascended.  He eventually came to earth near a Hertfordshire
+village about 30 miles to the north of London.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+The Father of British Aeronauts
+
+No account of the early history of English aeronautics could
+possibly be complete unless it included a description of the
+Nassau balloon, which was inflated by coal-gas, from the
+suggestion of Mr. Charles Green, who was one of Britain's most
+famous aeronauts.  Because of his institution of the modern
+method of using coal-gas in a balloon, Mr. Green is generally
+spoken of as the Father of British Aeronautics.  During the close
+of the eighteenth and the opening years of the nineteenth century
+there had been numerous ascents in Charlier balloons, both in
+Britain and on the Continent.  It had already been discovered
+that hydrogen gas was highly dangerous and also expensive, and
+Mr. Green proposed to try the experiment of inflating a balloon
+with ordinary coal-gas, which had now become fairly common in
+most large towns, and was much less costly than hydrogen.
+
+Critics of the new scheme assured the promoters that coal-gas
+would be of little use for a balloon, averring that it had
+comparatively little lifting power, and aeronauts could never
+expect to rise to any great altitude in such a balloon.  But
+Green firmly believed that his theory was practical, and he put
+it to the test.  The initial experiments quite convinced him that
+he was right.  Under his superintendence a fine balloon about 80
+feet high, built of silk, was made in South London, and the car
+was constructed to hold from fifteen to twenty passengers.  When
+the craft was completed it was proposed to send it to Paris for
+exhibition purposes, and the inventor, with two friends, Messrs.
+Holland and Mason, decided to take it over the Channel by air. 
+It is said that provisions were taken in sufficient quantities to
+last a fortnight, and over a ton of ballast was shipped.
+
+The journey commenced in November, 1836, late in the afternoon,
+as the aeronauts had planned to cross the sea by night.  A fairly
+strong north-west wind quickly bore them to the coast, and in
+less than an hour they found themselves over the lights of
+Calais.  On and on they went, now and then entirely lost to Earth
+through being enveloped in dense fog; hour after hour went by,
+until at length dawn revealed a densely-wooded tract of country
+with which they were entirely unfamiliar.  They decided to land,
+and they were greatly surprised to find that they had reached
+Weilburg, in Nassau, Germany.  The whole journey of 500 miles had
+been made in eighteen hours.
+
+Probably no British aeronaut has made more daring and exciting
+ascents than Mr. Green--unless it be a member of the famous
+Spencer family, of whom we speak in another chapter.  It is said
+that Mr. Green went aloft over a thousand times, and in later
+years he was accompanied by various passengers who were making
+ascents for scientific purposes.  His skill was so great that
+though he had numerous hairbreadth escapes he seldom suffered
+much bodily harm.  He lived to the ripe old age of eighty-five.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+The Parachute
+
+No doubt many of those who read this book have seen an aeronaut
+descend from a balloon by the aid of a parachute.  For many years
+this performance has been one of the most attractive items on the
+programmes of fetes, galas, and various other outdoor
+exhibitions.
+
+The word "parachute" has been almost bodily taken from the French
+language.  It is derived from the French parer to parry, and
+chute a fall.  In appearance a parachute is very similar to an
+enormous umbrella.
+
+M. Blanchard, one of the pioneers of ballooning, has the honour
+of first using a parachute, although not in person.  The first
+"aeronaut"  to descend by this apparatus was a dog.  The
+astonished animal was placed in a basket attached to a parachute,
+taken up in a balloon, and after reaching a considerable altitude
+was released.  Happily for the dog the parachute acted quite
+admirably, and the animal had a graceful and gentle descent.
+
+Shortly afterwards a well-known French aeronaut, M. Garnerin, had
+an equally satisfactory descent, and soon the parachute was used
+by most of the prominent aeronauts of the day.  Mr. Cocking, a
+well-known balloonist, held somewhat different views from those
+of other inventors as to the best form of construction of
+parachutes.  His idea was that a parachute should be very large
+and rather heavy in order to be able to support a great weight. 
+His first descent from a great height was also his last.  In
+1837, accompanied by Messrs. Spencer and Green, he went up with
+his parachute, attached to the Nassau balloon.  At a height of
+about a mile the parachute was liberated, but it failed to act
+properly; the inventor was cast headlong to earth, and dashed to
+death.
+
+From time to time it has been thought that the parachute might be
+used for life-saving on the modern dirigible air-ship, and even
+on the aeroplane, and experiments have been carried out with that
+end in view.  A most thrilling descent from an air-ship by means
+of a parachute was that made by Major Maitland, Commander of the
+British Airship Squadron, which forms part of the Royal Flying
+Corps.  The descent took place from the Delta air-ship, which
+ascended from Farnborough Common.  In the car with Major Maitland
+were the pilot, Captain Waterlow, and a passenger.  The parachute
+was suspended from the rigging of the Delta, and when a height of
+about 2000 feet had been reached it was dropped over to the side
+of the car.  With the dirigible travelling at about 20 miles an
+hour the major climbed over the car and seated himself in the
+parachute.  Then it became detached from the Delta and shot
+downwards for about 200 feet at a terrific rate.  For a moment
+or two it was thought that the opening apparatus had failed to
+work; but gradually the "umbrella" opened, and the gallant major
+had a gentle descent for the rest of the distance.
+
+This experiment was really made in order to prove the stability
+of an air-ship after a comparatively great weight was suddenly
+removed from it.   Lord Edward Grosvenor, who is attached to the
+Royal Flying Corps, was one of the eyewitnesses of the descent. 
+In speaking of it he said: "We all think highly of Major
+Maitland's performance, which has shown how the difficulty of
+lightening an air-ship after a long flight can be surmounted.
+During a voyage of several hours a dirigible naturally loses gas,
+and without some means of relieving her of weight she might have
+to descend in a hostile country.  Major Maitland has proved the
+practicability of members of an air-ship's crew dropping to the
+ground if the necessity arises."
+
+A descent in a parachute has also been made from an aeroplane by
+M. Pegoud, the daring French airman, of whom we speak later.  A
+certain Frenchman, M. Bonnet, had constructed a parachute which
+was intended to be used by the pilot of an aeroplane if on any
+occasion he got into difficulties.  It had been tried in many
+ways, but, unfortunately for the inventor, he could get no pilot
+to trust himself to it.  Tempting offers were made to pilots of
+world-wide fame, but either the risk was thought to be too great,
+or it was believed that no practical good would come of the
+experiment.  At last the inventor approached M. Pegoud, who
+undertook to make the descent.  This was accomplished from a
+great height with perfect safety. It seems highly probable that
+in the near future the parachute will form part of the equipment
+of every aeroplane and air-ship.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+Some British Inventors of Air-ships
+
+The first Englishman to invent an air-ship was Mr. Stanley
+Spencer, head of the well-known firm of Spencer Brothers, whose
+worksare at Highbury, North London.
+
+This firm has long held an honourable place in aeronautics, both
+in the construction of air-craft and in aerial navigation. 
+Spencer Brothers claim to be the premier balloon manufacturers in
+the world, and, at the time of writing, eighteen balloons and two
+dirigibles lie in the works ready for use.   In these works there
+may also be seen the frame of the famous Santos-Dumont air-ship,
+referred to later in this book.
+
+In general appearance the first Spencer air-ship was very similar
+to the airship flown by Santos-Dumont; that is, there was the
+cigar-shaped balloon, the small engine, and the screw propellor
+for driving the craft forward.
+
+But there was one very important distinction between the two
+air-ships.  By a most ingenious contrivance the envelope was made
+so that, in the event of a large and serious escape of gas, the
+balloon would assume the form of a giant umbrella, and fall to
+earth after the manner of a parachute.
+
+All inventors profit, or should profit, by the experience of
+others, whether such experience be gained by success or failure. 
+It was found that Santos-Dumont's air-ship lost a considerable
+amount of gas when driven through the air, and on several
+occasions the whole craft was in great danger of collapse.  To
+keep the envelope inflated as tightly as possible Mr. Spencer, by
+a clever contrivance, made it possible to force air into the
+balloon to replace the escaped gas.
+
+The first Spencer air-ship was built for experimental purposes. 
+It was able to lift only one person of light weight, and was thus
+a great contrast to the modern dirigible which carries a crew of
+thirty or forty people.  Mr. Spencer made several exhibition
+flights in his little craft at the Crystal Palace, and so
+successful were they that he determined to construct a much
+larger craft.
+
+The second Spencer air-ship, first launched in 1903, was nearly
+100 feet long.  There was one very important distinction between
+this and other air-ships built at that time: the propeller was
+placed in front of the craft, instead of at the rear, as is the
+case in most air-ships.  Thus the craft was pulled through the
+air much after the manner of an aeroplane.
+
+In the autumn of 1903 great enthusiasm was aroused in London by
+the announcement that Mr. Spencer proposed to fly from the
+Crystal Palace round the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral and back to
+his starting-place.  This was a much longer journey than that
+made by Santos-Dumont when he won the Deutsch prize.
+
+Tens of thousands of London's citizens turned out to witness the
+novel sight of a giant air-ship hovering over the heart of their
+city, and it was at once seen what enormous possibilities there
+were in the employment of such craft in time of war.  The writer
+remembers well moving among the dense crowds and hearing
+everywhere such remarks as these:
+
+"What would happen if a few bombs were thrown over the side of
+the air-ship?"  "Will there be air-fleets in future, manned by
+the soldiers or sailors?"  Indeed the uppermost thought in
+people's minds was not so much the possibility of Mr. Spencer
+being able to complete his journey successfully--nearly everyone
+recognized that air-ship construction had now advanced so far
+that it was only a matter of time for an ideal craft to be
+built--but that the coming of the air-ship was an affair of grave
+international importance.
+
+The great craft, glistening in the sunlight, sailed majestically
+from the south, but when it reached the Cathedral it refused to
+turn round and face the wind.  Try how he might, Mr. Spencer
+could not make any progress.  It was a thrilling sight to witness
+this battle with the elements, right over the heart of the
+largest city in the world.  At times the air-ship seemed to be
+standing quite still, head to wind.  Unfortunately, half a gale
+had sprung up, and the 24-horse-power engine was quite incapable
+of conquering so stiff a breeze, and making its way home again. 
+After several gallant attempts to circle round the dome, Mr.
+Spencer gave up in despair, and let the monster air-ship drift
+with the wind over the northern suburbs of the city until a
+favourable landing-place near Barnet was reached, where he
+descended.
+
+The Spencer air-ships are of the non-rigid type. Spencer air-ship
+A comprises a gas vessel for hydrogen 88 feet long and 24 feet
+in diameter, with a capacity of 26,000 cubic feet.  The framework
+is of polished ash wood, made in sections so that it can easily
+be taken to pieces and transported, and the length over all
+is 56 feet.  Two propellers 7 feet 6 inches diameter, made of
+satin-wood, are employed to drive the craft, which is equipped
+with a Green engine of from 35 to 40 horse-power.
+
+Spencer's air-ship B is a much larger vessel, being 150 feet long
+and 35 feet in diameter, with a capacity for hydrogen of 100,000
+cubic feet.  The framework is of steel and aluminium, made in
+sections, with cars for ten persons, including aeronauts,
+mechanics, and passengers.  It is driven with two petrol aerial
+engines of from 50 to 60 horse-power.
+
+About the time that Mr. Spencer was experimenting with his large
+air-ship, Dr. Barton, of Beckenham, was forming plans for an even
+larger craft.  This he laid down in the spacious grounds of the
+Alexandra Park, to the north of London.  An enormous shed was
+erected on the northern slopes of the park, but visitors to the
+Alexandra Palace, intent on a peep at the monster air-ship under
+construction, were sorely disappointed, as the utmost secrecy in
+the building of the craft was maintained.
+
+The huge balloon was 43 feet in diameter and 176 feet long, with
+a gas capacity of 235,000 cubic feet.  To maintain the external
+form of the envelope a smaller balloon, or compensator, was
+placed inside the larger one. The framework was of bamboo, and
+the car was attached by about eighty wire-cables.  The wooden
+deck was about 123 feet in length.  Two 50-horse-power engines
+drove four propellers, two of which were at either end.
+
+The inventor employed a most ingenious contrivance to preserve
+the horizontal balance of the air-ship.  Fitted, one at each end
+of the carriage, were two 50-gallon tanks.  These tanks were
+connected with a long pipe, in the centre of which was a
+hand-pump.  When the bow of the air-ship dipped, the man at the
+pump could transfer some of the water from the fore-tank to the
+after-tank, and the ship would right itself.  The water could
+similarly be transferred from the after-tank to the fore-tank
+when the stern of the craft pointed downwards.
+
+There were many reports, in the early months of 1905, that the
+air-ship was going to be brought out from the shed for its trial
+flights, and the writer, in common with many other residents in
+the vicinity of the park, made dozens of journeys to the shed in
+the expectation of seeing the mighty dirigible sail away.  But
+for months we were doomed to disappointment; something always
+seemed to go wrong at the last minute, and the flight had to be
+postponed.
+
+At last, in 1905, the first ascent took place.  It was
+unsuccessful. The huge balloon, made of tussore silk, cruised
+about for some time, then drifted away with the breeze, and came
+to grief in landing.
+
+A clever inventor of air-ships, a young Welshman, Mr. E. T.
+Willows, designed in 1910, an air-ship in which he flew from
+Cardiff to London in the dark--a distance of 139 miles.  In the
+same craft he crossed the English Channel a little later.
+
+Mr. Willows has a large shed in the London aerodrome at Hendon,
+and he is at present working there on a new air-ship.  For some
+time he has been the only successful private builder of air-ships
+in Great Britain.  The Navy possess a small Willows air-ship.
+
+Messrs. Vickers, the famous builders of battleships, are giving
+attention to the construction of air-ships for the Navy, in their
+works at Walney Island, Barrow-in-Furness.  This firm has erected
+an enormous shed, 540 feet long, 150 feet broad, and 98 feet
+high.  In this shed two of the largest air-ships can be built
+side by side.  Close at hand is an extensive factory for the
+production of hydrogen gas.
+
+At each end of the roof are towers from which the difficult task
+of safely removing an air-ship from the shed can be directed.
+
+At the time of writing, the redoubtable DORA (Defence of the
+Realm Act) forbids any but the vaguest references to what is
+going forward in the way of additions to our air forces.  But it
+may be stated that air-ships are included in the great
+constructive programme now being carried out.  It is not long
+since the citizens of Glasgow were treated to the spectacle of a
+full-sized British "Zep" circling round the city prior to her
+journey south, and so to regions unspecified.  And use, too, is
+being found by the naval arm for that curious hybrid the "Blimp",
+which may be described as a cross between an aeroplane and an
+air-ship.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+The First Attempts to Steer a Balloon
+
+For nearly a century after the invention of the Montgolfier and
+Charlier balloons there was not much progress made in the science
+of aeronautics.  True, inventors such as Charles Green suggested
+and carried out new methods of inflating balloons, and scientific
+observations of great importance were made by balloonists both in
+Britain and on the Continent.  But in the all-important work of
+steering the huge craft, progress was for many years practically
+at a standstill.  All that the balloonist could do in controlling
+his balloon was to make it ascend or descend at will; he could
+not guide its direction of flight.  No doubt pioneers of
+aeronautics early turned their attention to the problem of
+providing some apparatus, or some method, of steering their
+craft.  One inventor suggested the hoisting of a huge sail at the
+side of the envelope; but when this was done the balloon simply
+turned round with the sail to the front.  It had no effect on the
+direction of flight of the balloon.  "Would not a rudder be of
+use?" someone asked.  This plan was also tried, but was equally
+unsuccessful.
+
+Perhaps some of us may wonder how it is that a rudder is not as
+serviceable on a balloon as it is on the stern of a boat.  Have
+you ever found yourself in a boat on a calm day, drifting idly
+down stream, and going just as fast as the stream goes?  Work the
+rudder how you may, you will not alter the boat's course.  But
+supposing your boat moves faster than the stream, or by some
+means or other is made to travel slower than the current, then
+your rudder will act, and you may take what direction you will.
+
+It was soon seen that if some method could be adopted whereby the
+balloon moved through the air faster or slower than the wind,
+then the aeronaut would be able to steer it.  Nowadays a
+balloon's pace can be accelerated by means of a powerful
+motor-engine, but the invention of the petrol-engine is very
+recent.   Indeed, the cause of the long delay in the construction
+of a steerable balloon was that a suitable engine could not be
+found.  A steam-engine, with a boiler of sufficient power to
+propel a balloon, is so heavy that it would require a balloon of
+impossible size to lift it.
+
+One of the first serious attempts to steer a balloon by means of
+engine power was that made by M. Giffard in 1852.  Giffard's
+balloon was about 100 feet long and 40 feet in diameter, and
+resembled in shape an elongated cigar.  A 3-horse-power
+steam-engine, weighing nearly 500 pounds, was provided to work a
+propeller, but the enormous weight was so great in proportion to
+the lifting power of the balloon that for a time the aeronaut
+could not leave the ground.  After several experiments the
+inventor succeeded in ascending, when he obtained a speed against
+the wind of about 6 miles an hour.
+
+A balloon of great historical interest was that invented by
+Dtipuy du Lonie, in the year 1872.  Instead of using steam he
+employed a number of men to propel the craft, and with this
+air-ship he hoped to communicate with the besieged city of Paris.
+
+His greatest speed against a moderate breeze was only about 5
+miles an hour, and the endurance of the men did not allow of even
+this speed being kept up for long at a time.
+
+Dupuy foreshadowed the construction of the modern dirigible
+air-ship by inventing a system of suspension links which
+connected the car to the envelope; and he also used an internal
+ballonet similar to those described in Chapter X.
+
+In the year 1883 Tissandier invented a steerable balloon which
+was fitted with an electric motor of 1 1/2 horse-power.  This
+motor drove a propeller, and a speed of about 8 miles an hour was
+attained.  It is interesting to contrast the power obtained from
+this engine with that of recent Zeppelin air-ships, each of which
+is fitted with three or four engines, capable of producing over
+800 horse-power.
+
+The first instance on record of an air-ship being steered back to
+its starting-point was that of La France.  This air-craft was the
+invention of two French army captains, Reynard and Krebs.  By
+special and much-improved electric motors a speed of about 14
+miles an hour was attained.
+
+Thus, step by step, progress was made; but notwithstanding the
+promising results it was quite evident that the engines were far
+too heavy in proportion to the power they supplied.  At length,
+however, the internal-combustion engine, such as is used in
+motor-cars, arrived, and it became at last possible to solve the
+great problem of constructing a really-serviceable, steerable
+balloon.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+The Strange Career of Count Zeppelin
+
+In Berlin, on March 8, 1917, there passed away a man whose name
+will be remembered as long as the English language is spoken. 
+For Count Zeppelin belongs to that little band of men who giving
+birth to a work of genius have also given their names to the
+christening of it; and so the patronymic will pass down the ages.
+
+In the most sinister sense of the expression Count Zeppelin may
+be said to have left his mark deep down upon the British race. 
+In course of time many old scores are forgiven and forgotten, but
+the Zeppelin raids on England will survive, if only as a curious
+failure.  Their failure was both material and moral. 
+Anti-aircraft guns and our intrepid airmen brought one after
+another of these destructive monsters blazing to the ground, and
+their work of "frightfulness" was taken up by the aeroplane;
+while more lamentable still was the failure of the Zeppelin as an
+instrument of terror to the civil population.  In the long list
+of German miscalculations must be included that which pictured
+the victims of bombardment from the air crying out in terror for
+peace at any price.
+
+Before the war Count Zeppelin was regarded by the British public
+as rather a picturesque personality.  He appeared in the romantic
+guise of the inventor struggling against difficulties and
+disasters which would soon have overwhelmed a man of less
+resolute character.  Even old age was included in his handicap,
+for he was verging on seventy when still arming against a sea of
+troubles.
+
+The ebb and flow of his fortunes were followed with intense
+interest in this country, and it is not too much to say that the
+many disasters which overtook his air-ships in their experimental
+stages were regarded as world-wide calamities.
+
+When, finally, the Count stood on the brink of ruin and the
+Kaiser stepped forward as his saviour, something like a cheer
+went up from the British public at this theatrical episode. 
+Little did the audience realize what was to be  the outcome of
+the association between these callous and masterful minds.
+
+And now for a brief sketch of Count Zeppelin's life-story.  He
+was born in 1838, in a monastery on an island in Lake Constance. 
+His love of adventure took him to America, and when he was about
+twenty-five years of age he took part in the American Civil War. 
+Here he made his first aerial ascent in a balloon belonging to
+the Federal army, and in this way made that acquaintance with
+aeronautics which became the ruling passion of his life.
+
+After the war was over he returned to Germany, only to find
+another war awaiting him--the Austro-Prussian campaign.  Later on
+he took part in the Franco-Prussian War, and in both campaigns he
+emerged unscathed.
+
+But his heart was not in the profession of soldiering.  He had
+the restless mind of the inventor, and when he retired, a
+general, after twenty years' military service, he was free to
+give his whole attention to his dreams of aerial navigation. His
+greatest ambition was to make his country pre-eminent in aerial
+greatness.
+
+Friends to whom he revealed his inmost thoughts laughed at him
+behind his back, and considered that he was "a little bit wrong
+in his head".  Certainly his ideas of a huge aerial fleet
+appeared most extravagant, for it must be remembered that the
+motor-engine had not then arrived, and there appeared no
+reasonable prospect of its invention.
+
+Perseverance, however, was the dominant feature of Count
+Zeppelin's character; he refused to be beaten.  His difficulties
+were formidable.  In the first place, he had to master the whole
+science of aeronautics, which implies some knowledge of
+mechanics, meteorology, and electricity.  This in itself was no
+small task for a man of over fifty years of age, for it was not
+until Count Zeppelin had retired from the army that he began to
+study these subjects at all deeply.
+
+The next step was to construct a large shed for the housing of
+his air-ship, and also for the purpose of carrying out numerous
+costly experiments.  The Count selected Friedrichshafen, on the
+shores of Lake Constance, as his head-quarters.  He decided to
+conduct his experiments over the calm waters of the lake, in
+order to lessen the effects of a fall.  The original shed was
+constructed on pontoons, and it could be turned round as desired,
+so that the air-ship could be brought out in the lee of any wind
+from whatsoever quarter it came.
+
+It is said that the Count's private fortune of about L25,000 was
+soon expended in the cost of these works and the necessary
+experiments.  To continue his work he had to appeal for funds to
+all his friends, and also to all patriotic Germans, from the
+Kaiser downwards.
+
+At length, in 1908, there came a turning-point in his fortunes. 
+The German Government, which had watched the Count's progress
+with great interest, offered to buy his invention outright if he
+succeeded in remaining aloft in one of his dirigibles for
+twenty-four hours.  The Count did not quite succeed in his task,
+but he aroused the great interest of the whole German nation, and
+a Zeppelin fund was established, under the patronage of the
+Kaiser, in every town and city in the Fatherland.  In about a
+month the fund amounted to over L300,000.  With this sum the
+veteran inventor was able to extend his works, and produce
+air-ship after air-ship with remarkable rapidity.
+
+When, war broke out it is probable that Germany possessed at
+least thirteen air-ships which had fulfilled very difficult
+tests.  One had flown 1800 miles in a single journey. Thus the
+East Coast of England, representing a return journey of less than
+600 miles was well within their range of action.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+A Zeppelin Air-ship and its Construction
+
+After the Zeppelin fund had brought in a sum of money which
+probably exceeded all expectations, a company was formed for the
+construction of dirigibles in the Zeppelin works on Lake
+Constance, and in 1909 an enormous air-ship was produced.
+
+In shape a Zeppelin dirigible resembled a gigantic cigar, pointed
+at both ends.  If placed with one end on the ground in Trafalgar
+Square, London, its other end would be nearly three times the
+height of the Nelson Column, which, as you may know, is 166 feet.
+
+From the diagram here given, which shows a sectional view of a
+typical Zeppelin air-ship, we may obtain a clear idea of the main
+features of the craft.  From time to time, during the last dozen
+years or so, the inventor has added certain details, but the main
+features as shown in the illustration are common to all air-craft
+of this type.
+
+Zeppelin L1 was 525 feet in length, with a diameter of 50 feet. 
+Some idea of the size may be obtained through the knowledge that
+she was longer than a modern Dreadnought. The framework was made
+of specially light metal, aluminium alloy, and wood.  This
+framework, which was stayed with steel wire, maintained the shape
+and rigidity of her gas-bags; hence vessels of this type are
+known as RIGID air-ships.  Externally the hull was covered with a
+waterproof fabric.
+
+Though, from outside, a rigid air-ship looks to be all in one
+piece, within it is divided into numerous compartments.  In
+Zeppelin L1 there were eighteen separate compartments, each of
+which contained a balloon filled with hydrogen gas.  The object
+of providing the vessel with these small balloons, or ballonets,
+all separate from one another, was to prevent the gas collecting
+all at one end of the ship as the vessel travelled through the
+air.  Outside the ballonets there was a ring-shaped, double
+bottom, containing non-inflammable gas, and the whole was
+enclosed in rubber-coated fabric.
+
+The crew and motors were carried in cars slung fore and aft.  The
+ship was propelled by three engines, each of 170 horse-power. 
+One engine was placed in the forward car, and the two others in
+the after car.  To steer her to right or left, she had six
+vertical planes somewhat resembling box-kites, while eight
+horizontal planes enabled her to ascend or descend.
+
+In Zeppelin L2, which was a later type of craft, there were four
+motors capable of developing 820 horse-power.  These drove four
+propellers, which gave the craft a speed of about 45 miles an
+hour.
+
+The cars were connected by a gangway built within the framework. 
+On the top of the gas-chambers was a platform of aluminium alloy,
+carrying a 1-pounder gun, and used also as an observation
+station.  It is thought that L1 was also provided with four
+machine-guns in her cars.
+
+Later types of Zeppelins were fitted with a "wireless"
+installation of sufficient range to transmit and receive messages
+up to 350 miles.  L1 could rise to the height of a mile in
+favourable weather, and carry about 7 tons over and above her own
+weight.
+
+Even when on ground the unwieldy craft cause many anxious moments
+to the officers and mechanics who handle them.  Two of the line
+have broken loose from their anchorage in a storm and have been
+totally destroyed. Great difficulty is also experienced in
+getting them in and out of their sheds.  Here, indeed, is a
+contrast with the ease and rapidity with which an aeroplane is
+removed from its hangar.
+
+It was maintained by the inventor that, as the vessel is rigid,
+and therefore no pressure is required in the gas-chamber to
+maintain its shape, it will not be readily vulnerable to
+projectiles.  But the Count did not foresee that the very
+"frightfulness" of his engine of war would engender
+counter-destructives.  In a later chapter an account will be
+given of the manner in which Zeppelin attacks upon these
+islands were gradually beaten off by the combined efforts of
+anti-aircraft guns and aeroplanes.  To the latter, and the
+intrepid pilots and fighters, is due the chief credit for the
+final overthrow of the Zeppelin as a weapon of offence.  Both the
+British and French airmen in various brilliant sallies succeeded
+in gradually breaking up and destroying this Armada of the Air;
+and the Zeppelin was forced back to the one line of work in which
+it has proved a success, viz., scouting for the German fleet in
+the few timid sallies it has made from home ports.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+The Semi-rigid Air-ship
+
+Modern air-ships are of three general types:  RIGID, SEMI-RIGID,
+and NON-RIGID.  These differ from one another, as the names
+suggest, in the important feature, the RIGIDITY, NON-RIGIDITY,
+and PARTIAL RIGIDITY of the gas envelope.
+
+Hitherto we have discussed the RIGID type of vessel with which
+the name of Count Zeppelin is so closely associated.  This vessel
+is, as we have seen, not dependent for its form on the gas-bag,
+but is maintained in permanent shape by means of an aluminium
+framework.  A serious disadvantage to this type of craft is that
+it lacks the portability necessary for military purposes.  It is
+true that the vessel can be taken to pieces, but not quickly. 
+The NON-RIGID type, on the other hand, can be quickly deflated,
+and the parts of the car and engine can be readily transported to
+the nearest balloon station when occasion requires.
+
+In the SEMI-RIGID type of air-ship the vessel is dependent for
+its form partly on its framework and partly on the form of the
+gas envelope.  The under side of the balloon consists of a flat
+rigid framework, to which the planes are attached, and from which
+the car, the engine, and propeller are suspended.
+
+As the rigid type of dirigible is chiefly advocated in Germany,
+so the semi-rigid craft is most popular in France.  The famous
+Lebaudy air-ships are good types of semi-rigid vessels.  These
+were designed for the firm of Lebaudy Freres by the well-known
+French engineer M. Henri Julliot.
+
+In November, 1902, M. Julliot and M. Surcouf completed an
+air-ship for M. Lebaudy which attained a speed of nearly 25 miles
+an hour.  The craft, which was named Lebaudy I, made many
+successful voyages, and in 1905 M. Lebaudy offered a second
+vessel, Lebaudy II, to the French Minister of War, who accepted
+it for the French nation, and afterwards decided to order another
+dirigible, La Patrie, of the same type.  Disaster, however,
+followed these air-ships.  Lebaudy I was torn from its anchorage
+during a heavy gale in 1906, and was completely wrecked.  La
+Patrie, after travelling in 1907 from Paris to Verdun, in seven
+hours, was, a few days later, caught in a gale, and the pilot was
+forced to descend.  The wind, however, was so strong that 200
+soldiers were unable to hold down the unwieldy craft, and it was
+torn from their hands.  It sailed away in a north-westerly
+direction over the Channel into England, and ultimately
+disappeared into the North Sea, where it was subsequently
+discovered some days after the accident.
+
+Notwithstanding these disasters the French military authorities
+ordered another craft of the same type, which was afterwards
+named the Republique. This vessel made a magnificent flight of
+six and a half hours in 1908, and it was considered to have quite
+exceptional features, which eclipsed the previous efforts
+of Messrs. Julliot and Lebaudy.
+
+Unfortunately, however, this vessel was wrecked in a very
+terrible manner.  While out cruising with a crew of four officers
+one of the propeller blades was suddenly fractured, and, flying
+off with immense force, it entered the balloon, which it ripped
+to pieces.  The majestic craft crumpled up and crashed to the
+ground, killing its crew in its fall.
+
+In the illustration facing p. 17, of a Lebaudy air-ship, we have
+a good type of the semi-rigid craft.  In shape it somewhat
+resembles an enormous porpoise, with a sharply-pointed nose.
+The whole vessel is not as symmetrical as a Zeppelin dirigible,
+but its inventors claim that the sharp prow facilitates the
+steady displace ment of the air during flight.  The stern is
+rounded so as to provide sufficient support for the rear planes.
+
+Two propellers are employed, and are fixed outside the car, one
+on each side, and almost in the centre of the vessel.  This is a
+some what unusual arrangement.  Some inventors,  such as Mr.
+Spencer, place the propellers at the prow, so that the air-ship
+is DRAWN along; others prefer the propeller at the stern, whereby
+the craft is PUSHED along; but M. Julliot chose the central
+position, because there the disturbance of the air is smallest.
+
+The body of the balloon is not quite round, for the lower part is
+flattened and rests on a rigid frame from which the car is
+suspended.  The balloon is divided into three compartments, so
+that the heavier air does not move to one part of the balloon
+when it is tilted.
+
+In the picture there is shown the petrol storage-tank, which is
+suspended immediately under the rear horizontal plane, where it
+is out of danger of ignition from the hot engine placed in the
+car.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+A Non-rigid Balloon
+
+Hitherto we have described the rigid and semi-rigid types of
+air-ships.  We have seen that the former maintains its shape
+without assistance from the gas which inflates its envelope and
+supplies the lifting power, while the latter, as its name
+implies, is dependent for its form partly on the flat rigid
+framework to which the car is attached, and partly on the gas
+balloon.
+
+We have now to turn our attention to that type of craft known as
+a NON-RIGID BALLOON.  This vessel relies for its form ENTIRELY
+upon the pressure of the gas, which keeps the envelope distended
+with sufficient tautness to enable it to be driven through the
+air at a considerable speed.
+
+It will at once be seen that the safety of a vessel of this type
+depends on the maintenance of the gas pressure, and that it is
+liable to be quickly put out of action if the envelope becomes
+torn.  Such an occurrence is quite possible in war.  A
+well-directed shell which pierced the balloon would undoubtedly
+be disastrous to air-ship and crew.  For this reason the
+non-rigid balloon does not appear to have much future value as a
+fighting ship.  But, as great speed can be obtained from it, it
+seems especially suited for short overland  voyages, either for
+sporting or commercial purposes.  One of its greatest advantages
+is that it can be easily deflated, and can be packed away into a
+very small compass.
+
+A good type of the non-rigid air-ship is that built by Major Von
+Parseval, which is named after its inventor.  The Parseval has
+been described as "a marvel of modern aeronautical construction",
+and also as "one of the most perfect expressions of modern
+aeronautics, not only on account of its design, but owing to its
+striking efficiency.
+
+The balloon has the elongated form, rounded or pointed at one
+end, or both ends, which is common to most air-ships.  The
+envelope is composed of a rubber-texture fabric, and externally
+it is painted yellow, so that the chemical properties of the
+sun's rays may not injure the rubber.  There are two smaller
+interior balloons, or COMPENSATORS, into which can be pumped air
+by means of a mechanically-driven fan or ventilator, to make up
+for contraction of the gas when descending or meeting a cooler
+atmosphere.  The compensators occupy about one-quarter of the
+whole volume.
+
+To secure the necessary inclination of the balloon while in
+flight, air can be transferred from one of the compensators, say
+at the fore end of the ship, into the ballonet in the aft part. 
+Suppose it is desired to incline the bow of the craft upward,
+then the ventilating fan would DEFLATE the fore ballonet and
+INFLATE the aft one, so that the latter, becoming heavier, would
+lower the stern and raise the bow of the vessel.
+
+Along each side of the envelope are seen strips to which the car
+suspension-cords are attached.  To prevent these cords being
+jerked asunder, by the rolling or pitching of the vessel,
+horizontal fins, each 172 square feet in area, are provided at
+each side of the rear end of the balloon.  In the past several
+serious accidents have been caused by the violent pitching of
+the balloon when caught in a gale, and so severe have been the
+stresses on the suspension cords that great damage has been done
+to the envelope, and the aeronauts have been fortunate if they
+have been able to make a safe descent.
+
+The propeller and engine are carried by the car, which is slung
+well below the balloon, and by an ingenious contrivance the car
+always remains in a horizontal position, however much the balloon
+may be inclined.  It is no uncommon occurrence for the balloon to
+make a considerable angle with the car beneath.
+
+The propeller is quite a work of art.  It has a diameter of about
+14 feet, and consists of a frame of hollow steel tubes covered
+with fabric.  It is so arranged that when out of action its
+blades fall lengthwise upon the frame supporting it, but when it
+is set to work the blades at once open out.  The engine weighs
+770 pounds, and has six cylinders, which develop 100 horse-power
+at 1200 revolutions a minute.
+
+The vessel may be steered either to the right or the left by
+means of a large vertical helm, some 80 square feet in area,
+which is hinged at the rear end to a fixed vertical plane of 200
+square feet area.
+
+An upward or downward inclination is, as we have seen, effected
+by the ballonets, but in cases of emergency these compensators
+cannot be deflated or inflated sufficiently rapidly, and a large
+movable weight is employed for altering the balance of the
+vessel.
+
+In this country the authorities have hitherto favoured the
+non-rigid air-ship for military and naval use.  The Astra-Torres
+belongs to this type of vessel, which can be rapidly deflated and
+transported, and so, too, the air-ship built by Mr. Willows.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+The Zeppelin and Gotha Raids
+
+In the House of Commons recently Mr. Bonar Law announced that
+since the commencement of the war 14,250 lives had been lost as
+the result of enemy action by submarines and air-craft.  A large
+percentage of these figures represents women, children, and
+defenceless citizens.
+
+One had become almost hardened to the German method of making war
+on the civil population--that system of striving to act upon
+civilian "nerves" by calculated brutality which is summed up in
+the word "frightfulness".  But the publication of these figures
+awoke some of the old horror of German warfare.  The sum total of
+lives lost brought home to the people at home the fact that
+bombardment from air and sea, while it had failed to shake their
+MORAL, had taken a large toll of human life.
+
+At first the Zeppelin raids were not taken very seriously in this
+country.  People rushed out of their houses to see the unwonted
+spectacle of an air-ship dealing death and destruction from the
+clouds.  But soon the novelty began to wear off, and as the raids
+became more frequent and the casualty lists grew larger, people
+began to murmur against the policy of taking these attacks "lying
+down".  It was felt that "darkness and composure" formed but a
+feeble and ignoble weapon of defence.  The people spoke with no
+uncertain voice, and it began to dawn upon the authorities that
+the system of regarding London and the south-east coast as part
+of "the front" was no excuse for not taking protective measures.
+
+It was the raid into the Midlands on the night of 31st January,
+1916, that finally shelved the old policy of do nothing.  Further
+justification, if any were needed, for active measures was
+supplied by a still more audacious raid upon the east coast of
+Scotland, upon which occasion Zeppelins soared over England--at
+their will.  Then the authorities woke up, and an extensive
+scheme of anti-aircraft guns and squadrons of aeroplanes was
+devised.  About March of the year 1916 the Germans began to break
+the monotony of the Zeppelin raids by using sea-planes as
+variants.  So there was plenty of work for our new defensive air
+force.  Indeed, people began to ask themselves why we should not
+hit back by making raids into Germany.  The subject was well
+aired in the public press, and distinguished advocates came
+forward for and against the policy of reprisals.  At a
+considerably later date reprisals carried the day, and, as we
+write, air raids by the British into Germany are of frequent
+occurrence.
+
+In March, 1916, the fruits of the new policy began to appear, and
+people found them very refreshing.  A fleet of Zeppelins found,
+on approaching the mouth of the Thames, a very warm reception. 
+Powerful searchlights, and shells from new anti-aircraft guns,
+played all round them.  At length a shot got home. One of the
+Zeppelins, "winged" by a shell, began a wobbly retreat which
+ended in the waters of the estuary.  The navy finished the
+business.  The wrecked air-ship was quickly surrounded by a
+little fleet of destroyers and patrol-boats, and the crew were
+brought ashore, prisoners.  That same night yet another Zeppelin
+was hit and damaged in another part of the country.
+
+Raids followed in such quick succession as to be almost of
+nightly occurrence during the favouring moonless nights.  Later,
+the conditions were reversed, and the attacks by aeroplane were
+all made in bright moonlight.  But ever the defence became more
+strenuous.  Then aeroplanes began to play the role of "hornets",
+as Mr. Winston Churchill, speaking rather too previously,
+designated them.
+
+Lieutenant Brandon, R.F.C., succeeded in dropping several aerial
+bombs on a Zeppelin during the raid on March 31, but it was not
+until six months later that an airman succeeded in bringing down
+a Zeppelin on British soil.  The credit of repeating Lieutenant
+Warneford's great feat belongs to Lieutenant W. R. Robinson, and
+the fight was witnessed by a large gathering.  It occurred in the
+very formidable air raid on the night of September 2. 
+Breathlessly the spectators watched the Zeppelin harried by
+searchlight and shell-fire. Suddenly it disappeared behind a veil
+of smoke which it had thrown out to baffle its pursuers. Then it
+appeared again, and a loud shout went up from the watching
+thousands.  It was silhouetted against the night clouds in a
+faint line of fire.  The hue deepened, the glow spread all round,
+and the doomed airship began its crash to earth in a smother of
+flame.  The witnesses to this amazing spectacle naturally
+supposed that a shell had struck the Zeppelin.  Its tiny
+assailant that had dealt the death-blow had been quite invisible
+during the fight.  Only on the following morning did the public
+learn of Lieutenant Robinson's feat.  It appeared that he had
+been in the air a couple of hours, engaged in other conflicts
+with his monster foes.  Besides the V.C. the plucky airman won
+considerable money prizes from citizens for destroying the first
+Zeppelin on British soil.
+
+The Zeppelin raids continued at varying intervals for the
+remainder of the year.  As the power of the defence increased the
+air-ships were forced to greater altitudes, with a corresponding
+decrease in the accuracy with which they could aim bombs on
+specified objects.  But, however futile the raids, and however
+widely they missed their mark, there was no falling off in the
+outrageous claims made in the German communiques.  Bombs dropped
+in fields, waste lands, and even the sea, masqueraded in the
+reports as missiles which had sunk ships in harbour, destroyed
+docks, and started fires in important military areas.  So
+persistent were these exaggerations that it became evident that
+the Zeppelin raids were intended quite as much for moral effect
+at home as for material damage abroad.  The heartening effect of
+the raids upon the German populace is evidenced by the mental
+attitude of men made prisoners on any of the fronts.  Only with
+the utmost difficulty were their  captors able to persuade them
+that London and other large towns were not in ruins; that
+shipbuilding was not at a standstill; and that the British people
+was not ready at any moment to purchase indemnity from the raids
+by concluding a German peace.  When one method of terrorism fails
+try another, was evidently the German motto.  After the Zeppelin
+the Gotha, and after that the submarine.
+
+The next year--1917--brought in a very welcome change in the
+situation.  One Zeppelin after another met with its just deserts,
+the British navy in particular scoring heavily against them.  Nor
+must the skill and enterprise of our French allies be forgotten.
+In March, 1917, they shot down a Zeppelin at Compiegne, and seven
+months later dealt the blow which finally rid these islands of
+the Zeppelin menace.
+
+For nearly a year London, owing to its greatly increased
+defences, had been free from attack.  Then, on the night of
+October 19, Germany made a colossal effort to make good
+their boast of laying London in ruins.  A fleet of eleven
+Zeppelins came over, five of which found the city.  One, drifting
+low and silently, was responsible for most of the casualties,
+which totalled 34 killed and 56 injured.
+
+The fleet got away from these shores without mishap.  Then, at
+long last, came retribution.  Flying very high, they seem to have
+encountered an aerial storm which drove them helplessly over
+French territory.  Our allies were swift to seize this golden
+opportunity.  Their airmen and anti-aircraft guns shot down no
+less than four of the Zeppelins in broad daylight, one of which
+was captured whole.  Of the remainder, one at least drifted
+over the Mediterranean, and was not heard of again.  That was the
+last of the Zeppelin, so far as the civilian population was
+concerned.  But, for nearly a year, the work of killing citizens
+had been undertaken by the big bomb-dropping Gotha aeroplanes.
+
+The work of the Gotha belongs rightly to the second part of this
+book, which deals with aeroplanes and airmen; but it would be
+convenient to dispose here of the part played by the Gotha in the
+air raids upon this country.
+
+The reconnaissance took place on Tuesday, November 28, 1916, when
+in a slight haze a German aeroplane suddenly appeared over
+London, dropped six bombs, and flew off.  The Gotha was
+intercepted off Dunkirk by the French, and brought down.  Pilot
+and observer-two naval lieutenants-were found to have a
+large-scale map of London in their possession.  The new era of
+raids had commenced.
+
+Very soon it became evident that the new squadron of Gothas were
+much more destructive than the former fleets of unwieldy
+Zeppelins.  These great Gothas were each capable of dropping
+nearly a ton of bombs.  And their heavy armament and swift flight
+rendered them far less vulnerable than the air-ship.
+
+From March 1 to October 31, 1917, no less than twenty-two raids
+took place, chiefly on London and towns on the south-east coast. 
+The casualties amounted to 484 killed and 410 wounded.  The two
+worst raids occurred June 13 on East London, and September 3 on
+the Sheerness and Chatham area.
+
+A squadron of fifteen aeroplanes carried out the raid, on June
+13, and although they were only over the city for a period of
+fifteen minutes the casualty list was exceedingly heavy--104
+killed and 432 wounded.  Many children were among the killed and
+injured as the result of a bomb which fell upon a Council school. 
+The raid was carried out in daylight, and the bombs began to drop
+before any warning could be given. Later, an effective and
+comprehensive system of warnings was devised, and when people had
+acquired the habit of taking shelter, instead of rushing out into
+the street to see the aerial combats, the casualties began to
+diminish.
+
+It is worthy of record that the possible danger to schools had
+been anticipated, and for some weeks previously the children had
+taken part in "Air Raid Drill".  When the raid came, the children
+behaved in the most exemplary fashion.  They went through the
+manoeuvres as though it was merely a rehearsal, and their bearing
+as well as the coolness of the teachers obviated all danger from
+panic.  In this raid the enemy first made use of aerial
+torpedoes.
+
+Large loss of life, due to a building being struck, was also the
+feature of the moonlight raid on September 4.  On this occasion
+enemy airmen found a mark on the Royal Naval barracks at
+Sheerness.  The barracks were fitted with hammocks for sleeping,
+and no less than 108 bluejackets lost their lives, the number of
+wounded amounting to 92.  Although the raid lasted nearly an hour
+and powerful searchlights were brought into play, neither guns
+nor our airmen succeeded in causing any loss to the raiders. 
+Bombs were dropped at a number of other places, including Margate
+and Southend, but without result.
+
+No less than six raids took place on London before the end of the
+month, but the greatest number of killed in any one of the raids
+was eleven, while on September 28 the raiders were driven off
+before they could claim any victims.  The establishment of a
+close barrage of aerial guns did much to discourage the raiders,
+and gradually London, from being the most vulnerable spot in the
+British Isles, began to enjoy comparative immunity from attack.
+
+Paris, too, during the Great War has had to suffer bombardment
+from the air, but not nearly to the same extent as London.  The
+comparative immunity of Paris from air raids is due partly to the
+prompt measures which were taken to defend the capital.  The
+French did not wait, as did the British, until the populace was
+goaded to the last point of exasperation, but quickly instituted
+the barrage system, in which we afterwards followed their lead. 
+Moreover, the French were much more prompt in adopting
+retaliatory tactics.  They hit back without having to wade
+through long moral and philosophical disquisitions upon the
+ethics of "reprisals".  On the other hand, it must be remembered
+that Paris, from the aerial standpoint, is a much more difficult
+objective than London.  The enemy airman has to cross the French
+lines, which, like his own, stretch for miles in the rear. 
+Practically he is in hostile country all the time, and he has to
+get back across the same dangerous air zones.  It is a far easier
+task to dodge a few sea-planes over the wide seas en route to
+London.  And on reaching the coast the airman has to evade or
+fight scattered local defences, instead of penetrating the close
+barriers which confront him all the way to Paris.
+
+Since the first Zeppelin attack on Paris on March 21, 1915, when
+two of the air-ships reached the suburbs, killing 23 persons and
+injuring 30, there have been many raids and attempted raids, but
+mostly by single machines.  The first air raid in force upon the
+French capital took place on January 31, 1918, when a squadron of
+Gothas crossed the lines north of Compiegne.  Two hospitals were
+hit, and the casualties from the raid amounted to 20 killed and
+50 wounded.
+
+After the Italian set-back in the winter of 1917, the Venetian
+plain lay open to aerial  bombardment by the Germans, who had
+given substantial military aid to their Austrian allies.  This
+was an opportunity not to be lost by Germany, and Venice and
+other towns of the plain were subject to systematic bombardment.
+
+At the time of writing, Germany is beginning to suffer some of
+the annoyances she is so ready to inflict upon others.  The
+recently constituted Air Ministry have just published figures
+relating to the air raids into Germany from December 1, 1917, to
+February 19, 1918 inclusive.  During these eleven weeks no fewer
+than thirty-five raids have taken place upon a variety of towns,
+railways, works, and barracks.  In the list figure such important
+towns as Mannheim (pop. 20,000) and Metz (pop. 100,000).  The
+average weight of bombs dropped at each raid works out about 1000
+lbs.  This welcome official report is but one of many signs which
+point the way to the growing supremacy of the Allies in the air.
+
+
+
+PART II
+AEROPLANES AND AIRMEN
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+Early Attempts in Aviation
+
+The desire to fly is no new growth in humanity.  For countless
+years men have longed to emulate the birds--"To soar upward and
+glide, free as a bird, over smiling fields, leafy woods, and
+mirror-like lakes," as a great pioneer of aviation said.  Great
+scholars and thinkers of old, such as Horace, Homer, Pindar,
+Tasso, and all the glorious line, dreamt of flight, but it has
+been left for the present century to see those dreams fulfilled.
+
+Early writers of the fourth century saw the possibility of aerial
+navigation, but those who tried to put their theories in practice
+were beset by so many difficulties that they rarely succeeded in
+leaving the ground.
+
+Most of the early pioneers of aviation believed that if a man
+wanted to fly he must provide himself with a pair of wings
+similar to those of a large bird.  The story goes that a certain
+abbot told King James IV of Scotland that he would fly from
+Stirling Castle to Paris.  He made for himself powerful wings
+of eagles' feathers, which he fixed to his body and launched
+himself into the air.  As might be expected, he fell and broke
+his legs.
+
+But although the muscles of man are of insufficient strength to
+bear him in the air, it has been found possible, by using a motor
+engine, to give to man the power of flight which his natural
+weakness denied him.
+
+Scientists estimate that to raise a man of about 12 stone in the
+air and enable him to fly there would be required an immense pair
+of wings over 20 feet in span.  In comparison with the weight of
+a man a bird's weight is remarkably small--the largest bird does
+not weigh much more than 20 pounds--but its wing muscles are
+infinitely stronger in proportion than the shoulder and arm
+muscles of a man.
+
+As we shall see in a succeeding chapter, the "wing" theory was
+persevered with for many years some two or three centuries ago,
+and later on it was of much use in providing data for the gradual
+development of the modern aeroplane.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+A Pioneer in Aviation
+
+Hitherto we have traced the gradual development of the balloon
+right from the early days of aeronautics, when the brothers
+Montgolfier constructed their hot-air balloon, down to the most
+modern dirigible.  It is now our purpose, in this and subsequent
+chapters, to follow the course of the pioneers of aviation.
+
+It must not be supposed that the invention of the steerable
+balloon was greatly in advance of that of the heavier-than-air
+machine.  Indeed, developments in both the dirigible airship and
+the aeroplane have taken place side by side.  In some cases men
+like Santos Dumont have given earnest attention to both forms of
+air-craft, and produced practical results with both.  Thus, after
+the famous Brazilian aeronaut had won the Deutsch prize for a
+flight in an air-ship round the Eiffel tower, he immediately set
+to work to construct an aeroplane which he subsequently piloted
+at Bagatelle and was awarded the first "Deutsch prize" for
+aviation.
+
+It is generally agreed that the undoubted inventor of the
+aeroplane, practically in the form in which it now appears, was
+an English engineer, Sir George Cayley.  Just over a hundred
+years ago this clever Englishman worked out complete plans for an
+aeroplane, which in many vital respects embodied the principal
+parts of the monoplane as it exists to-day.
+
+There were wings which were inclined so that they formed a
+lifting plane; moreover, the wings were curved, or "cambered",
+similar to the wing of a bird, and, as we shall see in a later
+chapter, this curve is one of the salient features of the plane
+of a modern heavier-than-air machine.  Sir George also advocated
+the screw propeller worked by some form of "explosion" motor,
+which at that time had not arrived.  Indeed, if there had been a
+motor available it is quite possible that England would have led
+the way in aviation.  But, unfortunately, owing to the absence of
+a powerful motor engine, Sir George's ideas could not be
+practically carried out till nearly a century later, and then
+Englishmen were forestalled by the Wright brothers, of America,
+as well as by several French inventors.
+
+The distinguished French writer, Alphonse Berget, in his book,
+The Conquest of the Air, pays a striking tribute to our English
+inventor, and this, coming from a gentleman who is writing from a
+French point of view, makes the praise of great value.  In
+alluding to Sir George, M. Berget says: "The inventor, the
+incontestable forerunner of aviation, was an Englishman, Sir
+George Cayley, and it was in 1809 that he described his project
+in detail in Nicholson's Journal. . . . His idea embodied
+'everything'--the wings forming an oblique sail, the empennage,
+the spindle forms to diminish resistance, the screw-propeller,
+the 'explosion' motor, . . . he even described a means of
+securing automatic stability.  Is not all that marvellous, and
+does it not constitute a complete specification for everything in
+aviation?
+
+"Thus it is necessary to inscribe the name of Sir George Cayley
+in letters of gold, in the first page of the aeroplane's history. 
+Besides, the learned Englishman did not confine himself to
+'drawing-paper':  he built the first apparatus (without a motor)
+which gave him results highly promising.  Then he built a second
+machine, this time with a motor, but unfortunately during the
+trials it was smashed to pieces."
+
+But were these ideas of any practical value?  How is it that he
+did not succeed in flying, if he had most of the component parts
+of an aeroplane as we know it to-day?
+
+The answer to the second question is that Sir George did not fly,
+simply because there was no light petrol motor in existence; the
+crude motors in use were far too heavy, in proportion to the
+power developed, for service in a flying machine.  It was
+recognized, not only by Sir George, but by many other English
+engineers in the first half of the nineteenth century, that as
+soon as a sufficiently powerful and light engine did appear, then
+half the battle of the conquest of the air would be won.
+
+But his prophetic voice was of the utmost assistance to such
+inventors as Santos Dumont, the Wright brothers, M. Bleriot, and
+others now world-famed.  It is quite safe to assume that they
+gave serious attention to the views held by Sir George, which
+were given to the world at large in a number of highly-interest-
+ing lectures and magazine articles.  "Ideas" are the very
+foundation-stones of invention--if we may be allowed the figure
+of speech--and Englishmen are proud, and rightly proud, to number
+within their ranks the original inventor of the heavier-than-air
+machine.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+The "Human Birds"
+
+For many years after the publication of Sir George Cayley's
+articles and lectures on aviation very little was done in the way
+of aerial experiments.  True, about midway through the nineteenth
+century two clever engineers, Henson and Stringfellow, built a
+model aeroplane after the design outlined by Sir George; but
+though their model was not of much practical value, a little more
+valuable experience was accumulated which would be of service
+when the time should come; in other words, when the motor engine
+should arrive.  This model can be seen at the Victoria and Albert
+Museum, at South Kensington.
+
+A few years later Stringfellow designed a tiny steam-engine,
+which he fitted to an equally tiny monoplane, and it is said that
+by its aid he was able to obtain a very short flight through the
+air.  As some recognition of his enterprise the Aeronautical
+Society, which was founded in 1866, awarded him a prize of L100
+for his engine.
+
+The idea of producing a practical form of flying machine was
+never abandoned entirely.  Here and there experiments continued
+to be carried out, and certain valuable conclusions were arrived
+at.  Many advanced thinkers and writers of half a century ago set
+forth their opinions on the possibilities of human flight.  Some
+of them, like Emerson, not only believed that flight would come,
+but also stated why it had not arrived.  Thus Emerson, when
+writing on the subject of air navigation about fifty years ago,
+remarked:  "We think the population is not yet quite fit for
+them, and therefore there will be none.  Our friend suggests so
+many inconveniences from piracy out of the high air to orchards
+and lone houses, and also to high fliers, and the total
+inadequacy of the present system of defence, that we have not the
+heart to break the sleep of the great public by the repetition of
+these details.  When children come into the library we put the
+inkstand and the watch on the high shelf until they be a little
+older."
+
+About the year 1870 a young German engineer, named Otto
+Lilienthal, began some experiments with a motorless glider, which
+in course of time were to make him world-famed.  For nearly
+twenty years Lilienthal carried on his aerial research work in
+secrecy, and it was not until about the year 1890 that his
+experimental work was sufficiently advanced for him to give
+demonstrations in public.
+
+The young German was a firm believer in what was known as the
+"soaring-plane" theory of flight.  From the picture here given we
+can get some idea of his curious machine.  It consisted of large
+wings, formed of thin osiers, over which was stretched light
+fabric.   At the back were two horizontal rudders shaped
+somewhat like the long forked tail of a swallow, and over these
+was a large steering rudder.  The wings were arranged around the
+glider's body.  The whole apparatus weighed about 40 pounds.
+
+Lilienthal's flights, or glides, were made from the top of a
+specially-constructed large mound, and in some cases from the
+summit of a low tower.  The "birdman" would stand on the top of
+the mound, full to the wind, and run quickly forward with
+outstretched wings.  When he thought he had gained sufficient
+momentum he jumped into the air, and the wings of the glider bore
+him through the air to the base of the mound.
+
+To preserve the balance of his machine--always a most difficult
+feat--he swung his legs and hips to one side or the other, as
+occasion required, and, after hundreds of glides had been made,
+he became so skilful in maintaining the equilibrium of his
+machine that he was able to cover a distance, downhill, of
+300 yards.
+
+Later on, Lilienthal abandoned the glider, or elementary form of
+monoplane, and adopted a system of superposed planes,
+corresponding to the modern biplane.  The promising career of
+this clever German was brought to an untimely end in 1896, when,
+in attempting to glide from a height of about 80 yards, his
+apparatus made a sudden downward swoop, and he broke his neck.
+
+Now that Lillenthal's experiments had proved conclusively the
+efficiency of wings, or planes, as carrying surfaces, other
+engineers followed in his footsteps, and tried to improve on his
+good work.
+
+The first "birdman" to use a glider in this country was Mr. Percy
+Pilcher who carried out his experiments at Cardross in Scotland. 
+His glides were at first made with a form of apparatus very
+similar to that employed by Lilienthal, and in time he came to
+use much larger machines.  So cumbersome, however, was his
+apparatus--it weighed nearly 4 stones--that with such a great
+weight upon his shoulders he could not run forward quickly enough
+to gain sufficient momentum to "carry off" from the hillside. To
+assist him in launching the apparatus the machine was towed by
+horses, and when sufficient impetus had been gained the tow-rope
+was cast off.
+
+Three years after Lilienthal's death Pilcher met with a similar
+accident.  While making a flight his glider was overturned, and
+the unfortunate "birdman " was dashed to death.
+
+In America there were at this time two or three "human birds",
+one of the most famous being M. Octave Chanute.  During the years
+1895-7 Chanute made many flights in various types of gliding
+machines, some of which had as many as half a dozen planes
+arranged one above another.  His best results, however, were
+obtained by the two-plane machine, resembling to a remarkable
+extent the modern biplane.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+The Aeroplane and the Bird
+
+We have seen that the inventors of flying machines in the early
+days of aviation modelled their various craft somewhat in the
+form of a bird, and that many of them believed that if the
+conquest of the air was to be achieved man must copy nature and
+provide himself with wings.
+
+Let us closely examine a modern monoplane and discover in what
+way it resembles the body of a bird in build.
+
+First, there is the long and comparatively narrow body, or
+FUSELAGE, at the end of which is the rudder, corresponding to the
+bird's tail.  The chassis, or under carriage, consisting of
+wheels, skids, &c., may well be compared with the legs of a bird,
+and the planes are very similar in construction to the bird's
+wings.  But here the resemblance ends:  the aeroplane does not
+fly, nor will it ever fly, as a bird flies.
+
+If we carefully inspect the wing of a bird--say a large bird,
+such as the crow--we shall find it curved or arched from front to
+back.  This curve, however, is somewhat irregular.  At the front
+edge of the wing it is sharpest, and there is a gradual dip or
+slope backwards and downwards.  There is a special reason for
+this peculiar structure, as we shall see in a later chapter.
+
+ Now it is quite evident that the inventors of aeroplanes have
+modelled the planes of their craft on the bird's wing.  Strictly
+speaking, the word "plane" is a misnomer when applied to the
+supporting structure of an aeroplane.  Euclid defines a plane, or
+a plane surface, as one in which, any two points being taken, the
+straight line between them lies wholly in that surface.  But the
+plane of a flying machine is curved, or CAMBERED, and if one
+point were taken on the front of the so-called plane, and another
+on the back, a straight line joining these two points could not
+possibly lie wholly on the surface.
+
+All planes are not cambered to the same extent:  some have a very
+small curvature; in others the curve is greatly pronounced. 
+Planes of the former type are generally fitted to racing
+aeroplanes, because they offer less resistance to the air than do
+deeply-cambered planes.  Indeed, it is in the degree of camber
+that the various types of flying machine show their chief
+diversity, just as the work of certain shipmasters is known by
+the particular lines of the bow and stern of the vessels which
+are built in their yards.
+
+Birds fly by a flapping movement of their wings, or by soaring. 
+We are quite familiar with both these actions: at one time the
+bird propels itself by means of powerful muscles attached to its
+wings by means of which the wings are flapped up and down; at
+another time the bird, with wings nicely adjusted so as to take
+advantage of all the peculiarities of the air currents, keeps
+them almost stationary, and soars or glides through the air.
+
+The method of soaring alone has long since been proved to be
+impracticable as a means of carrying a machine through the air,
+unless, of course, one describes the natural glide of an
+aeroplane from a great height down to earth as soaring.  But the
+flapping motion was not proved a failure until numerous
+experiments by early aviators had been tried.
+
+Probably the most successful attempt at propulsion by this method
+was that of a French locksmith named Besnier.  Over two hundred
+years ago he made for himself a pair of light wooden paddles,
+with blades at either end, somewhat similar in shape to the
+double paddle of a canoe.  These he placed over his shoulders,
+his feet being attached by ropes to the hindmost paddles. 
+Jumping off from some high place in the face of a stiff breeze,
+he violently worked his arms and legs, so that the paddles beat
+the air and gave him support.  It is said that Besnier became so
+expert in the management of his simple apparatus that he was able
+to raise himself from the ground, and skim lightly over fields
+and rivers for a considerable distance.
+
+Now it has been shown that the enormous extent of wing required
+to support a man of average weight would be much too large to be
+flapped by man's arm muscles.  But in this, as  with everything
+else, we have succeeded in harnessing the forces of nature into
+our service as tools and machinery.
+
+And is not this, after all, one of the chief, distinctions
+between man and the lower orders of creation?  The latter fulfil
+most of their bodily requirements by muscular effort.  If a horse
+wants to get from one place to another it walks; man can go on
+wheels.  None of the lower animals makes a single tool to assist
+it in the various means of sustaining life; but man puts on his
+"thinking-cap", and invents useful machines and tools to enable
+him to assist or dispense with muscular movement.
+
+Thus we find that in aviation man has designed the propeller,
+which, by its rapid revolutions derived from the motive power of
+the aerial engine, cuts a spiral pathway through the air and
+drives the light craft rapidly forward.  The chief use of the
+planes is for support to the machine, and the chief duty of the
+pilot is to balance and steer the craft by the manipulation of
+the rudder, elevation and warping controls.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+A Great British Inventor of Aeroplanes
+
+Though, as we have seen, most of the early attempts at aerial
+navigation were made by foreign engineers, yet we are proud to
+number among the ranks of the early inventors of heavier-than-air
+machines Sir Hiram Maxim, who, though an American by birth, has
+spent most of his life in Britain and may therefore be called a
+British inventor.
+
+Perhaps to most of us this inventor's name is known more in
+connection with the famous "Maxim" gun, which he designed, and
+which was named after him.  But as early as 1894, when the
+construction of aeroplanes was in a very backward state, Sir
+Hiram succeeded in making an interesting and ingenious aeroplane,
+which he proposed to drive by a particularly light steam-engine.
+
+Sir Hiram's first machine, which was made in 1890, was designed
+to be guided by a double set of rails, one set arranged below and
+the other above its running wheels.  The intention was to make
+the machine raise itself just off the ground rails, but yet be
+prevented from soaring by the set of guard rails above the
+wheels, which acted as a check on it.  The motive force was given
+by a very powerful steam-engine of over 300 horse-power, and
+this drove two enormous propellers, some 17 feet in length.  The
+total weight of the machine was 8000 pounds, but even with this
+enormous weight the engine was capable of raising the machine
+from the ground.
+
+For three or four years Sir Hiram made numerous experiments with
+his aeroplane, but in 1894 it broke through the upper guard rail
+and turned itself over among the surrounding trees, wrecking
+itself badly.
+
+But though the Maxim aeroplane did not yield very practical
+results, it proved that if a lighter but more powerful engine
+could be made, the chief difficulty iii the way of aerial flight
+would be removed.  This was soon forthcoming in the invention of
+the petrol motor.  In a lecture to the Scottish Aeronautical
+Society, delivered in Glasgow in November, 1913, Sir Hiram
+claimed to be the inventor of the first machine which actually
+rose from the earth.  Before the distinguished inventor spoke of
+his own work in aviation he recalled experiments made by his
+father in 1856-7, when Sir Hiram was sixteen years of age.  The
+flying machine designed by the elder Maxim consisted of a small
+platform, which it was proposed to lift directly into the air by
+the action of two screw-propellers revolving in reverse
+directions.  For a motor the inventor intended to employ some
+kind of explosive material, gunpowder preferred, but the lecturer
+distinctly remembered that his father said that if an apparatus
+could be successfully navigated through the air it would be of
+such inevitable value as a military engine that no matter how
+much it might cost to run it would be used by Governments.
+
+Of his own claim as an inventor of air-craft it would be well to
+quote Sir Hiram's actual words, as given by the Glasgow Herald,
+which contained a full report of the lecture.
+
+"Some forty years ago, when I commenced to think of the subject,
+my first idea was to lift my machint by vertical propellers, and
+I actually commenced drawings and made calculations for a machine
+on that plan, using an oil motor, or something like a Brayton
+engine, for motive power.  However, I was completely unable to
+work out any system which would not be too heavy to lift itself
+directly into the air, and it was only when I commenced to study
+the aeroplane system that it became apparent to me that it would
+be possible to make a machine light enough and powerful enough to
+raise itself without the agency of a balloon.  From the first I
+was convinced that it would be quite out of the question to
+employ a balloon in any form.  At that time the light high-speed
+petrol motor had no existence.  The only power available being
+steam-engines, I made all my calculations with a view of using
+steam as the motive power.  While I was studying the question of
+the possibility of making a flying machine that would actually
+fly, I became convinced that there was but one system to work on,
+and that was the aeroplane system.  I made many calculations, and
+found that an aeroplane machine driven by a steam-engine ought to
+lift itself into the air."
+
+Sir Hiram then went on to say that it was the work of making an
+automatic gun which was the direct cause of his experiments with
+flying machines.  To continue the report:
+
+"One day I was approached by three gentle- men who were
+interested in the gun, and they asked me if it would be possible
+for me to build a flying machine, how long it would take, and how
+much it would cost.  My reply was that it would take five years
+and would cost L50,000.  The first three years would be devoted
+to developing a light internal-combustion engine, and the
+remaining two years to making a flying machine.
+
+"Later on a considerable sum of money was placed at my disposal,
+and the experiments commenced, but unfortunately the gun business
+called for my attention abroad, and during the first two years of
+the experimental work I was out of England eighteen months.
+
+"Although I had thought much of the internal-combustion engine it
+seemed to me that it would take too long to develop one and that
+it would be a hopeless task in my absence from England; so I
+decided that in my first experiments at least I would use a
+steam-engine.  I therefore designed and made a steam-engine and
+boiler of which Mr. Charles Parsons has since said that, next to
+the Maxim gun, it developed more energy for its weight than any
+other heat engine ever made.  That was true at the time, but is
+very wide of the mark now."
+
+Speaking of motors, the veteran lecturer remarked:  "Perhaps
+there was no problem in the world on which mathematicians had
+differed so widely as on the problem of flight.  Twenty years ago
+experimenters said: 'Give us a motor that will develop 1
+horse-power with the weight of a barnyard fowl, and we will very
+soon fly.'  At the present moment they had motors which would
+develop over 2 horse-power and did not weigh more than a 12-pound
+barnyard fowl.  These engines had been developed--I might say
+created--by the builders of motor cars.  Extreme lightness had
+been gradually obtained by those making racing cars, and that had
+been intensified by aviators. In many cases a speed of 80 or 100
+miles per hour had been attained, and machines had remained in
+the air for hours and had flown long distances.  In some cases
+nearly a ton had been carried for a short distance."
+
+Such words as these, coming from the lips of a great inventor,
+give us a deep insight into the working of the inventor's mind,
+and, incidentally, show us some of the difficulties which beset
+all pioneers in their tasks.  The science of aviation is, indeed,
+greatly indebted to these early inventors, not the least of whom
+is the gallant Sir Hiram Maxim.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+The Wright Brothers and their Secret Experiments
+
+In the beginning of the twentieth century many of the leading
+European newspapers contained brief reports of aerial experiments
+which were being carried out at Dayton, in the State of Ohio,
+America.  So wonderful were the results of these experiments, and
+so mysterious were the movements of the two brothers--Orville and
+Wilbur Wright--who conducted them, that many Europeans would not
+believe the reports.
+
+No inventors have gone about their work more carefully,
+methodically, and secretly than did these two Americans, who,
+hidden from prying eyes, "far from the madding crowd", obtained
+results which brought them undying fame in the world of aviation.
+
+For years they worked at their self-imposed task of constructing
+a flying machine which would really soar among the clouds.  They
+had read brief accounts of the experiments carried out by Otto
+Lilienthal, and in many ways the ground had been well paved for
+them.   It was their great ambition to become real "human birds";
+"birds" that would not only glide along down the hillside, but
+would fly free and unfettered, choosing their aerial paths of
+travel and their places of destination.
+
+Though there are few reliable accounts of their work in those
+remote American haunts, during the first six years of the present
+century, the main facts of their life-history are now well known,
+and we are able to trace their experiments, step by step, from
+the time when they constructed their first simple aeroplane down
+to the appearance of the marvellous biplane which has made them
+world-famed.
+
+For some time the Wrights experimented with a glider, with which
+they accomplished even more wonderful results than those obtained
+by Lilienthal.  These two young American engineers--bicyclemakers
+by trade--were never in a hurry.  Step by step they made
+progress, first with kites, then with small gliders, and
+ultimately with a large one.  The latter was launched into the
+air by men running forward with it until sufficient momentum had
+been gained for the craft to go forward on its own account.
+
+The first aeroplane made by the two brothers was a very simple
+one, as was the method adopted to balance the craft.  There were
+two main planes made of long spreads of canvas arranged one above
+another, and on the lower plane the pilot lay.  A little plane in
+front of the man was known as the ELEVATOR, and it could be moved
+up and down by the pilot; when the elevator was tilted up, the
+aeroplane ascended, when lowered, the machine descended.
+
+At the back was a rudder, also under control of the pilot.  The
+pilot's feet, in a modern aeroplane, rest upon a bar working on a
+central swivel, and this moves the rudder.  To turn to the left,
+the left foot is moved forward; to turn to the right the right
+foot.
+
+But it was in the balancing control of their machine that the
+Wrights showed such great ingenuity.  Running from the edges of
+the lower plane were some wires which met at a point where the
+pilot could control them.  The edges of the plane were flexible;
+that is, they could be bent slightly either up or down, and this
+movement of the flexible plane is known as WING WARPING.
+
+You know that when a cyclist is going round a curve his machine
+leans inwards.  Perhaps some of you have seen motor races, such
+as those held at Brooklands; if so, you must have noticed that
+the track is banked very steeply at the corners, and when the
+motorist is going round these corners at, say, 80 miles an hour,
+his motor makes a considerable angle with the level ground, and
+looks as if it must topple over.  The aeroplane acts in a similar
+manner, and, unless some means are taken to prevent it, it will
+turn over.
+
+Let us now see how the pilot worked the "Wright" glider.  Suppose
+the machine tilted down on one side, while in the air, the pilot
+would pull down, or warp, the edges of the planes on that side of
+the machine which was the lower.  By an ingenious contrivance,
+when one side was warped down, the other was warped up, with the
+effect that the machine would be brought back into a horizontal
+position. (As we shall return to the subject of wing warping in a
+later chapter, we need not discuss it further here.)
+
+It must not be imagined that as soon as the Wrights had
+constructed a glider fitted with this clever system of
+controlling mechanism they could fly when and where they liked.
+They had to practise for two or three years before they were
+satisfied with the results of their experiments: neglecting no
+detail, profiting by their failures, and moving logically from
+step to step.  They never attempted an experiment rashly: there
+was always a reason for what they did.   In fact, their success
+was due to systematic progress, achieved by wonderful
+perseverance.
+
+But now, for a short time, we must leave the pioneer work of the
+Wright brothers, and turn to the invention of the petrol engine
+as applied to the motor car, an invention which was destined to
+have far-reaching results on the science of aviation.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+The Internal-combustion Engine
+
+We have several times remarked upon the great handicap placed
+upon the pioneers of aviation by the absence of a light but
+powerful motor engine.  The invention of the internal-combustion
+engine may be said to have revolutionized the science of flying;
+had it appeared a century ago, there is no reason to doubt that
+Sir George Cayley would have produced an aeroplane giving as good
+results as the machines which have appeared during the last five
+or six years.
+
+The motor engine and the aeroplane are inseparably connected; one
+is as necessary to the other as clay is to the potter's wheel, or
+coal to the blast-furnace.  This being the case, it is well that
+we trace briefly the development of the engine during the last
+quarter of a century.
+
+The original mechanical genius of the motoring industry was
+Gottlieb Daimler, the founder of the immense Daimler Motor Works
+of Coventry.  Perhaps nothing in the world of industry has made
+more rapid strides during the last twenty years than
+automobilism.  In 1900 our road traction was carried on by means
+of horses; now, especially in the large cities, it is already
+more than half mechanical, and at the present rate of progress it
+bids fair to be soon entirely horseless.
+
+About the year 1885 Daimler was experimenting with models of a
+small motor engine, and the following year he fitted one of his
+most successful models to a light wagonette.  The results were so
+satisfactory, that in 1888 he took out a patent for an internal-
+combustion engine--as the motor engine is technically called--and
+the principle on which this engine was worked aroused great
+enthusiasm on the Continent.
+
+Soon a young French engineer, named Levassor, began to experiment
+with models of motor engines, and in 1889 he obtained, with
+others, the Daimler rights to construct similar engines in
+France.  From now on, French engineers began to give serious
+attention to the new engine, and soon great improvements were
+made in it.  All this time Britain held aloof from the motor-car;
+indeed, many Britons scoffed at the idea of
+mechanically-propelled vehicles, saying that the time and money
+required for their development would be wasted.
+
+During the years 1888-1900 strange reports of smooth-moving,
+horseless cars, frequently appearing in public in France, began
+to reach Britain, and people wondered if the French had stolen a
+march on us, and if there were anything in the new invention
+after all.  Our engineers had just begun to grasp the immense
+possibilities of Daimler's engine, but the Government gave them
+no encouragement.
+
+At length the Hon. Evelyn Ellis, one of the first British
+motorists, introduced the "horseless carriage" into this country,
+and the following account of his early trips, which appeared
+in the Windsor and Eton Express of 27th July, 1895, may be
+interesting.
+
+"If anyone cares to run over to Datchet, they will see the Hon.
+Evelyn Ellis, of Rosenau, careering round the roads, up hill and
+down dale, and without danger to life or limb, in his new motor
+carriage, which he brought over a short time ago from Paris.
+
+"In appearance it is not unlike a four-wheeled dog-cart, except
+that the front part has a hood for use on long "driving" tours,
+in the event of wet weather; it will accommodate four persons,
+one of whom, on the seat behind, would, of course, be the
+'groom', a misnomer, perhaps, for carriage attendant.  Under the
+front seat are receptacles, one for tools with which to repair
+damages, in the event of a breakdown on the road, and the other
+for a store of oil, petroleum, or naphtha in cans, from which to
+replenish the oil tank of the carriage on the journey, if it be a
+long one.
+
+"Can it be easily driven?  We cannot say that such a vehicle
+would be suitable for a lady, unless rubber-tyred wheels and
+other improvements are made to the carriage, for a grim grip of
+the steering handle and a keen eye are necessary for its safe
+guidance, more especially if the high road be rough.  It never
+requires to be fed, and as it is, moreover, unsusceptible of
+fatigue, it is obviously the sort of vehicle that should soon
+achieve a widespread popularity in this country.
+
+"It is a splendid hill climber, and, in fact, such a hill as that
+of Priest Hill (a pretty good test of its capabilities) shows
+that it climbs at a faster pace than a pedestrian can walk.
+
+"A trip from Rosenau to Old Windsor, to the entrance of Beaumont
+College, up Priest Hill, descending the steep, rough, and
+treacherous hill on the opposite side by Woodside Farm, past the
+workhouse, through old Windsor, and back to Rosenau within an
+hour, amply demonstrated how perfectly under control this
+carriage is, while the sensation of being whirled rapidly along
+is decidedly pleasing."
+
+Another pioneer of motorism was the Hon. C. S. Rolls, whose
+untimely death at Bournemouth in 1910, while taking part in the
+Bournemouth aviation meeting, was deeply deplored all over the
+country.  Mr. Rolls made a tour of the country in a motor-car in
+1895, with the double object of impressing people with the
+stupidity of the law with regard to locomotion, and of
+illustrating the practical possibilities of the motor.  You may
+know that Mr. Rolls was the first man to fly across the Channel,
+and back again to Dover, without once alighting.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+The Internal-combustion Engine(Cont.)
+
+I suppose many of my readers are quite familiar with the working
+of a steam-engine.  Probably you have owned models of
+steam-engines right from your earliest youth, and there are few
+boys who do not know how the railway engine works.
+
+But though you may be quite familiar with the mechanism of this
+engine, it does not follow that you know how the petrol engine
+works, for the two are highly dissimilar.  It is well, therefore,
+that we include a short description of the internal-combustion
+engine such as is applied to motor-cars, for then we shall be
+able to understand the principles of the aeroplane engine.
+
+At present petrol is the chief fuel used for the motor engine. 
+Numerous experiments have been tried with other fuels, such as
+benzine, but petrol yields the best results.
+
+Petrol is distilled from oil which comes from wells bored deep
+down in the ground in Pennsylvania, in the south of Russia, in
+Burma, and elsewhere.  Also it is distilled in Scotland from
+oil shale, from which paraffin oil and wax and similar substances
+are produced.  When the oil is brought to the surface it contains
+many impurities, and in its native form is unsuitable for motor
+engines.  The crude oil is composed of a number of different
+kinds of oil; some being light and clear, others heavy and thick.
+
+To purify the oil it is placed in a large metal vessel or
+"still".  Steam is first passed over the oil in the still, and
+this changes the lightest of the oils into vapours.  These
+vapours are sent through a series of pipes surrounded with cold
+water, where they are cooled and become liquid again.  Petrol is
+a mixture of these lighter products of the oil.
+
+If petrol be placed in the air it readily turns into a vapour,
+and this vapour is extremely inflammable.  For this reason petrol
+is always kept in sealed tins, and very large quantities are not
+allowed to be stored near large towns.  The greatest care has to
+be exercised in the use of this "unsafe" spirit.  For example, it
+is most dangerous to smoke when filling a tank with petrol, or to
+use the spirit near a naked light.  Many motor-cars have been set
+on fire through the petrol leaking out of the tank in which it is
+carried.
+
+The tank which contains the petrol is placed under one of the
+seats of the motor-car, or at the rear; if in use on a
+motor-cycle it is arranged along the top bar of the frame, just
+in front of the driver.  This tank is connected to the
+"carburettor", a little vessel having a small nozzle projecting
+upwards in its centre.  The petrol trickles from the tank into
+the carburettor, and is kept at a constant level by means of a
+float which acts in a very similar way to the ballcock of a water
+cistern.
+
+The carburettor is connected to the cylinder of the engine by
+another pipe, and there is valve which is opened by the engine
+itself and is closed by a spring.  By an ingenious contrivance
+the valve is opened when the piston moves out of the cylinder,
+and a vacuum is created behind it and in the carburettor.  This
+carries a fine spray of petrol to be sucked up through the
+nozzle.  Air is also sucked into the carburettor, and the mixture
+of air and petrol spray produces an inflammable vapour which is
+drawn straight into the cylinder of the engine.
+
+As soon as the piston moves back, the inlet valve is
+automatically closed and the vapour is compressed into the top of
+the cylinder.  This is exploded by an electric spatk, which is
+passed between two points inside the cylinder, and the force of
+the explosion drives the piston outwards again.  On its return
+the "exhaust" or burnt gases are driven out through another
+valve, known as the "exhaust" valve.
+
+Whether the engine has two, four, or six cylinders, the car is
+propelled in a similar way for all the pistons assist in turning
+one shaft, called the engine shaft, which runs along the centre
+of the car to the back axle.
+
+The rapid explosions in the cylinder produce great heat, and the
+cylinders are kept cool by circulating water round them.  When
+the water has become very hot it passes through a number of
+pipes, called the "radiator", placed in front of the car; the
+cold air rushing between the coils cools the water, so that it
+can be used over and over again.
+
+No water is needed for the engine of a motor cycle.  You will
+notice that the cylinders are enclosed by wide rings of metal,
+and these rings are quite sufficient to radiate the heat as
+quickly as it is generated.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+The Aeroplane Engine
+
+We have seen that a very important part of the
+internal-combustion engine, as used on the motor-car, is the
+radiator, which prevents the engine from becoming overheated and
+thus ceasing to work.  The higher the speed at which the engine
+runs the hotter does it become, and the greater the necessity for
+an efficient cooling apparatus.
+
+But the motor on an aeroplane has to do much harder work than the
+motor used for driving the motor-car, while it maintains a much
+higher speed.  Thus there is an even greater tendency for it to
+become overheated; and the great problem which inventors of
+aeroplane engines have had to face is the construction of a light
+but powerful engine equipped with some apparatus for keeping it
+cool.
+
+Many different forms of aeroplane engines have been invented
+during the last few years. Some inventors preferred the radiator
+system of cooling the engine, but the tank containing the water,
+and the radiator itself, added considerably to the weight of the
+motor, and this, of course, was a serious drawback to its
+employment.
+
+But in 1909 there appeared a most ingeniously-constructed engine
+which was destined to take a very prominent part in the progress
+of aviation.  This was the famous "Gnome" engine, by means of
+which races almost innumerable have been won, and amazing records
+established.
+
+We have already referred to the engine shaft of the motor-car,
+which is revolved by the pistons of the various fixed cylinders.
+In all aeroplane engines which had appeared before the Gnome the
+same principle of construction had been adopted; that is to say,
+the cylinders were fixed, and the engine shaft revolved.
+
+But in the Gnome engine the reverse order of things takes place;
+the shaft is fixed, and the cylinders fly round it at a
+tremendous speed.  Thus the rapid whirl in the air keeps the
+engine cool, and cumbersome tanks and unwieldy radiators can be
+dispensed with.  This arrangement enabled the engine to be made
+very light and yet be of greater horse-power than that attained
+by previously-existing engines.
+
+A further very important characteristic of the rotary-cylinder
+engine is that no flywheel is used; in a stationary engine it has
+been found necessary to have a fly-wheel in addition to the
+propeller.  The rotary-cylinder engine acts as its own fly-wheel,
+thus again saving considerable weight.
+
+The new engine astonished experts when they first examined it,
+and all sorts of disasters to it were predicted.  It was of such
+revolutionary design that wiseacres shook their heads and said
+that any pilot who used it would be constantly in trouble with
+it.  But during the last few years it has passed from one triumph
+to another, commencing with a long-distance record established by
+Henri Farman at Rheims, in 1909.  It has since been used with
+success by aviators all the world over.  That in the Aerial Derby
+of 1913--which was flown over a course Of 94 miles around
+London--six of the eleven machines which took part in the race
+were fitted with Gnome engines, and victory was achieved by Mr.
+Gustav Hamel, who drove an 80-horse-power Gnome, is conclusive
+evidence of the high value of this engine in aviation.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+A Famous British Inventor of Aviation Engines
+
+In the general design and beauty of workmanship involved in the
+construction of aeroplanes, Britain is now quite the equal of her
+foreign rivals; even in engines we are making extremely rapid
+progress, and the well-known Green Engine Company, profiting by
+the result of nine years' experience, are able to turn out
+aeroplane engines as reliable, efficient, and as light in pounds
+weight per horse-power as any aero engine in existence.
+
+In the early days of aviation larger and better engines of
+British make specially suited for aeroplanes were our most urgent
+need.
+
+The story of the invention of the "Green" engine is a record of
+triumph over great difficulties.
+
+Early in 1909--the memorable year when M. Bleriot was firing the
+enthusiasm of most engineers by his cross-Channel flight; when
+records were being established at Rheims; and when M. Paulhan won
+the great prize of L10,000 for the London to Manchester flight--
+Mr. Green conceived a number of ingenious ideas for an aero
+engine.
+
+One of Mr. Green's requirements was that the cylinders should be
+made of cast-steel, and that they should come from a British
+foundry.  The company that took the work in hand, the Aster
+Company, had confidence in the inventor's ideas.  It is said that
+they had to waste 250 castings before six perfect cylinders were
+produced.  It is estimated that the first Green engine cost
+L6000.  These engines can be purchased for less than L500.
+
+The closing months of 1909 saw the Green engine firmly
+established.  In October of that year Mr. Moore Brabazon won the
+first all-British competition of L1000 offered by the Daily Mail
+for the first machine to fly a circular mile course.  His
+aeroplane was fitted with a 60-horse-power Green aero engine.  In
+the same year M. Michelin offered L1000 for a long-distance
+flight in all-British aviation; this prize was also won by Mr.
+Brabazon, who made a flight of 17 miles.
+
+Some of Colonel Cody's achievements in aviation were made with
+the Green engine.  In 1910 he succeeded in winning both the
+duration and cross-country Michelin competitions, and in 1911 he
+again accomplished similar feats.  In this year he also finished
+fourth in the all-round-Britain race.  This was a most
+meritorious performance when it is remembered that his Cathedral
+weighed nearly a ton and ahalf, and that the 60-horse-power Green
+was practically "untouched", to use an engineering expression,
+during the whole of the 1010-mile flight.
+
+The following year saw Cody winning another Michelin prize for a
+cross-country competition.  Here he made a flight of over 200
+miles, and his high opinion of the engine may be best described
+in the letter he wrote to the company, saying: "If you kept the
+engine supplied from without with petrol and oil, what was within
+would carry you through".
+
+But the pinnacle of Mr. Green's fame as an inventor was reached
+in 1913, when Mr. Harry Hawker made his memorable waterplane
+flight from Cowes to Lough Shinny, an account of which appears in
+a later chapter.  His machine was fitted with a 100-horse-power
+Green, and with it he flew 1043 miles of the 1540-miles course.
+
+Though the complete course was not covered, neither Mr. Sopwith--
+who built the machine and bore the expenses of the flight--nor
+Mr. Hawker attached any blame to the engine.  At a dinner of the
+Aero Club, given in 1914, Mr. Sopwith was most enthusiastic in
+discussing the merits of the "Green", and after Harry Hawker had
+recovered from the effects of his fall in Lough Shinny he
+remarked in reference to the engine:  "It is the best I have ever
+met.  I do not know any other that would have done anything like
+the work."
+
+At the same time that this race was being held the French had a
+competition from Paris to Deauville, a distance of about 160
+miles.  When compared with the time and distance covered by Mr.
+Hawker, the results achieved by the French pilots, flying
+machines fitted with French engines, were quite insignificant;
+thus proving how the British industry had caught up, and even
+passed, its closest rivals.
+
+In 1913 Mr. Grahame White, with one of the 100-horse-power
+"Greens" succeeded in winning the duration Michelin with a flight
+of over 300 miles, carrying a mechanic and pilot, 85 gallons of
+petrol, and 12 gallons of lubricating oil.  Compulsory landings
+were made every 63 miles, and the engine was stopped.  In spite
+of these trying conditions, the engine ran, from start to finish,
+nearly nine hours without the slightest trouble.
+
+Sufficient has been said to prove conclusively that the thought
+and labour expended in the perfecting of the Green engine have
+not been fruitless.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+The Wright Biplane (Camber of Planes)
+
+Now that the internal-combustion engine had arrived, the Wrights
+at once commenced the construction of an aeroplane which could be
+driven by mechanical power.  Hitherto, as we have seen, they had
+made numerous tests with motorless gliders; but though these
+tests gave them much valuable information concerning the best
+methods of keeping their craft on an even keel while in the air,
+they could never hope to make much progress in practical flight
+until they adopted motor power which would propel the machine
+through the air.
+
+We may assume that the two brothers had closely studied the
+engines patented by Daimler and Levassor, and, being of a
+mechanical turn of mind themselves, they were able to build their
+own motor, with which they could make experiments in power-driven
+flight.
+
+Before we study the gradual progress of these experiments it
+would be well to describe the Wright biplane.  The illustration
+facing p. 96 shows a typical biplane, and though there are
+certain modifications in most modern machines, the principles
+upon which it was built apply to all aeroplanes.
+
+The two main supporting planes, A, B, are made of canvas
+stretched tightly across a light frame, and are slightly curved,
+or arched, from front to back.  This curve is technically known
+as the CAMBER, and upon the camber depend the strength and speed
+of the machine.
+
+If you turn back to Chapter XVII you will see that the plane is
+modelled after the wing of a bird.  It has been found that the
+lifting power of a plane gradually dwindles from the front edge--
+or ENTERING EDGE, as it is called--backwards.  For this reason it
+is necessary to equip a machine with a very long, narrow plane,
+rather than with a comparatively broad but short plane.
+
+Perhaps a little example will make this clear.  Suppose we had
+two machines, one of which was fitted with planes 144 feet long
+and 1 foot wide, and the other with planes 12 feet square.  In
+the former the entering edge of the plane would be twelve times
+as great as in the latter, and the lifting power would
+necessarily be much greater.  Thus, though both machines have
+planes of the same area, each plane having a surface of 144
+square feet, yet there is a great difference in the "lift" of the
+two.
+
+But it is not to be concluded that the back portion of a plane is
+altogether wasted.  Numerous experiments have taught aeroplane
+constructors that if the plane were slightly curved from front to
+back the rear portion of the plane also exercised a "lift"; thus,
+instead of the air being simply cut by the entering edge of the
+plane, it is driven against the arched back of the plane, and
+helps to lift the machine into the air, and support it when in
+flight.
+
+There is also a secondary lifting impulse derived from this
+simple curve.  We have seen that the air which has been cut by
+the front edge of the plane pushes up from below, and is arrested
+by the top of the arch, but the downward dip of the rear portion
+of the plane is of service in actually DRAWING THE AIR FROM
+ABOVE.  The rapid air stream which has been cut by the entering
+edge passes above the top of the curve, and "sucks up", as it
+were, so that the whole wing is pulled upwards.  Thus there are
+two lifting impulses:  one pushing up from below, the other
+sucking up from above.
+
+It naturally follows that when the camber is very pronounced the
+machine will fly much slower, but will bear a greater weight than
+a machine equipped with planes having little or no camber.  On
+high-speed machines, which are used chiefly for racing purposes,
+the planes have very little camber.  This was particularly
+noticeable in the monoplane piloted by Mr. Hamel in the Aerial
+Derby of 1913:  the wings of this machine seemed to be quite
+flat, and it was chiefly because of this that the pilot was able
+to maintain such marvellous speed.
+
+The scientific study of the wing lift of planes has proceeded so
+far that the actual "lift" can now be measured, providing the
+speed of the machine is known, together with the superficial area
+of the planes.  The designer can calculate what weight each
+square foot of the planes will support in the air.  Thus some
+machines have a "lift" of 9 or 10 pounds to each square foot of
+wing surface, while others are reduced to 3 or 4 pounds per
+square foot.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+The Wright Biplane (Cont.)
+
+The under part of the frame of the Wright biplane, technically
+known as the CHASSIS, resembled a pair of long "runner" skates,
+similar to those used in the Fens for skating races.  Upon
+those runners the machine moved along the ground when starting to
+fly.   In more modern machines the chassis is equipped with two
+or more small rubber-tyred wheels on which the machine runs along
+the ground before rising into the air, and on which it alights
+when a descent is made.
+
+You will notice that the pilot's seat is fixed on the lower
+plane, and almost in the centre  of it, while close by the engine
+is mounted.   Alongside the engine is a radiator which cools the
+water that has passed round the cylinder of the engine in order
+to prevent them from becoming overheated.
+
+Above the lower plane is a similar plane arranged parallel to it,
+and the two are connected by light upright posts of hickory wood
+known as STRUTS.  Such an aeroplane as this, which is equipped
+with two main planes, known as a BIPLANE.  Other types of
+air-craft are the MONOPLANE, possessing one main plane, and the
+TRIPLANE, consisting of three planes.  No practical machine has
+been built with more than three main planes; indeed, the triplane
+is now almost obsolete.
+
+The Wrights fitted their machine with two long-bladed wooden
+screws, or propellers, which by means of chains and
+sprocket-wheels, very like those of a bicycle, were driven by the
+engine, whose speed was about 1200 revolutions a minute.  The
+first motor engine used by these clever pioneers had four
+cylinders, and developed about 20 horsepower.  Nowadays engines
+are produced which develop more than five times that power.
+
+In later machines one propeller is generally thought to be
+sufficient; in fact many constructors believe that there is
+danger in a two-propeller machine, for if one propeller got
+broken, the other propeller, working at full speed, would
+probably overturn the machine before the pilot could cut off his
+engine.
+
+Beyond the propellers there are two little vertical planes which
+can be moved to one side or the other by a control lever in front
+of the pilot's seat.   These planes or rudders steer the machine
+from side to side, answering the same purpose as the rudder of a
+boat.
+
+In front of the supporting planes there are two other horizontal
+planes, arranged one above the other; these are much smaller than
+the main planes, and are known as the ELEVATORS.  Their function
+is to raise or lower the machine by catching the air at different
+angles.
+
+Comparison with a modern biplane, such as may be seen at an
+aerodrome on any "exhibition" day, will disclose several marked
+differences in construction between the modern type and the
+earlier Wright machine, though the central idea is the same.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+How the Wrights launched their Biplane
+
+Those of us who have seen an aeroplane rise from the ground know
+that it runs quickly along for 50 or 60 yards, until sufficient
+momentum has been gained for the craft to lift itself into the
+air.  The Wrights, as stated, fitted their machine with a pair of
+launching runners which projected from the under side of the
+lower plane like two very long skates, and the method of
+launching their craft was quite different from that followed
+nowadays.
+
+The launching apparatus consisted of a wooden tower at the
+starting end of the launching ways--a wooden rail about 60 or 70
+feet in length.  To the top of the tower a weight of about 1/2
+ton was suspended.  The suspension rope was led downwards over
+pulleys, thence horizontally to the front end and back to the
+inner end of the railway, where it was attached to the aeroplane. 
+A small trolley was fitted to the chassis of the machine and this
+ran along the railway.
+
+To launch the machine, which, of course, stood on the rail, the
+propellers were set in motion, and the 1/2-ton weight at the top
+of the tower was released.  The falling weight towed the
+aeroplane rapidly forward along the rail, with a velocity
+sufficient to cause it to glide smoothly into the air at the
+other end of the launching ways.  By an ingenious arrangement the
+trolley was left behind on the railway.
+
+It will at once occur to you that there were disadvantages in
+this system of commencing a flight.   One was that the launching
+apparatus was more or less a fixture.  At any rate it could not
+be carried about from place to place very readily:  Supposing the
+biplane could not return to its starting-point, and the pilot was
+forced to descend, say, 10 or 12 miles away:  in such a case it
+would be neces- sary to tow the machine back to the launching
+ways, an obviously inconvenient arrangement, especially in
+unfavourable country.
+
+For some time the "wheeled" chassis has been in universal use,
+but in a few cases it has been thought desirable to adopt a
+combination of runners and wheels.  A moderately firm  surface is
+necessary for the machine to run along the ground; if the ground
+be soft or marly the wheels would sink in the soil, and serious
+accidents have resulted from the sudden stoppage of the forward
+motion due to this cause.
+
+With their first power-driven machine the Wrights made a series
+of very fine flights, at first in a straight line. In 1904 they
+effected their first turn.  By the following year they had made
+such rapid progress that they were able to exceed a distance of
+20 miles in one flight, and keep up in the air for over half an
+hour at a time.  Their manager now gave their experiments great
+publicity, both in the American and European Press, and in 1908
+the brothers, feeling quite sure of their success, emerged from a
+self-imposed obscurity, and astonished the world with some
+wonderful flights, both in America and on the French flying
+ground at Issy.
+
+A great loss to aviation occurred on 30th May, 1912, when Wilbur
+Wright died from an attack of typhoid fever.  His work is
+officially commemorated in Britain by an annual Premium Lecture,
+given under the auspices of the Aeronautical Society.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+The First Man to Fly in Europe
+
+In November, 1906, nearly the whole civilized world was
+astonished to read that a rich young Brazilian aeronaut, residing
+in France, had actually succeeded in making a short flight, or,
+shall we say, an enormous "hop", in a heavier-than-air machine.
+
+This pioneer of aviation was M. Santos Dumont.  For five or six
+years before his experiments with the aeroplane he had made a
+great many flights in balloons, and also in dirigible balloons. 
+He was the son of well-to-do parents--his father was a successful
+coffee planter--and he had ample means to carry on his costly
+experiments.
+
+Flying was Santos Dumont's great hobby.  Even in boyhood, when
+far away in Brazil, he had been keenly interested in the work of
+Spencer, Green, and other famous aeronauts, and aeronautics
+became almost a passion with him.
+
+Towards the end of the year 1898 he designed a rather novel form
+of air-ship.  The balloon was shaped like an enormous cigar, some
+80 feet long, and it was inflated with about 6000 cubic feet of
+hydrogen.  The most curious contrivance, however, was the motor. 
+This was suspended from the balloon, and was somewhat similar to
+the small motor used on a motor-cycle.  Santos Dumont sat beside
+this motor, which worked a propeller, and this curious craft was
+guided several times by the inventor round the Botanical Gardens
+in Paris.
+
+About two years after these experiments the science of
+aeronautics received very valuable aid from M. Deutsch, a member
+of the French Aero Club.  A prize of about L4000 was offered by
+this gentleman to the man who should first fly from the Aero Club
+grounds at Longchamps, double round the Eiffel Tower, and then
+sail back to the starting-place.  The total distance to be flown
+was rather more than 3 miles, and it was stipulated that the
+journey--which could be made either in a dirigible air-ship or a
+flying machine--should be completed within half an hour.
+
+This munificent offer at once aroused great enthusiasm among
+aeronauts and engineers throughout the whole of France, and, to a
+lesser degree, in Britain.   Santos Dumont at once set to work on
+another air-ship, which was equipped with a much more powerful
+motor than he had previously used.  In July, 1901, his
+arrangements were completed, and he made his first attempt to win
+the prize.
+
+The voyage from Longchamps to the Eiffel Tower was made in very
+quick time, for a favourable wind speeded the huge balloon on its
+way.  The pilot was also able to steer a course round the tower,
+but his troubles then commenced.  The wind was now in his face,
+and his engine-a small motor engine of about 15 horse-power-was
+unable to produce sufficient power to move the craft quickly
+against the wind.  The plucky inventor kept fighting against
+the-breeze, and at length succeeded in returning to his
+starting-point; but he had exceeded the time limit by several
+minutes and thus, was disqualified for the prize.
+
+Another attempt was made by Santos Dumont about a month later. 
+This time, however, he was more unfortunate, and he had a
+marvellous escape from death.  As on the previous occasion he got
+into great difficulties when sailing against the wind on the
+return journey, and his balloon became torn, so that the gas
+escaped and the whole craft crashed down on the house-tops. 
+Eyewitnesses of the accident expected to find the gallant young
+Brazilian crushed to death; but to their great relief he was seen
+to be hanging to the car, which had been caught upon the buttress
+of a house.  Even now he was in grave peril, but after a long
+delay he was rescued by means of a rope.
+
+It might be thought that such an accident would have deterred the
+inventor from making further attempts on the prize; but the
+aeronaut seemed to be well endowed with the qualities of patience
+and perseverance and continued to try again.  Trial after trial
+was made, and numerous accidents took place.  On nearly every
+occasion it was comparatively easy to sail round the Tower, but
+it was a much harder task to sail back again.
+
+At length in October, 1901, he was thought to have completed the
+course in the allotted time; but the Aero Club held that he had
+exceeded the time limit by forty seconds.  This decision aroused
+great indignation among Parisians--especially among those who had
+watched the flight--many of whom were convinced that the journey
+had been accomplished in the half-hour.  After much argument the
+committee which had charge of the race, acting on the advice of
+M. Deutsch, who was very anxious that the prize should be awarded
+to Santos Dumont, decided that the conditions of the flight had
+been complied with, and that the prize had been legitimately won. 
+It is interesting to read that the famous aeronaut divided the
+money among the poor.
+
+But important though Santos Dumont's experiments were with the
+air-ship, they were of even greater value when he turned his
+attention to the aeroplane.
+
+One of his first trials with a heavier-than-air machine was made
+with a huge glider, which was fitted with floats.  The curious
+craft was towed along the River Seine by a fast motor boat named
+the Rapiere, and it actually succeeded in rising into the air and
+flying behind the boat like a gigantic kite.
+
+12th November, 1906, is a red-letter day in the history of
+aviation, for it was then that Santos Dumont made his first
+little flight in an aeroplane.  This took place at Bagatelle, not
+far from Paris.
+
+Two months before this the airman had succeeded in driving his
+little machine, called the Bird of Prey, many yards into the air,
+and "11 yards through the air", as the newspapers reported; but
+the craft was badly smashed.  It was not until November that
+the first really satisfactory flight took place.
+
+A description of this flight appeared in most of the European
+newspapers, and I give a quotation from one of them:  "The
+aeroplane rose gracefully and gently to a height of about 15 feet
+above the earth, covering in this most remarkable dash through
+the air a distance of about 700 feet in twenty-one seconds.
+
+"It thus progressed through the atmosphere at the rate of nearly
+30 miles an hour.  Nothing like this has ever been accomplished
+before. . . . The aeroplane has now reached the practical stage."
+
+The dimensions of this aeroplane were:
+
+Length    32 feet
+Greatest width    39 feet
+Weight with one passenger 465 pounds.
+Speed    30 miles an hour
+
+
+A modern aeroplane with airman and passenger frequently weighs
+over 1 ton, and reaches a speed of over 60 miles an hour.
+
+It is interesting to note that Santos Dumont, in 1913--that is,
+only seven years after his flight in an aeroplane at Bagatelle
+made him world-famous--announced his intention of again taking an
+active part in aviation.  His purpose was to make use of
+aeroplanes merely for pleasure, much as one might purchase a
+motor-car for the same object.
+
+Could the intrepid Brazilian in his wildest dreams have foreseen
+the rapid advance of the last eight years?  In 1906 no one had
+flown in Europe; by 1914 hundreds of machines were in being, in
+which the pilots were no longer subject to the wind's caprices,
+but could fly almost where and when they would.
+
+Frenchmen have honoured, and rightly honoured, this gallant and
+picturesque figure in the annals of aviation, for in 1913 a
+magnificent monument was unveiled in France to commemorate his
+pioneer work.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+M. Bleriot and the Monoplane
+
+If the Wright brothers can lay claim to the title of "Fathers of
+the Biplane", then it is certain that M. Bleriot, the gallant
+French airman, can be styled the "Father of the Monoplane."
+
+For five years--1906 to 1910--Louis Bleriot's name was on
+everybody's lips in  connection with his wonderful records in
+flying and skilful feats of airmanship.  Perhaps the flight which
+brought him greatest renown was that accomplished in July, 1909,
+when he was the first man to cross the English Channel by
+aeroplane.  This attempt had been forestalled, although
+unsuccessfully, by Hubert Latham, a daring aviator who is best
+known in Lancashire by his flight in 1909 at Blackpool in a
+wind which blew at the rate of nearly 40 miles an hour--a
+performance which struck everyone with wonder in these early days
+of aviation.
+
+Latham attempted, on an Antoinette monoplane, to carry off the
+prize of L1000 offered by the proprietors of the Daily Mail.  On
+the first occasion he fell in mid-Channel, owing to the failure
+of his motor, and was rescued by a torpedo-boat.  His machine was
+so badly damaged during the salving operations that another had
+to be sent from Paris, and with this he made a second attempt,
+which was also unsuccessful.  Meanwhile M. Bleriot had arrived
+on the scene; and on 25th July he crossed the Channel from Calais
+to Dover in thirty-seven minutes and was awarded the L1000
+prize.
+
+Bleriot's fame was now firmly established, and on his return to
+France he received a magnificent welcome.  The monoplane at once
+leaped into favour, and the famous "bird man" had henceforth to
+confine his efforts to the building of machines and the
+organization of flying events.  He has since established a large
+factory in France and inaugurated a flying school at Pau.
+
+All the time that the Wrights were experimenting with their
+glider and biplane in America, and the Voisin brothers were
+constructing biplanes in France, Bleriot had been giving earnest
+attention to the production of a real "bird" machine, provided
+with one pair of FLAPPING wings.  We know now that such an
+aeroplane is not likely to be of practical use, but with quiet
+persistence Bleriot kept to his task, and succeeded in evolving
+the famous Antoinette monoplane, which more closely resembles a
+bird than does any other form of air-craft.
+
+In the illustration of the Bleriot monoplane here given you will
+notice that there is one main plane, consisting of a pair of
+highly-cambered wings; hence the name "MONOplane".  At the rear
+of the machine there is a much smaller plane, which is slightly
+cambered; this is the elevating plane, and it can be tilted up
+or down in order to raise or lower the machine.  Remember that
+the elevating plane of a biplane is to the front of the machine
+and in the monoplane at the rear.  The small, upright plane G is
+the rudder, and is used for steering the machine to the right or
+left.  The long narrow body or framework of the monoplaneis known
+as the FUSELAGE.
+
+By a close study of the illustration, and the description which
+accompanies it, you will understand how the machine is driven. 
+The main plane is twisted, or warped, when banking, much in the
+same way that the Wright biplane is warped.
+
+Far greater speed can be obtained from the monoplane than from
+the biplane, chiefly because in the former machine there is much
+less resistance to the air.  Both height and speed records stand
+to the credit of the monoplane.
+
+The enormous difference in the speeds of monoplanes and biplanes
+can be best seen at a race meeting at some aerodrome.  Thus at
+Hendon, when a speed handicap is in progress, the slow biplanes
+have a start of one or two laps over the rapid little monoplanes
+in a six-lap contest, and it is most amusing to see the latter
+dart under, or over, the more cumbersome biplane.  Recently
+however, much faster biplanes have been built, and they bid fair
+to rival the swiftest monoplanes in speed.
+
+There is, however, one serious drawback to the use of the
+monoplane:  it is far more dangerous to the pilot than is the
+biplane.  Most of the fatal accidents in aviation have been
+caused through mishaps to monoplanes or their engines, and
+chiefly for this reason the biplane has to a large extent
+supplanted the monoplane in warfare.  The biplane, too, is better
+adapted for observation work, which is, after all, the chief use
+of air-craft.
+
+In a later chapter some account will be givcn of the three types
+of aeroplane which the war has evolved--the general-purposes
+machine, the single-seater "fighter", and those big
+bomb-droppers, the British Handley Page and the German Gotha.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+Henri Farman and the Voisin Biplane
+
+The coming of the motor engine made events move rapidly in the
+world of aviation.  About the year 1906 people's attention was
+drawn to France, where Santos Dumont was carrying out the
+wonderful experiments which we have already described.  Then came
+Henri Farman, who piloted the famous biplane built by the Voisin
+brothers in 1907; an aeroplane destined to bring world-wide
+renown to its clever constructors and its equally clever and
+daring pilot.
+
+There were notable points of distinction between the Voisin
+biplane and that built by the Wrights.  The latter, as we have
+seen, had two propellers; the former only one.  The launching
+skids of the Wright biplane gave place to wheels on Farman's
+machine.  One great advantage, however, possessed by the early
+Wright biplane over its French rivals, was in its greater general
+efficiency.  The power of the engine was only about one-half
+of the power required in certain of the French designs.  This was
+chiefly due to the use of the launching rail, for it needed much
+greater motor power to make a machine rise from the ground by its
+own motor engine than when it received a starting lift from a
+falling weight.  Even in our modern aeroplanes less engine power
+is required to drive the craft through the air than to start from
+the ground.
+
+Farman achieved great fame through his early flights, and, on
+13th January, 1908, at the flying ground at Issy, in France, he
+won the prize of L2000, offered by MM. Deutsch and Archdeacon to
+the first aviator who flew a circular kilometre.  In July of the
+same year he won another substantial prize given by a French
+engineer, M. Armengaud, to the first pilot who remained aloft for
+a quarter of an hour.
+
+Probably an even greater performance was the cross-country flight
+made by Farman about three months later.  In the flight he passed
+over hills, valleys, rivers, villages, and woods on his journey
+from Chalons to Rheims, which he accomplished in twenty minutes.
+
+In the early models of the Voisin machine there were fitted
+between the two main planes a number of vertical planes, as shown
+clearly in the illustration facing p. 160.  It was thought that
+these planes would increase the stability of the machine,
+independent of the skill of the operator, and in calm weather
+they were highly effective.  Their great drawback, however, was
+that when a strong side wind caught them the machine was blown
+out of its course.
+
+Subsequently Farman considerably modified the early-type Voisin
+biplane, as shown by the illustration facing p. 160.  The
+vertical planes were dispensed with, and thus the idea of
+automatic stability was abandoned.
+
+But an even greater distinction between the Farman biplane and
+that designed by the Wrights was in the adoption of a system
+of small movable planes, called AILERONS, fixed at extremities of
+the main planes, instead of the warping controls which we have
+already described.  The ailerons, which are adapted to many of
+our modern aeroplanes, are really balancing flaps, actuated by a
+control lever at the right side of the pilot's seat, and the
+principle on which they are worked is very similar to that
+employed in the warp system of lateral stability.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+A Famous British Inventor
+
+About the time that M. Bleriot was developing his monoplane, and
+Santos Dumont was astonishing the world with his flying feats at
+Bagatelle, a young army officer was at work far away in a
+secluded part of the Scottish Highlands on the model of an
+aeroplane. This young man was Lieutenant J. W. Dunne, and his
+name has since been on everyone's lips wherever aviation is
+discussed.  Much of Lieutenant Dunne's early experimental work
+was done on the Duke of Atholl's estate, and the story goes that
+such great secrecy  was observed that "the tenants were enrolled
+as a sort of bodyguard to prevent unauthorized  persons from
+entering".  For some time the  War Office helped the inventor
+with money, for the numerous tests and trials necessary in almost
+every invention before satisfactory results are achieved are very
+costly.
+
+Probably the inventor did not make sufficiently rapid progress
+with his novel craft, for he lost the financial help and goodwill
+of the Government for a time; but he plodded on, and at length
+his plans were sufficiently advanced for him to carry on his work
+openly.  It must be borne in mind that at the time Dunne first
+took up the study of aviation no one had flown in Europe, and he
+could therefore receive but little help from the results achieved
+by other pilots and constructors.
+
+But in the autumn of 1913 Lieutenant Dunne's novel aeroplane was
+the talk of both Europe and America.  Innumerable trials had been
+made in the remote flying ground at Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey,
+and the machine became so far advanced that it made a
+cross-Channel flight from Eastchurch to Paris.  It remained in
+France for some time, and Commander Felix, of the French Army,
+made many excellent flights in it.  Unfortunately, however, when
+flying near Deauville, engine trouble compelled the officer to
+descend; but in making a landing in a very small field, not much
+larger than a tennis-court, several struts of the machine were
+damaged.  It was at once seen that the aeroplane could not
+possibly be flown until it had been repaired and thoroughly
+overhauled.  To do this would take several days, especially as
+there were no facilities for repairing the craft near by, and to
+prevent anyone from making a careful examination of the
+aeroplane, and so discovering the secret features which had been
+so jealously guarded, the machine was smashed up after the engine
+had been removed.
+
+At that time this was the only Dunne aeroplane in existence, but
+of course the plans were in the possession of the inventor, and
+it was an easy task to make a second machine from the same model. 
+Two more machines were put in hand at Hendon, and a third at
+Eastchurch.
+
+On 18th October, 1913, the Dunne aeroplane made its first public
+appearance at Hendon, in the London aerodrome, piloted by
+Commander Felix.  The most striking distinction between this and
+other biplanes is that its wings or planes, instead of reaching
+from side to side of the engine, stretch back in the form of the
+letter V, with the point of the V to the front.  These wings
+extend so far to the rear that there is no need of a tail to the
+machine, and the elevating plane in front can also be dispensed
+with.
+
+This curious and unique design in aeroplane construction was
+decided upon by Lieutenant Dunne after a prolonged observation at
+close quarters of different birds in flight, and the inventor
+claims for his aeroplane that it is practically uncapsizable. 
+Perhaps, however, this is too much to claim for any
+heavier-than-air machine; but at all events the new design
+certainly appears to give greater stability, and it is to be
+hoped that by this and other devices the progress of aviation
+will not in the future be so deeply tinged with tragedy.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+The Romance of a Cowboy Aeronaut
+
+In the brief but glorious history of pioneer work in aviation,
+so far as it applies to this country, there is scarcely a more
+romantic figure to be found than Colonel Cody.  It was the
+writer's pleasure to come into close contact with Cody during the
+early years of his experimental work with man-lifting box-kites
+at the Alexandra Park, London, and never will his genial smile
+and twinkling eye be forgotten.
+
+Cody always seemed ready to crack a joke with anyone, and
+possibly there was no more optimistic man in the whole of
+Britain.  To the boys and girls of Wood Green he was a popular
+hero.  He was usually clad in a "cowboy" hat, red flannel shirt,
+and buckskin breeches, and his hair hung down to his shoulders. 
+On certain occasions he would give a "Wild West" exhibition at
+the Alexandra Palace, and one of his most daring tricks with the
+gun was to shoot a cigarette from a lady's lips.  One could see
+that he was entire master of the rifle, and a trick which always
+brought rounds of applause was the hitting of a target while
+standing with his back to it, simply by the aid of a mirror held
+at the butt of his rifle.
+
+But it is of Cody as an aviator and aeroplane constructor that we
+wish to speak.  For some reason or other he was generally the
+object of ridicule, both in the Press and among the public.  Why
+this should have been so is not quite clear; possibly his quaint
+attire had something to do with it, and unfriendly critics
+frequently raised a laugh at his expense over the enormous size
+of his machines. So large were they that the Cody biplane was
+laughingly called the "Cody bus" or the "Cody Cathedral."
+
+But in the end Cody fought down ridicule and won fame, for in
+competition with some of the finest machines of the day, piloted
+by some of our most expert airmen, he won the prize of L5000
+offered by the Government in 1912 in connection with the Army
+trials for aeroplanes.  In these trials he astonished everyone by
+obtaining a speed of over 70 miles an hour in his biplane, which
+weighed 2600 pounds.
+
+In the opening years of the present century Cody spent much time
+in demonstrations with huge box-kites, and for a time this form
+of kite was highly popular with boys of North London.  In these
+kites he made over two hundred flights, reaching, on some
+occasions, an altitude of over 2000 feet.  At all times of the
+day he could have been seen on the slopes of the Palace Hill,
+hauling these strange-looking, bat-like objects backward and
+forward in the wind.  Reports of his experiments appeared in the
+Press, but Cody was generally looked upon as a "crank".  The War
+Office, however, saw great possibilities in the kites for
+scouting purposes in time of war, and they paid Cody L5000 for
+his invention.
+
+It is a rather romantic story of how Cody came to take up
+experimental work with kites, and it is repeated as it was given
+by a Mohawk chief to a newspaper representative.
+
+"On one occasion when Cody was in a Lancashire town with his Wild
+West show, his son Leon went into the street with a parrot-shaped
+kite.  Leon was attired in a red shirt, cowboy trousers, and
+sombrero, and soon a crowd of youngsters in clogs was clattering
+after him.
+
+"'If a boy can interest a crowd with a little kite, why can't a
+man interest a whole nation?' thought Cody--and so the idea of
+man-lifting kites developed."
+
+In 1903 Cody made a daring but unsuccessful attempt to cross the
+Channel in a boat drawn by two kites.  Had he succeeded he
+intended to cross the Atlantic by similar means.
+
+Later on, Cody turned his attention to the construction of
+aeroplanes, but he was seriously handicapped by lack of funds. 
+His machines were built with the most primitive tools, and
+some of our modern constructors, working in well-equipped
+"shops", where the machinery is run by electric plant, would
+marvel at the work accomplished with such tools as those used by
+Cody.
+
+Most of Cody's flights were made on Laffan's Plain, and he took
+part in the great "Round Britain" race in 1911.  It was
+characteristic of the man that in this race he kept on far in
+the wake of MM. Beaumont and Vedrines, though he knew that he had
+not the slightest chance of winning the prize; and, days after
+the successful pilot had arrived back at Brooklands, Cody's "bus"
+came to earth in the aerodrome.  "It's dogged as does it," he
+remarked, "and I meant to do the course, even if I took a year
+over it."
+
+Of Cody's sad death at Farnborough, when practising in the
+ill-fated water-plane which he intended to pilot in the sea
+flight round Great Britain in 1913, we speak in a later chapter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+Three Historic Flights
+
+When the complete history of aviation comes to be written, there
+will be three epoch-making events which will doubtless be duly
+appreciated by the historian, and which may well be described as
+landmarks in the history of flight. These are the three great
+contests organized by the proprietors of the Daily Mail,
+respectively known as the "London to Manchester" flight, the
+"Round Britain flight in an aeroplane", and the "Water-plane
+flight round Great Britain."
+
+In any account of aviation which deals with the real achievements
+of pioneers who have helped to make the science of flight what it
+is to-day, it would be unfair not to mention the generosity of
+Lord Northcliffe and his co-directors of the Daily Mail towards
+the development of aviation in this country.  Up to the time of
+writing, the sum of L24,750 has been paid by the Daily Mail in
+the encouragement of flying, and prizes to the amount of L15,000
+are still on offer.  In addition to these prizes this journal
+has maintained pilots who may be described as "Missionaries of
+Aviation".  Perhaps the foremost of them is M. Salmet, who has
+made hundreds of flights in various parts of the country, and has
+aroused the greatest enthusiasm wherever he has flown.
+
+The progress of aviation undoubtedly owes a great deal to the
+Press, for the newspaper has succeeded in bringing home to most
+people the fact that the possession of air-craft is a matter of
+national importance.  It was of little use for airmen to make
+thrilling flights up and down an aerodrome, with the object of
+interesting the general public, if the newspapers did not record
+such flights, and though in the very early days of aviation some
+newspapers adopted an unfriendly attitude towards the
+possibilities of practical aviation, nearly all the Press has
+since come to recognize the aeroplane as a valuable means of
+national defence.  Right from the start the Daily Mail foresaw
+the importance of promoting the new science of flight by the
+award of prizes, and its public-spirited enterprise has done much
+to break up the prevailing apathy towards aviation among the
+British nation.
+
+If these three great events had been mere spectacles and nothing
+else--such as, for instance, that great horse-race known as "The
+Derby"--this chapter would never have been written.  But they
+are most worthy of record because all three have marked
+clearly-defined stepping-stones in the progress of flight; they
+have proved conclusively that aviation is practicable, and that
+its ultimate entry into the busy life of the world is no more
+than a matter of perfecting details.
+
+The first L10,000 prize was offered in November, 1906, for a
+flight by aeroplane from London to Manchester in twenty-four
+hours, with not more than two stoppages en route.  In 1910 two
+competitors entered the lists for the flight; one, an Englishman,
+Mr. Claude Grahame-White; the other, a Frenchman, M. Paulhan.
+
+Mr. Grahame-White made the first attempt, and he flew remarkably
+well too, but he was forced to descend at Lichfield--about 113
+miles on the journey--owing to the high and gusty winds which
+prevailed in the Trent valley.  The plucky pilot intended to
+continue the flight early the next morning, but during the night
+his biplane was blown over in a gale while it stood in a field,
+and it was so badly damaged that the machine had to be sent back
+to London to be repaired.
+
+This took so long that his French rival, M. Paulhan, was able to
+complete his plans and start from Hendon, on 27th April.  So
+rapidly had Paulhan's machine been transported from Dover, and
+"assembled" at Hendon, that Mr. White, whose biplane was standing
+ready at Wormwood Scrubbs, was taken by surprise when he heard
+that his rival had started on the journey and "stolen a march on
+him", so to speak.  Nothing daunted, however, the plucky British
+aviator had his machine brought out, and he went in pursuit of
+Paulhan late in the afternoon.  When darkness set in Mr. White
+had reached Roade, but the French pilot was several miles ahead.
+
+Now came one of the most thrilling feats in the history of
+aviation.  Mr. White knew that his only chance of catching
+Paulhan was to make a flight in the darkness, and though this was
+extremely hazardous he arose from a small field in the early
+morning, some hours before daybreak arrived, and flew to the
+north.  His friends had planned ingenious devices to guide him on
+his way:  thus it was proposed to send fast motor-cars, bearing
+very powerful lights, along the route, and huge flares were
+lighted on the railway; but the airman kept to his course chiefly
+by the help of the lights from the railway stations.
+
+Over hill and valley, forest and meadow, sleeping town and
+slumbering village, the airman flew, and when dawn arrived he had
+nearly overhauled his rival, who, in complete ignorance of Mr.
+White's daring pursuit, had not yet started.
+
+But now came another piece of very bad luck for the British
+aviator.  At daybreak a strong wind arose, and Mr. White's
+machine was tossed about like a mere play-ball, so that he was
+compelled to land.  Paulhan, however, who was a pilot with far
+more experience, was able to overcome the treacherous air gusts,
+and he flew on to Manchester, arriving there in the early
+morning.
+
+Undoubtedly the better pilot won, and he had a truly magnificent
+reception in Manchester and London, and on his return to France.
+But this historic contest laid the foundation of Mr.
+Grahame-White's great reputation as an aviator, and, as we all
+know, his fame has since become world-wide.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+Three Historic Flights (Cont.)
+
+About a month after Paulhan had won the "London to Manchester"
+race, the world of aviation, and most of the general public too,
+were astonished to read the announcement of another enormous
+prize.  This time a much harder task was set, for the conditions
+of the contest stated that a circuit of Britain had to be made,
+covering a distance of about 1000 miles in one week, with eleven
+compulsory stops at fixed controls.
+
+This prize was offered on 22nd May, 1910, and in the following
+year seventeen competitors entered the lists.  It says much for
+the progress of aviation at this time, when we read that, only
+a year before, it was difficult to find but two pilots to compete
+in the much easier race described in the last chapter.  Much of
+this progress was undoubtedly due to the immense enthusiasm
+aroused by the success of Paulhan in the "London to Manchester"
+race.
+
+We will not describe fully the second race, because, though it
+was of immense importance at the time, it has long since become a
+mere episode.  Rarely has Britain been in such great excitement
+as during that week in July, 1911.
+
+Engine troubles, breakdowns, and other causes soon reduced the
+seventeen competitors to two only:  Lieutenant Conneau, of the
+French Navy-who flew under the name of M. Beaumont--and M.
+Vedrines.  Neck to neck they flew--if we may be allowed this
+horse-racing expression--over all sorts of country, which was
+quite unknown to them.
+
+Victory ultimately rested with Lieutenant Conneau, who, on 26th
+July, 1911, passed the winning-post at Brooklands after having
+completed the course in the magnificent time of twenty-two hours,
+twenty-eight minutes, averaging about 45 miles an hour for the
+whole journey.  M. Vedrines, though defeated, made a most plucky
+fight.  Conneau's success was due largely to his ability to keep
+to the course--on two or three occasions Vedrines lost his way--
+and doubtless his naval training in map-reading and observation
+gave him the advantage over his rival.
+
+The third historic flight was made by Mr. Harry Hawker, in
+August, 1913.  This was an attempt to win a prize of L5000
+offered by the proprietors of the Daily Mail for a flight
+round the British coasts.  The route was from Cowes, in the Isle
+of Wight, along the southern and eastern coasts to Aberdeen and
+Cromarty, thence through the Caledonian Canal to Oban, then on to
+Dublin, thence to Falmouth, and along the south coast to
+Southampton Water.
+
+Two important conditions of the contest were that the flight was
+to be made in an all-British aeroplane, fitted with a British
+engine.  Hitherto our aeroplane constructors and engine companies
+were behind their rivals across the Channel in the building of
+air-craft and aerial engines, and this country freely
+acknowledged the merits and enterprise of French aviators. 
+Though in the European War it was afterwards proved that the
+British airman and constructor were the equals if not the
+superiors of any in the world, at the date of this contest they
+were behind in many respects.
+
+As these conditions precluded the use of the famous Gnome engine,
+which had won so many contests, and indeed the employment of any
+engine made abroad, the competitors were reduced to two aviation
+firms; and as one or these ultimately withdrew from the contest
+the Sopwith Aviation Company of Kingston-on-Thames and Brooklands
+entered a machine.
+
+Mr. T. Sopwith chose for his pilot a young Australian airman, Mr.
+Harry Hawker.  This skilful airman came with three other
+Australians to this country to seek his fortune about three years
+before.  He was passionately devoted to mechanics, and, though he
+had had no opportunity of flying in his native country, he had
+been intensely interested in the progress of aviation in France
+and Britain, and the four friends set out on their long journey
+to seek work in aeroplane factories.
+
+All four succeeded, but by far the most successful was Harry
+Hawker.  Early in 1913 Mr. Sopwith was looking out for a pilot,
+and he engaged Hawker, whom he had seen during some good flying
+at Brooklands.
+
+In a month or two he was engaged in record breaking, and in June,
+1913, he tried to set up a new British height record.  In his
+first attempt he rose to 11,300 feet; but as the carburettor of
+the engine froze, and as the pilot himself was in grave danger of
+frost-bite, he descended.  About a fortnight later he rose 12,300
+feet above sea-level, and shortly afterwards he performed an even
+more difficult test, by climbing with three passengers to an
+altitude of 8500 feet.
+
+With such achievements to his name it was not in the least
+surprising that Mr. Sopwith's choice of a pilot for the
+water-plane race rested on Hawker.  His first attempt was made on
+16th August, when he flew from Southampton Water to Yarmouth--a
+distance of about 240 miles--in 240 minutes.  The writer, who was
+spending a holiday at Lowestoft, watched Mr. Hawker go by, and
+his machine was plainly visible to an enormous crowd which had
+lined the beach.
+
+To everyone's regret the pilot was affected with a slight
+sunstroke when he reached Yarmouth, and another Australian
+airman, Mr. Sidney Pickles, was summoned to take his place.  This
+was quite within the rules of the contest, the object of which
+was to test the merits of a British machine and engine rather
+than the endurance and skill of a particular pilot.  During the
+night a strong wind arose, and next morning, when Mr. Pickles
+attempted to resume the flight, the sea was too rough for
+a start to be made, and the water-plane was beached at Gorleston.
+
+Mr. Hawker quickly recovered from his indisposition, and on
+Monday, 25th August, he, with a mechanic as passenger, left Cowes
+about five o'clock in the morning in his second attempt to make a
+circuit of Britain.  The first control was at Ramsgate, and here
+he had to descend in order to fulfil the conditions of the
+contest.
+
+Ramsgate was left at 9.8, and Yarmouth, the next control, was
+reached at 10.38.  So far the engine, built by Mr. Green, had
+worked perfectly.  About an hour was spent at Yarmouth, and then
+the machine was en route to Scarborough.  Haze compelled the
+pilot to keep close in to the coast, so that he should not miss
+the way, and a choppy breeze some what retarded the progress of
+the machine along the east coast.  About 2.40 the pilot brought
+his machine to earth, or rather to water, at Scarborough, where
+he stayed for nearly two hours.
+
+Mr. Hawker's intention was to reach Aberdeen, if possible, before
+nightfall, but at Seaham he had to descend for water, as the
+engine was becoming uncomfortably hot, and the radiator supply of
+water was rapidly diminishing.  This lost much valuable time, as
+over an hour was spent here, and it had begun to grow dark before
+the journey was recommenced.  About an hour after resuming his
+journey he decided to plane down at the fishing village of
+Beadwell, some 20 miles south of Berwick.
+
+At 8.5 on Tuesday morning the pilot was on his way to Aberdeen,
+but he had to descend and stay at Montrose for about half an
+hour, and Aberdeen was reached about 11 a.m.  His Scottish
+admirers, consisting of quite 40,000 people at Aberdeen alone,
+gave him a most hearty welcome, and sped him on his way about
+noon.  Some two hours later Cromarty was reached.
+
+Now commenced the most difficult part of the course.  The
+Caledonian Canal runs among lofty mountains, and the numerous
+air-eddies and swift air-streams rushing through the mountain
+passes tossed the frail craft to and fro, and at times threatened
+to wreck it altogether.  On some occasions the aeroplane was
+tossed up over 1000 feet at one blow; at other times it was
+driven sideways almost on to the hills.   From Cromarty to Oban
+the journey was only about 96 miles, but it took nearly three
+hours to fly between these places.  This slow progress seriously
+jeopardized the pilot's chances of completing the course in the
+allotted time, for it was his intention to make the coast of
+Ireland by nightfall.  But as it was late when Oban was reached
+he decided to spend the night there.
+
+Early the following morning he left for Dublin, 222 miles away. 
+Soon a float was found to be waterlogged and much valuable time
+was, spent in bailing it dry.  Then a descent had to be made at
+Kiells, in Argyllshire, because a valve had gone wrong.  Another
+landing was made at Larne, to take aboard petrol.  As soon as the
+petrol tanks were filled and the machine had been overhauled the
+pilot got on his way for Dublin.
+
+For over two hours he flew steadily down the Irish coast, and
+then occurred one of those slight accidents, quite insignificant
+in themselves, but terribly disastrous in their results.  Mr.
+Hawker's boots were rubber soled and his foot slipped off the
+rudder bar, so that the machine got out of control and fell into
+the sea at Lough Shinny, about 15 miles north of Dublin.  At the
+time of the accident the pilot was about 50 feet above the water,
+which in this part of the Lough is very shallow.  The machine was
+completely wrecked, and Mr. Hawker's mechanic was badly cut about
+the head and neck, besides having his arm broken.  Mr. Hawker
+himself escaped injury.
+
+All Britons deeply sympathized with his misfortune, and much
+enthusiasm, was aroused when the proprietors of the Daily Mail
+presented the skilful and courageous pilot with a cheque for
+L1000 as a consolation gift.
+
+In a later chapter some account will be given of the tremendous
+development of the aeroplane during four years of war.  But it is
+fitting that to the three historic flights detailed above there
+should be added the sensational exploits of the Marchese Giulio
+Laureati in 1917.  This intrepid Italian airman made a non-stop
+journey from Turin to Naples and back, a distance of 920 miles. 
+A month later he flew from Turin to Hounslow, a distance of 656
+miles, in 7 hours 22 minutes.  His machine was presented to the
+British Air Board by the Italian Government.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+The Hydroplane and Air-boat
+
+One of the most recent developments in aviation is the
+hydroplane, or water-plane as it is most commonly called.  A
+hydroplane is an aeroplane fitted with floats instead of wheels,
+so that it will rise from, or alight upon, the surface of the
+water.  Often water-planes have their floats removed and wheels
+affixed to the chassis, so that they may be used over land.
+
+From this you may think that the construction of a water-plane is
+quite a simple task; but such is not the case.  The fitting of
+floats to an aeroplane has called for great skill on the part of
+the constructor, and many difficulties have had to be overcome.
+
+Those of you who have seen an acroplane rise from the ground know
+that the machine runs very quickly over the earth at a rapidly-
+increasing speed, until sufficient momentum is obtained for the
+machine to lift itself into the air.  In the case of the
+water-plane the pilot has to glide or "taxi" by means of a float
+or floats over the waves until the machine acquires flying speed.
+
+Now the land resistance to the rubber-tired wheels is very small
+when compared with the water resistance to the floats, and the
+faster the craft goes the greater is the resistance.  The great
+problem which the constructor has had to solve is to build a
+machine fitted with floats which will leave the water easily,
+which will preserve the lateral balance of the machine, and which
+will offer the minimum resistance in the air.
+
+A short flat-bottomed float, such as that known as the Fabre, is
+good at getting off from smooth water, but is frequently damaged
+when the sea is rough.  A long and narrow float is preferable for
+rough water, as it is able to cut through the waves; but
+comparatively little "lift" is obtained from it.
+
+Some designers have provided their water-planes with two floats;
+others advocate a single loat.  The former makes the machine more
+stable when at rest on the water, but a great rawback is that the
+two-float machine is affected by waves more than a machine
+fitted with a single float; for one float may be on the crest of
+a wave and the other in the dip.  This is not the case with the
+single-float water-plane, but on the other hand this type is less
+stable than the other when at rest.
+
+Sometimes the floats become waterlogged, and so add considerably
+to the weight of the machine.  Thus in Mr. Hawker's flight round
+Britain, the pilot and his passenger had to pump about ten
+gallons of water out of one of the floats before the machine
+could rise properly.  Floats are usually made with watertight
+compartments, and are composed of several thin layers of wood,
+riveted to a wooden framework.
+
+There is another technical question to be considered in the
+fixing of the floats, namely, the fore-and-aft balance of the
+machine in the air.  The propeller of a water-plane has to be
+set higher than that of a land aeroplane, so that it may not come
+into contact with the waves.  This tends to tip the craft
+forwards, and thus make the nose of the float dig in the
+water.  To overcome this the float is set well forward of the
+centre of gravity, and though this counteracts the thrust when
+the craft "taxies" along the waves, it endangers its fore-and-aft
+stability when aloft.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+A Famous British Inventor of the Water-plane
+
+Though Harry Hawker made such a brilliant and gallant attempt to
+win the L5000 prize, we must not forget that great credit is due
+to Mr. Sopwith, who designed the water-plane, and to Mr. Green,
+the inventor of the engine which made such a flight possible, and
+enabled the pilot to achieve a feat never before approached in
+any part of the world.
+
+The life-story of Mr. "Tommy" Sopwith is almost a romance.  As a
+lad he was intensely interested in mechanics, and we can imagine
+him constructing all manner of models, and enquiring the why and
+the wherefore of every mechanical toy with which he came into
+contact.
+
+At the early age of twenty-one he commenced a motor business, but
+about this time engineers and mechanics all over the country were
+becoming greatly interested in the practical possibilities of
+aviation.  Mr. Sopwith decided to learn to fly, and in 1910,
+after continued practice in a Howard Wright biplane, he had
+become a proficient pilot.  So rapid was his progress that by the
+end of the year he had won the magnificent prize of L4000
+generously offered by Baron de Forest for the longest flight made
+by an all-British machine from England to the Continent.  In this
+flight he covered 177 miles, from Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey, to
+the Belgian frontier, in three and a half hours.
+
+If Mr. Sopwith had been in any doubt as to the wisdom of changing
+his business this remarkable achievement alone must have assured
+him that his future career lay in aviation.  In 1911 he was
+graciously received by King George V at Windsor Castle, after
+having flown from Brooklands and alighted on the East Terrace of
+the famous castle.
+
+In the same year he visited America, and astonished even that
+go-ahead country with some skilful flying feats.  To show the
+practical possibilities of the aeroplane he overtook the liner
+Olympic, after she had left New York harbour on her homeward
+voyage, and dropped aboard a parcel addressed to a passenger.  On
+his return to England he competed in the first Aerial Derby, the
+course being a circuit of London, representing a distance of 81
+miles.  In this race he made a magnificent flight in a
+70-horse-power Bleriot monoplane, and came in some fifteen
+minutes before Mr. Hamel, the second pilot home.  So popular was
+his victory that Mr. Grahame-White and several other officials of
+the London Aerodrome carried him shoulder high from his machine.
+
+From this time we hear little of Mr. Sopwith as a pilot, for,
+like other famous airmen, such as Louis Bleriot, Henri Farman,
+and Claude Grahame-White, who jumped into fame by success in
+competition flying, he has retired with his laurels, and now
+devotes his efforts to the construction of machines.  He bids
+fair to be equally successful as a constructor of air-craft as he
+formerly was as a pilot of flying machines.  The Sopwith machines
+are noted for their careful design and excellent workmanship. 
+They are made by the Sopwith Aviation Company, Ltd., whose works
+are at Kingston-on-Thames.  Several water-planes have been built
+there for the Admiralty, and land machines for the War Office. 
+Late in 1913 Mr. Hawker left Britain for Australia to give
+demonstrations in the Sopwith machine to the Government of his
+native country.
+
+A fine list of records has for long stood to the credit of the
+Sopwith biplane.  Among these are:
+
+British Height Record (Pilot only) ...    ...  11,450 feet
+   "      "      "    (Pilot and 1 Passenger)  12,900  "
+   "      "      "    (Pilot and 2 Passengers) 10,600  "
+World's   "      "    (Pilot and 3 Passengers)  8,400  "
+
+Many of the Sopwith machines used in the European War were built
+specially to withstand rough climate and heavy winds, and thus
+they were able to work in almost every kind of weather.  It was
+this fact, coupled with the indomitable spirit of adventure
+inherent in men of British race, that made British airmen more
+than hold their own with both friend and foe in the war.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+Sea-planes for Warfare
+
+"Even in the region of the air, into which with characteristic
+British prudence we have moved with some tardiness, the Navy need
+not fear comparison with the Navy of any other country.  The
+British sea-plane, although still in an empirical stage, like
+everything else in this sphere of warlike operations, has reached
+a point of progress in advance of anything attained elsewhere.
+
+"Our hearts should go out to-night to those brilliant officers,
+Commander Samson and his band of brilliant pioneers, to whose
+endeavours, to whose enterprise, to whose devotion it is due that
+in an incredibly short space of time our naval aeroplane service
+has been raised to that primacy from which it must never be cast
+down.
+
+"It is not only in naval hydroplanes that we must have
+superiority.  The enduring safety of this country will not be
+maintained by force of arms unless over the whole sphere of
+aerial development we are able to make ourselves the first
+nation.  That will be a task of long duration.  Many difficulties
+have to be overcome.  Other countries have started sooner.  The
+native genius of France, the indomitable perseverance of Germany,
+have produced results which we at the present time cannot equal."
+
+So said Mr. Winston Churchill at the Lord Mayor's Banquet held in
+London in 1913, and I have quoted his speech because such a
+statement, made at such a time, clearly shows the attitude of the
+British Government toward this new arm of Imperial Defence.
+
+In bygone days the ocean was the great highway which united the
+various quarters of the Empire, and, what was even more important
+from the standpoint of our country's defence, it was a formidable
+barrier between Britain and her Continental neighbours,
+
+      "Which serves it in the office of a wall
+       Or as a moat defensive to a house."
+
+But the ocean is no longer the only highway, for the age of
+aerial navigation has arrived, and, as one writer says:  "Every
+argument which impelled us of old to fight for the dominion of
+the sea has apparently been found valid in relation to the
+supremacy of the air."
+
+From some points of view this race between nations for naval and
+aerial supremacy may be unfortunate, but so long as the fighting
+instinct of man continues in the human race, so long as rivalry
+exists between nations, so long must we continue to strengthen
+our aerial position.
+
+Britain is slow to start on any great venture where great change
+is effected.  Our practice is rather to wait and see what other
+nations are doing; and there is something to be said for this
+method of procedure.
+
+In the art of aviation, and in the construction of air-craft, our
+French, German, and American rivals were very efficient
+pacemakers in the aerial race for supremacy, and during the years
+1909-12 we were in grave peril of being left hopelessly behind. 
+But in 1913 we realized the vital importance to the State of
+capturing the first place in aviation, particularly that of
+aerial supremacy at sea, for the Navy is our first line of
+defence.  So rapid has been our progress that we are quite the
+equal of our French and German rivals in the production of
+aeroplanes, and in sea-planes we are far ahead of them, both in
+design and construction, and the war has proved that we are ahead
+in the art of flight.
+
+The Naval Air Service before the war had been establishing a
+chain of air stations round the coast.  These stations are at
+Calshot, on Southampton Water, the Isle of Grain, off Sheerness,
+Leven, on the Firth of Forth, Cromarty, Yarmouth, Blythe, and
+Cleethorpes.
+
+But what is even more important is the fact that the Government
+is encouraging sea-plane constructors to go ahead as fast as they
+can in the production of efficient machines.  Messrs. Short
+Brothers, the Sopwith Aviation Company, and Messrs. Roe are
+building high-class machines for sea work which can beat anything
+turned out abroad.  Our newest naval water-planes are fitted with
+British-built wireless apparatus of great range of action, and
+Messrs. Short Brothers are at the present time constructing for
+the Admiralty, at their works in the Isle of Sheppey, a fleet of
+fighting water-planes capable of engaging and destroying the
+biggest dirigible air-ships.
+
+In 1913 aeroplanes took a very prominent part in our naval
+manoeuvres, and the cry of the battleship captains was:  "Give us
+water-planes.  Give us them of great size and power, large enough
+to carry a gun and gun crew, and capable of taking twelve-hour
+cruises at a speed much greater than that of the fastest
+dirigible air-ship, and we shall be on the highroad to aerial
+supremacy at sea."
+
+The Admiralty, acting on this advice, at once began to co-operate
+with the leading firms of aeroplane constructors, and at a great
+rate machines of all sizes and designs have been turned out. 
+There were light single-seater water-planes able to maintain a
+speed of over a mile a minute; there were also larger machines
+for long-distance flying which could carry two passengers.  The
+machines were so designed that their wings could be folded back
+along their bodies, and their wires, struts, and so on packed
+into the main parts of the craft, so that they were almost as
+compact as the body of a bird at rest on its perch, and they
+took up comparatively little space on board ship.
+
+A brilliantly executed raid was carried out on Cuxhaven, an
+important German naval base, by seven British water-planes, on
+Christmas Day, 1914.  The water-planes were escorted across the
+North Sea by a light cruiser and destroyer force, together with
+submarines.  They left the war-ships in the vicinity of
+Heligoland and flew over Cuxhaven, discharging bombs on points of
+military significance, and apparently doing considerable damage
+to the docks and shipping.  The British ships remained off the
+coast for three hours in order to pick up the returning airmen,
+and during this time they were attacked by dirigibles and
+submarines, without, however, suffering damage.  Six of the
+sea-planes returned safely to the ships, but one was wrecked in
+Heligoland Bight.
+
+But the present efficient sea-plane is a development of the war. 
+In the early days many of the raids of the "naval wing"  were
+carried out in land-going aeroplanes.  Now the R.N.A.S., which
+came into being as a separate service in July, 1914, possess two
+main types of flying machine, the flying boat and the twin float,
+both types being able to rise from and alight upon the sea, just
+as an aeroplane can leave and return to the land.  Many brilliant
+raids stand to the credit of the R.N.A.S.  The docks at Antwerp,
+submarine bases at Ostend, and all Germany's fortified posts on
+the Belgian coast, have seldom been free from their attentions. 
+And when, under the stress of public outcry, the Government at
+last gave its consent to a measure of "reprisals" it was the
+R.N.A.S. which opened the campaign with a raid upon the German
+town of Mannheim.
+
+As the war continued the duties of the naval pilot increased.  He
+played a great part in the ceaseless hunt for submarines.  You
+must often have noticed how easily fish can be seen from a bridge
+which are quite invisible from the banks of the river.  On this
+principle the submarine can be "spotted" by air-craft, and not
+until the long silence upon naval affairs is broken, at the end
+of the war, shall we know to what extent we are indebted to naval
+airmen for that long list of submarines which, in the words of
+the German reports, "failed to return" to their bases.
+
+In addition to the "Blimps" of which mention has been made, the
+Royal Naval Air Service are in charge of air-ships known as the
+Coast Patrol type, which work farther out to sea, locating
+minefields and acting as scouts for the great fleet of patrol
+vessels.  The Service has gathered laurels in all parts of the
+globe, its achievements ranging from an aerial food service into
+beleaguered Kut to the discovery of the German cruiser
+Konigsberg, cunningly camouflaged up an African creek.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+The First Man to Fly in Britain
+
+The honour of being the first man to fly in this country is
+claimed by Mr. A. V. Roe, head of the well-known firm A. V. Roe &
+Co., of Manchester, and constructor of the highly-efficient Avro
+machines.
+
+As a youth Roe's great hobby was the construction of toy models
+of various forms of machinery, and later on he achieved
+considerable success in the production of aeroplane models.  All
+manner of novelties were the outcome of his fertile brain, and as
+it has been truly remarked, "his novelties have the peculiarity,
+not granted to most pioneers, of being in one respect or another
+ahead of his contemporaries."  In addition, he studied the
+flight of birds.
+
+In the early days of aviation Mr. Roe was a firm believer in the
+triplane form of machine, and his first experiments in flight
+were made with a triplane equipped with an engine which developed
+only 9 horse-power.
+
+Later on, he turned his attention to the biplane, and with this
+craft he has been highly successful.  The Avro biplane, produced
+in 1913, was one of the very best machines which appeared in that
+eventful year.  The Daily Telegraph, when relating its
+performances, said:  "The spectators at Hendon were given a
+remarkable demonstration of the wonderful qualities of this fine
+Avro biplane, whose splendid performances stamped it as one of
+the finest aeroplanes ever designed, if not indeed the finest of
+all".
+
+This craft is fitted with an 80-horse-power Gnome engine, and is
+probably the fastest passenger-carrying biplane of its type in
+the world.  Its total weight, with engine, fuel for three
+hours, and a passenger, is 1550 pounds, and it has a main-plane
+surface of 342 square feet.
+
+Not only can the biplane maintain such great speed, but, what is
+of great importance for observation purposes, it can fly at the
+slow rate of 30 miles per hour.  We have previously remarked that
+a machine is kept up in the air by the speed it attains; if its
+normal flying speed be much reduced the machine drops to earth
+unless the rate of flying is accelerated by diving, or other
+means.
+
+What Harry Hawker is to Mr. Sopwith so is F. P. Raynham to Mr.
+Roe.  This skilful pilot learned to fly at Brooklands, and during
+the last year or two he has been continuously engaged in testing
+Avro machines, and passing them through the Army reception
+trials.  In the "Aerial Derby" of 1913 Mr. Raynham piloted an
+80-horse-power Avro biplane, and came in fourth.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+The Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service
+
+The year 1912 was marked by the institution of the Royal Flying
+Corps.  The new corps, which was so soon to make its mark in
+the greatest of all wars, consisted of naval and military
+"wings".  In those early days the head-quarters of the corps were
+at Eastchurch, and there both naval and military officers were
+trained in aviation.  In an arm of such rapid--almost
+miraculous--development as Service flying to go back a period of
+six years is almost to take a plunge into ancient history. 
+Designs, engines, guns, fittings, signals of those days are now
+almost archaic.  The British engine of reliable make had not yet
+been evolved, and the aeroplane generally was a conglomerate
+affair made up of parts assembled from various parts of the
+Continent.  The present-day sea-plane was yet to come, and naval
+pilots shared the land-going aeroplanes of their military
+brethren.  In the days when Bleriot provided a world sensation by
+flying across the Channel the new science was kept alive mainly
+by the private enterprise of newspapers and aeroplane
+manufacturers.  The official attitude, as is so often the case in
+the history of inventions, was as frigid as could be.  The
+Government looked on with a cold and critical eye, and could not
+be touched either in heart or in pocket.
+
+But with the institution of the Royal Flying Corps the official
+heart began to warm slightly, and certain tests were laid down
+for those manufacturers who aspired to sell their machines to the
+new arm of the Service.  These  tests, providing for fuel
+capacity up to 4.0 miles, speeds up to 85 miles an hour, and
+heights up to 3500 feet, would now be regarded as very elementary
+affairs.  "Looping the loop" was still a dangerous trick for the
+exhibiting airman and not an evolution; while the "nose-dive" was
+an uncalculated entry into the next world.
+
+The first important stage in the history of the new arm was
+reached in July, 1914, when the wing system was abolished, and
+the Royal Naval Air Service became a separate unit of the
+Imperial Forces.  The first public appearance of the sailor
+airmen was at a proposed review of the fleet by the King at a
+test mobilization.  The King was unable to attend, but the naval
+pilots carried out their part of the programme very creditably
+considering the polyglot nature of their sea-planes.  A few weeks
+later and the country was at war.
+
+There can be no doubt that the Great War has had an enormous
+forcing influence upon the science of aviation.  In times of
+peace the old game of private enterprise and official neglect
+would possibly have been carried on in well-marked stages.  But
+with the terrific incentive of victory before them, all
+Governments fostered the growth of the new arm by all the means
+in their power.  It became a race between Allied and enemy
+countries as to who first should attain the mastery of the air.
+The British nation, as usual, started well behind in the race,
+and their handicap would have been increased to a dangerous
+extent had Germany not been obsessed by the possibilities of
+the air-ship as opposed to the aeroplane.  Fortunately for us the
+Zeppelin, as has been described in an earlier chapter, failed to
+bring about the destruction anticipated by its inventor, and so
+we gained breathing space for catching up the enemy in the
+building and equipment of aeroplanes and the training of pilots
+and observers.
+
+War has set up its usual screens, and the writer is only
+permitted a very vague and impressionistic picture of the work of
+the R.F.C. and R.N.A.S.  Numerical details and localities must be
+rigorously suppressed.   Descriptions of the work of the Flying
+Service must be almost as bald as those laconic reports sent in
+by naval and military airmen to head-quarters.  But there is such
+an accomplishment as reading between the lines.
+
+The flying men fall naturally into two classes--pilots and
+observers.  The latter, of course, act as aerial gunners.  The
+pilots have to pass through three, and observers two, successive
+courses of training in aviation.  Instruction is very detailed
+and thorough as befits a career which, in addition to embracing
+the endless problems of flight, demands knowledge of wireless
+telegraphy, photography, and machine gunnery.
+
+Many of the officers are drafted into the Royal Flying Corps from
+other branches of the Service, but there are also large numbers
+of civilians who take up the career.  In their case they are
+first trained as cadets, and, after qualifying for commissions,
+start their training in aviation at one of the many schools
+which have now sprung up in all parts of the country.
+
+When the actual flying men are counted in thousands some idea may
+be gained of the great organization required for the Corps--the
+schools and flying grounds, the training and activities of the
+mechanics, the workshops and repair shops, the storage of spare
+parts, the motor transport, &c.  As in other departments of the 
+Service, women have come forward and are doing excellent and most
+responsible work, especially in the motor-transport section.
+
+A very striking  feature of the Corps is the extreme youth of the
+members, many of the most daring fighters in the air being mere
+boys of twenty.
+
+The Corps has the very pick of the youth and daring and
+enterprise of the country.  In the days of the old army there
+existed certain unwritten laws of precedence as between various
+branches of the Service.  If such customs still prevail it is
+certain that the very newest arm would take pride of place.  The
+flying man has recaptured some of the glamour and romance which
+encircled the knight-errant of old.  He breathes the very
+atmosphere of dangerous adventure.  Life for him is a series of
+thrills, any one of which would be sufficient to last the
+ordinary humdrum citizen for a lifetime.  Small wonder that the
+flying man has captured the interest and affection of the people,
+and all eyes follow these trim, smart, desperadoes of the air in
+their passage through our cities.
+
+As regards the work of the flying man the danger curve seems to
+be changing.  On the one hand the training is much more severe
+and exacting than formerly was the case, and so carries a greater
+element of danger.  On the other hand on the battle-front
+fighting information has in great measure taken the place
+of the system of men going up "on their own".  They are perhaps
+not so liable to meet with a numerical superiority on the part
+of enemy machines, which spelt for them almost certain
+destruction.
+
+For a long time the policy of silence and secrecy which screened
+"the front" from popular gaze kept us in ignorance of the
+achievements of our airmen.  But finally the voice of the people
+prevailed in their demand for more enlightenment.  Names of
+regiments began to be mentioned in connection with particular
+successes.  And in the same way the heroes of the R.F.C. and
+R.N.A.S. were allowed to reap some of the laurels they deserved.
+
+It began to be recognized that publication of the name of an
+airman who had destroyed a Zeppelin, for instance, did not
+constitute any vital information to the enemy.  In a recent raid
+upon London the names of the two airmen, Captain G. H. Hackwill,
+R.F.C., and Lieutenant C. C. Banks, R.F.C., who destroyed a
+Gotha, were given out in the House of Commons and saluted with
+cheers.  In the old days the secretist party would have regarded
+this publication as a policy which led the nation in the direct
+line of "losing the war".
+
+In the annals of the Flying Service, where dare-devilry is taken
+as a matter of course and hairbreadth escapes from death are part
+of the daily routine, it is difficult to select adventures for
+special mention; but the following episodes will give a general
+idea of the work of the airman in war.
+
+The great feat of Sub-Lieutenant R. A. J. Warneford, R.N.A.S.,
+who single-handed attacked and destroyed a Zeppelin, has already
+been referred to in Chapter XIII.  Lieutenant Warneford was the
+second on the list of airmen who won the coveted Cross, the first
+recipient being Second-Lieutenant Barnard Rhodes-Moorhouse, for a
+daring and successful bomb-dropping raid upon Courtrai in April,
+1915.  As has happened in so many cases, the award to Lieutenant
+Rhodes-Moorhouse was a posthumous one, the gallant airman having
+been mortally wounded during the raid, in spite of which he
+managed by flying low to reach his destination and make his
+report.
+
+A writer of adventure stories for boys would be hard put to it to
+invent any situation more thrilling than that in which
+Squadron-Commander Richard Bell Davies, D.S.O., R.N., and Flight
+Sub-Lieutenant Gilbert Formby Smylie, R.N., found themselves
+while carrying out an air attack upon Ferrijik junction. 
+Smylie's machine was subjected to such heavy fire that it was
+disabled, and the airman was compelled to plane down after
+releasing all his bombs but one, which failed to explode.  The
+moment he alighted he set fire to his machine.  Presently Smylie
+saw his companion about to descend quite close to the burning
+machine.  There was infinite danger from the bomb.  It was a
+question of seconds merely before it must explode.  So Smylie
+rushed over to the machine, took hasty aim with his revolver, and
+exploded the bomb, just before the Commander came within the
+danger zone.  Meanwhile the enemy had commenced to gather round
+the two airmen, whereupon Squadron-Commander Davies coolly took
+up the Lieutenant on his machine and flew away with him in safety
+back to their lines.  Davies, who had already won the D.S.O., was
+given the V.C., while his companion in this amazing adventure was
+granted the Distinguished Service Cross.
+
+The unexpectedness, to use no stronger term, of life in the
+R.F.C. in war-time is well exemplified by the adventure which
+befell Major Rees.  The pilot of a "fighter", he saw what he took
+to be a party of air machines returning from a bombing
+expedition.  Proceeding to join them in the character of escort,
+Major Rees made the unpleasant discovery that he was just about
+to join a little party of ten enemy machines.  But so far from
+being dismayed, the plucky airman actually gave battle to the
+whole ten.  One he quickly drove "down and out", as the soldiers
+say.  Attacked by five others, he damaged two of them and
+dispersed the remainder.  Not content with this, he gave chase to
+two more, and only broke off the engagement when he had received
+a wound in the thigh.  Then he flew home to make the usual
+laconic report.
+
+No record of heroism in the air could be  complete without
+mention of Captain Ball, who has already figured in these pages. 
+When awarded the V.C. Captain Ball was already the holder of the
+following honours: D.S.0., M.C., Cross of a Chevalier of the
+Legion of Honour, and the Russian order of St. George.  This
+heroic boy of twenty was a giant among a company of giants.  Here
+follows the official account which accompanied his award:--
+
+"Lieutenant (temporary Captain) ALBERT BALL, D.S.O., M.C., late
+Notts and Derby Regiment, and R.F.C.
+
+"For most conspicuous and consistent bravery from April 25 to May
+6, 1917, during which period Captain Ball took part in twenty-six
+combats in the air and destroyed eleven hostile aeroplanes, drove
+down two out of control, and formed several others to land.
+
+"In these combats Captain Ball, flying alone, on one occasion
+fought six hostile machines, twice he fought five, and once four.
+
+"While leading two other British aeroplanes he attacked an enemy
+formation of eight.  On each of these occasions he brought down
+at least one enemy.
+
+"Several times his aeroplane was badly damaged, once so severely
+that but for the most delicate handling his machine would have
+collapsed, as nearly all the control wires had been shot away. 
+On returning with a damaged machine, he had always to be
+restrained from immediately going out on another.
+
+"In all Captain Ball has destroyed forty-three German aeroplanes
+and one balloon, and has always displayed most exceptional
+courage, determination, and skill."
+
+
+So great was Captain Ball's skill as a fighter in the air that
+for a time he was sent back to England to train new pilots in the
+schools.  But the need for his services at the front was even
+greater, and it jumped with his desires, for the whole tone of
+his letters breathes the joy he found in the excitements of
+flying and fighting.  He declares he is having a "topping
+time", and exults in boyish fashion at a coming presentation to
+Sir Douglas Haig.  It is not too much to say that the whole
+empire mourned when Captain Ball finally met his death in the air
+near La Bassee in May, 1917.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+Aeroplanes in the Great War
+
+"Aeroplanes and airships would have given us an enormous
+advantage against the Boers.  The difficulty of laying ambushes
+and traps for isolated columns--a practice at which the enemy
+were peculiarly adept--would have been very much greater.  Some
+at least of the regrettable reverses which marked the early
+stages of the campaign could in all probability have been
+avoided."
+
+So wrote Lord Roberts, our veteran field-marshal, in describing
+the progress of the Army during recent years.  The great soldier
+was a man who always looked ahead.  After his great and strenuous
+career, instead of taking the rest which he had so thoroughly
+earned, he spent laborious days travelling up and down the
+country, warning the people of danger ahead; exhorting them to
+learn to drill and to shoot; thus attempting to lay the
+foundation of a great civic army.  But his words, alas! fell upon
+deaf ears--with results so tragic as hardly to bear dwelling
+upon.
+
+But even "Bobs", seer and true prophet as he was, could hardly
+have foreseen the swift and dramatic development of war in the
+air.  He had not long been laid to rest when aeroplanes began to
+be talked about, and, what is more important, to be built, not in
+hundreds but in thousands.  At the time of writing, when we are
+well into the fourth year of the war, it seems almost impossible
+for the mind to go back to the old standards, and to take in the
+statement that the number of machines which accompanied the
+original Expeditionary Force to France was eighty!  Even if one
+were not entirely ignorant of the number and disposition of the
+aerial fighting forces over the world-wide battle-ground, the
+Defence of the Realm Act would prevent us from making public the
+information.  But when, more than a year ago, America entered the
+war, and talked of building 10,000 aeroplanes, no one gasped. 
+For even in those days one thought of aeroplanes not in hundreds
+but in tens of thousands.
+
+Before proceeding to give a few details of the most recent work
+of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service, mention
+must be made of the armament of the aeroplane.  In the first
+place, it should be stated that the war has gradually evolved
+three distinct types of flying machine: (1) the
+"general-purposes" aeroplane; (2) the giant bomb dropper; (3) the
+small single-seater "fighter".
+
+As the description implies, the first machine fills a variety of
+roles, and the duties of its pilots grow more manifold as the war
+progresses.  "Spotting" for the artillery far behind the enemy's
+lines; "searching" for ammunition dumps, for new dispositions by
+the enemy of men, material, and guns; attacking a convoy or
+bodies of troops on the march; sprinkling new trenches with
+machine-gun fire, or having a go at an aerodrome--any wild form
+of aerial adventure might be included in the diary of the pilot
+of a "general-purposes" machine.
+
+It was in order to clear the air for these activities that the
+"fighter" came into being, and received its baptism of fire at
+the Battle of the Somme.  At first the idea of a machine for
+fighting only, was ridiculed.  Even the Germans, who, in a
+military sense, were awake and plotting when other nations were
+dozing in the sunshine of peace, did not think ahead and imagine
+the aerial duel between groups of aeroplanes armed with
+machine-guns.  But soon the mastery of the air became of
+paramount importance, and so the fighter was evolved.  Nobly,
+too, did the men of all nations rise to these heroic and
+dangerous opportunities.  The Germans were the first to boast of
+the exploits of their fighting airmen, and to us in Britain the
+names of Immelmann and Bolcke were known long before those of
+any of our own fighters.  The former claimed not far short of a
+hundred victims before he was at last brought low in June, 1916. 
+His letters to his family were published soon after his death,
+and do not err on the side of modesty.
+
+On 11th August, 1915, he writes:  "There is not much doing here. 
+Ten minutes after Bolcke and I go up, there is not an enemy
+airman to be seen.  The English seem to have lost all pleasure in
+flying.  They come over very, very seldom."
+
+When allowance has been made for German brag, these statements
+throw some light upon the standard of British flying at a
+comparatively early date in the war.  Certainly no German airman
+could have made any such complaint a year later.  In 1917 the
+German airmen were given all the fighting they required and a bit
+over.
+
+Certainly a very different picture is presented by the dismal
+letters which Fritz sent home during the great Ypres offensive of
+August, 1917.  In these letters he bewails the fact that one
+after another of his batteries is put out of action owing to the
+perfect "spotting" of the British airmen, and arrives at the sad
+conclusion that Germany has lost her superiority in the air.
+
+An account has already been given of the skill and prowess of
+Captain Ball.  On his own count--and he was not the type of man
+to exaggerate his prowess--he found he had destroyed fifty
+machines, although actually he got the credit for forty-one. 
+This slight discrepancy may be explained by the scrupulous
+care which is taken to check the official returns.  The air
+fighter, though morally certain of the destruction of a certain
+enemy aeroplane, has to bring independent witnesses to
+substantiate his claim, and when out "on his own" this is no easy
+matter.  Without this check, though occasionally it acts harshly
+towards the pilot, there might be a tendency to exaggerate enemy
+losses, owing to the difficulty of distinguishing between an
+aeroplane put out of action and one the pilot of which takes a
+sensational "nose dive" to get out of danger.
+
+One of the most striking illustrations of the growth of the
+aeroplane as a fighting force is afforded by the great increase
+in the heights at which they could scout, take photographs, and
+fight.  In Sir John French's dispatches mention is made of
+bomb-dropping from 3000 feet.  In these days the aerial
+battleground has been extended to anything up to 20,000 feet. 
+Indeed, so brisk has been the duel between gun and aeroplane,
+that nowadays airmen have often to seek the other margin of
+safety, and can defy the anti-aircraft guns only by flying so low
+as just to escape the ground.  The general armament of a
+"fighter" consists of a maxim firing through the propeller, and a
+Lewis gun at the rear on a revolving gun-ring.
+
+It is pleasant to record that the Allies kept well ahead of the
+enemy in their use of aerial photography.  Before a great
+offensive some thousands of photographs had to be taken of
+enemy dispositions by means of cameras built into the aeroplanes.
+
+Plates were found to stand the rough usage better than films, and
+not for the first time in the history of mechanics the man beat
+the machine, a skilful operator being found superior to the
+ingenious automatic plate-fillers which had been devised.
+
+The counter-measure to this ruthless exposure of plans was
+camouflage.  As if by magic-tents, huts, dumps, guns began, as it
+were, to sink into the scenery.  The magicians were men skilled
+in the use of brush and paint-pot, and several leading figures in
+the world of art lent their services to the military authorities
+as directors of this campaign of concealment.  In this connection
+it is interesting to note that both Admiralty and War Office took
+measures to record the pictorial side of the Great War.  Special
+commissions were given to a notable band of artists working in
+their different "lines".  An abiding record of the great struggle
+will be afforded by the black-and-white work of Muirhead Bone,
+James M'Bey, and Charles Pears; the portraits, landscapes, and
+seascapes of Sir John Lavery, Philip Connard, Norman Wilkinson,
+and Augustus John, who received his commission from the Canadian
+Government.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+The Atmosphere and the Barometer
+
+For the discovery of how to find the atmospheric pressure we are
+indebted to an Italian named Torricelli, a pupil of Galileo, who
+carried out numerous experiments on the atmosphere toward the
+close of the sixteenth century.
+
+Torricelli argued that, as air is a fluid, if it had weight it
+could be made to balance another fluid of known weight.  In his
+experiments he found that if a glass tube about 3 feet in length,
+open at one end only, and filled with mercury, were placed
+vertically with the open end submerged in a cup of mercury, some
+of the mercury in the tube descended into the cup, leaving a
+column of mercury about 30 inches in height in the tube.  From
+this it was deduced that the pressure of air on the surface
+of the mercury in the cup forced it up the tube to the height Of
+30 inches, and this was so because the weight of a column of air
+from the cup to the top of the atmosphere was only equal to that
+of a column of mercury of the same base and 30 inches high.
+
+Torricelli's experiment can be easily repeated.  Take a glass
+tube about 3 feet long, closed at one end and open at the other;
+fill it as full as possible with mercury.  Then close the open
+end with the thumb, and invert the tube in a basin of mercury so
+that the open end dips beneath the surface.  The mercury in the
+tube will be found to fall a short distance, and if the height of
+the column from the surface of the mercury in the basin be
+measured you will find it will be about 30 inches.  As the tube
+is closed at the top there is no downward pressure of air at that
+point, and the space above the mercury in the tube is quite
+empty:  it forms a VACUUM.  This vacuum is generally known as the
+TORRICELLIAN VACUUM, after the name of its discoverer.
+
+Suppose, now, a hole be bored through the top of the tube above
+the column of mercury, the mercury will immediately fall in the
+tube until it stands at the same level as the mercury in the
+basin, because the upward pressure of air through the liquid in
+the basin would be counterbalanced by the downward pressure of
+the air at the top, and the mercury would fall by its own weight.
+
+A few years later Professor Boyle proposed to use the instrument
+to measure the height of mountains.  He argued that, since the
+pressure of the atmosphere balanced a column of mercury 30 inches
+high, it followed that if one could find the weight of the
+mercury column one would also find the weight of a column of air
+standing on a base of the same size, and stretching away
+indefinitely into space.  It was found that a column of mercury
+in a tube having a sectional area of 1 square inch, and a height
+of 30 inches, weighed 15 pounds; therefore the weight of the
+atmosphere, or air pressure, at sea-level is about 15 pounds to
+the square inch.  The ordinary mercury barometer is essentially a
+Torricellian tube graduated so that the varying heights of the
+mercury column can be used as a measure of the varying
+atmospheric pressure due to change of weather or due to
+alteration of altitude.  If we take a mercury barometer up a hill
+we will observe that the mercury falls.  The weight of atmosphere
+being less as we ascend, the column of mercury supported becomes
+smaller.
+
+Although the atmosphere has been proved to be over 200 miles
+high, it has by no means the same density throughout.  Like all
+gases, air is subject to the law that the density increases
+directly as the pressure, and thus the densest and heaviest
+layers are those nearest the sea-level, because the air near the
+earth's surface has to support the pressure of all the air above
+it.  As airmen rise into the highest portions of the atmosphere
+the height of the column of air above them decreases, and it
+follows that, having a shorter column of air to support, those
+portions are less dense than those lower down.  So rare does the
+atmosphere become, when great altitudes are reached, that at a
+height of seven miles breathing is well-nigh impossible, and at
+far lower altitudes than this airmen have to be supported by
+inhalations of oxygen.
+
+One of the greatest altitudes was reached by two famous
+balloonists, Messrs. Coxwell and Glaisher.  They were over seven
+miles in the air when the latter fell unconscious, and the plucky
+aeronauts were only saved by Mr. Coxwell pulling the valve line
+with his teeth, as all his limbs were disabled.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+How an Airman Knows what Height he Reaches
+
+One of the first questions the visitor to an aerodrome, when
+watching the altitude tests, asks is:  "How is it known that the
+airman has risen to a height of so many feet?"  Does he guess at
+the distance he is above the earth?
+
+If this were so, then it is very evident that there would be
+great difficulty in awarding a prize to a number of competitors
+each trying to ascend higher than his rivals.
+
+No; the pilot does not guess at his flying height, but he finds
+it by a height-recording instrument called the BAROGRAPH.
+
+In the last chapter we saw how the ordinary mercurial barometer
+can be used to ascertain fairly accurately the height of
+mountains.  But the airman does not take a mercurial barometer
+up with him.  There is for his use another form of barometer much
+more suited to his purpose, namely, the barograph, which is
+really a development of the aneroid barometer.
+
+The aneroid barometer (Gr. a, not; neros, moist) is so called
+because it requires neither mercury, glycerine, water, nor any
+other liquid in its construction.    It consists essentially of a
+small, flat, metallic box made of elastic metal, and from which
+the air has been partially exhausted.  In the interior there is
+an ingenious arrangement of springs and levers, which respond to
+atmospheric pressure, and the depression or elevation of the
+surface is registered by an index on the dial.  As the pressure
+of the atmosphere increases, the sides of the box are squeezed in
+by the weight of the air, while with a decrease of pressure they
+are pressed out again by the springs.  By means of a suitable
+adjustment the pointer on the dial responds to these movements. 
+It is moved in one direction for increase of air pressure, and in
+the opposite for decreased pressure.  The positions of the
+figures on the dial are originally obtained by numerous
+comparisons with a standard mercurial barometer, and the scale is
+graduated to correspond with the mercurial barometer.
+
+From the illustration here given you will notice the pointer and
+scale of the "A. G" aero-barograph, which is used by many of
+our leading airmen, and which, as we have said, is a development
+of the aneroid barometer.  The need of a self-registering scale
+to a pilot who is competing in an altitude test, or who is trying
+to establish a height record, is self-evident.  He need not
+interfere with the instrument in the slightest; it records and
+tells its own story.  There is in use a pocket barograph which
+weighs only 1 pound, and registers up to 4000 feet.
+
+It is claimed for the "A. G." barograph that it is the most
+precise instrument of its kind.  Its advantages are that it is
+quite portable--it measures only 6 1/4 inches in length, 3 1/2
+inches in width, and 2 1/2 inches in depth, with a total weight
+of only 14 pounds--and that it is exceptionally accurate and
+strong.  Some idea of the labour involved in its construction may
+be gathered from the fact that this small and
+insignificant-looking instrument, fitted in its aluminium case,
+costs over L8.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII
+How an Airman finds his Way
+
+In the early days of aviation we frequently heard of an aviator
+losing his way, and being compelled to descend some miles from
+his required destination.  There are on record various instances
+where airmen have lost their way when flying over the sea, and
+have drifted so far from land that they have been drowned.  One
+of the most notable of such disasters was that which occurred to
+Mr. Hamel in 1914, when he was trying to cross the English
+Channel.  It is presumed that this unfortunate pilot lost his
+bearings in a fog, and that an, accident to his machine, or
+a shortage of petrol, caused him to fall in the sea.
+
+There are several reasons why air pilots go out of their course,
+even though they are supplied with most efficient compasses.  One
+cause of misdirection is the prevalence of a strong side wind. 
+Suppose, for example, an airman intended to fly from Harwich to
+Amsterdam.  A glance at the map will show that the latter place
+is almost due east of Harwich.  We will assume that when the
+pilot leaves Earth at Harwich the wind is blowing to the east;
+that is, behind his back.
+
+Now, however strong a wind may be, and in whatever direction it
+blows, it always appears to be blowing full in a pilot's face.
+Of course this is due to the fact that the rush of the machine
+through the air "makes a wind", as we say.  Much the same sort of
+thing is experienced on a bicycle; when out cycling we very
+generally seem to have a "head" wind.
+
+Suppose during his journey a very strong side wind sprang,up over
+the North Sea.  The pilot would still keep steering his craft due
+east, and it must be remembered that when well out at sea there
+would be no familiar landmarks to guide him, so that he would
+have to rely solely on his compass.  It is highly probable that
+he would not feel the change of wind at all, but it is even more
+probable that when land was ultimately reached he would be dozens
+of miles from his required landing-place.
+
+Quite recently Mr. Alexander Gross, the well-known maker of
+aviation instruments, who is even more famous for his excellent
+aviation maps, claims to have produced an anti-drift
+aero-compass, which has been specially designed for use on
+aeroplanes.  The chief advantages of this compass are that the
+dial is absolutely steady; the needle is extremely sensitive and
+shows accurately the most minute change of course; the anti-drift
+arrangement checks the slightest deviation from the straight
+course; and it is fitted with a revolving sighting arrangement
+which is of great importance in the adjustment of the instrument.
+
+Before the airman leaves Earth he sets his compass to the course
+to be steered, and during the flight he has only to see that the
+two boldly-marked north points--on the dial and on the outer
+ring--coincide to know that he is keeping his course.  The north
+points are luminous, so that they are clearly visible at night.
+
+It is quite possible that if some of our early aviators had
+carried such a highly-efficient compass as this, their lives
+might have been saved, for they would not have gone so far astray
+in their course.  The anti-drift compass has been adopted by
+various Governments, and it now forms part of the equipment of
+the Austrian military aeroplane.
+
+When undertaking cross-country flights over strange land an
+airman finds his way by a specially-prepared map which is spread
+out before him in an aluminium map case.  From the illustration
+here given of an aviator's map, you will see that it differs in
+many respects from the ordinary map.  Most British aviation maps
+are made and supplied by Mr Alexander Gross, of the firm of
+"Geographia", London.
+
+Many airmen seem to find their way instinctively, so to speak,
+and some are much better in picking out landmarks, and
+recognizing the country generally, than others.  This is the case
+even with pedestrians, who have the guidance of sign-posts,
+street names, and so on to assist them.  However accurately some
+people are directed, they appear to have the greatest difficulty
+in finding their way, while others, more fortunate, remember
+prominent features on the route, and pick out their course as
+accurately as does a homing pigeon.
+
+Large sheets of water form admirable "sign-posts" for an airman;
+thus at Kempton Park, one of the turning-points in the course
+followed in the "Aerial Derby", there are large reservoirs, which
+enable the airmen to follow the course at this point with the
+greatest ease.  Railway lines, forests, rivers and canals, large
+towns, prominent structures, such as gasholders, chimney-stalks,
+and so on, all assist an airman to find his way.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII
+The First Airman to Fly Upside Down
+
+Visitors to Brooklands aerodrome on 25th September, 1913, saw one
+of the greatest sensations in this or any other century, for on
+that date a daring French aviator, M. Pegoud, performed the
+hazardous feat of flying upside down.
+
+Before we describe the marvellous somersaults which Pegoud made,
+two or three thousand feet above the earth, it would be well to
+see what was the practical use of it all.  If this amazing airman
+had been performing some circus trick in the air simply for the
+sake of attracting large crowds of people to witness it, and
+therefore being the means of bringing great monetary gain both to
+him and his patrons, then this chapter would never have been
+written.  Indeed, such a risk to one's life, if there had been
+nothing to learn from it, would have been foolish.
+
+No; Pegoud's thrilling performance must be looked at from an
+entirely different standpoint to such feats of daring as the
+placing of one's head in the jaws of a lion, the traversing of
+Niagara Falls by means of a tight-rope stretched across them, and
+other similar senseless acts, which are utterly useless to
+mankind.
+
+Let us see what such a celebrated airman as Mr. Gustav Hamel said
+of the pioneer of upside-down flying.
+
+"His looping the loop, his upside-down flights, his general
+acrobatic feats in the air are all of the utmost value to pilots
+throughout the world.  We shall have proof of this, I am sure, in
+the near future.  Pegoud has shown us what it is possible to do
+with a modern machine.  In his first attempt to fly upside down
+he courted death.  Like all pioneers, he was taking liberties
+with the unknown elements.  No man before him had attempted the
+feat.  It is true that men have been upside down in the air; but
+they were turned over by sudden gusts of wind, and in most cases
+were killed.  Pegoud is all the time rehearsing accidents and
+showing how easy it is for a pilot to recover equilibrium
+providing he remains perfectly calm and clear-headed.  Any one of
+his extraordinary positions might be brought about by adverse
+elements.  It is quite conceivable that a sudden gust of wind
+might turn the machine completely over.  Hitherto any pilot in
+such circumstances would give himself up for lost.  Pegoud has
+taught us what to do in such a case. . . . his flights have given
+us all a new confidence.
+
+"In a gale the machine might be upset at many different angles. 
+Pegoud has shown us that it is easily possible to recover from
+such predicaments.  He has dealt with nearly every kind of
+awkward position into which one might be driven in a gale of
+wind, or in a flight over mountains where air-currents prevail.
+
+"He has thus gained evidence which will be of the utmost value to
+present and future pilots, and prove a factor of signal
+importance in the preservation of life in the air."
+
+Such words as these, coming from a man of Mr. Hamel's reputation
+as an aviator, clearly show us that M. Pegoud has a life-saving
+mission for airmen throughout the world.
+
+Let us stand, in imagination, with the enormous crowd of
+spectators who invaded the Surrey aerodrome on 25th September,
+and the two following days, in 1913.
+
+What an enormous crowd it was!  A line of motor-cars bordered the
+track for half a mile, and many of the spectators were busy city
+men who had taken a hasty lunch and rushed off down to Weybridge
+to see a little French airman risk his life in the air. 
+Thousands of foot passengers toiled along the dusty road from the
+paddock to the hangars, and thousands more, who did not care to
+pay the shilling entrance fee, stood closely packed on the high
+ground outside the aerodrome.
+
+Biplanes and monoplanes came driving through the air from Hendon,
+and airmen of world-wide fame, such as Sopwith, Hamel, Verrier,
+and Hucks, had gathered together as disciples of the great
+life-saving missionary.  Stern critics these!  Men who would
+ruthlessly expose any "faked" performance if need were!
+
+And where is the little airman while all this crowd is gathering? 
+Is he very excited?  He has never before been in England.  We
+wonder if his amazing coolness and admirable control over his
+nerves will desert him among strange surroundings.
+
+Probably Pegoud was the coolest man in all that vast crowd.  He
+seemed to want to hide himself from public gaze.  Most of his
+time, was taken up in signing post-cards for people who had been
+fortunate enough to discover him in a little restaurant near
+which his shed was situated.
+
+At last his Bleriot monoplane was wheeled out, and he was
+strapped, or harnessed, into his seat.  "Was the machine a
+'freak' monoplane?" we wondered.
+
+We were soon assured that such was not the case.  Indeed, as
+Pegoud himself says:  "I have used a standard type of monoplane
+on purpose.  Almost every aeroplane, if it is properly balanced,
+has just as good a chance as mine, and I lay particular stress on
+the fact that there is nothing extraordinary about my machine, so
+that no one can say my achievements are in any way faked."
+
+During the preliminary operations his patron, M. Bleriot, stood
+beside the machine, and chatted affably with the aviator.  At
+last the signal was given for his ascent, and in a few moments
+Pegoud was climbing with the nose of his machine tilted high in
+the air.  For about a quarter of an hour he flew round in
+ever-widening circles, rising very quietly and steadily until he
+had reached an altitude of about 4000 feet.  A deep silence
+seemed to have settled on the vast crowd nearly a mile below, and
+the musical droning of his engine could be plainly heard.
+
+Then his movements began to be eccentric.  First, he gave a
+wonderful exhibition of banking at right angles.  Then, after
+about ten minutes, he shut off his engine, pitched downwards and
+gracefully righted himself again.
+
+At last the amazing feat began.  His left wing was raised, his
+right wing dipped, and the nose of the machine dived steeply, and
+turned right round with the airman hanging head downwards, and
+the wheels of the monoplane uppermost.  In this way he travelled
+for about a hundred yards, and then slowly righted the machine,
+until it assumed its normal position, with the engine again
+running.  Twice more the performance was repeated, so that he
+travelled from one side of the aerodrome to the other--a distance
+of about a mile and a half.
+
+Next he descended from 4000 feet to about 1200 feet in four
+gigantic loops, and, as one writer said:  "He was doing exactly
+what the clown in the pantomime does when he climbs to the top of
+a staircase and rolls deliberately over and over until he reaches
+the ground.  But this funny man stopped before he reached the
+ground, and took his last flight as gracefully as a Columbine
+with outspread skirts."
+
+Time after time Pegoud made a series of S-shaped dives,
+somersaults, and spiral descents, until, after an exhibition
+which thrilled quite 50,000 people, he planed gently to Earth.
+
+Hitherto Pegoud's somersaults have been made by turning over from
+front to back, but the daring aviator, and others who followed
+him, afterwards turned over from right to left or from left to
+right.  Pegoud claimed to have demonstrated that the aeroplane is
+uncapsizeable, and that if a parachute be attached to the
+fuselage, which is the equivalent of a life boat on board a ship,
+then every pilot should feel as safe in a heavier-than-air
+machine as in a motor-car.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV
+The First Englishman to Fly Upside Down
+
+After M. Pegoud's exhibition of upside-down flying in this
+country it was only to be expected that British aviators would
+emulate his daring feat.  Indeed, on the same day that the little
+Frenchman was turning somersaults in the air at Brooklands Mr.
+Hamel was asking M. Bleriot for a machine similar to that used
+by Pegoud, so that he might demonstrate to airmen the stability
+of the aeroplane in almost all conceivable positions.
+
+However, it was not the daring and skilful Hamel who had the
+honour of first following in Pegoud's footsteps, but another
+celebrated pilot, Mr. Hucks.
+
+Mr. Hucks was an interested spectator at Brooklands when Pegoud
+flew there in September, and he felt that, given similar
+conditions, there was no reason why he should not repeat Pegoud's
+performance.  He therefore talked the matter over with M.
+Bleriot, and began practising for his great ordeal.
+
+His first feat was to hang upside-down in a chair supported by a
+beam in one of the sheds, so that he would gradually become
+accustomed to the novel position.  For a time this was not at all
+easy.  Have you ever tried to stand on your hands with your feet
+upwards for any length of time?  To realize the difficulty of
+being head downwards, just do this, and get someone to hold your
+legs.  The blood will, of course, "rush to the head", as we say,
+and the congestion of the blood-vessels in this part of the body
+will make you feel extremely dizzy.  Such an occurrence would be
+fatal in an aeroplane nearly a mile high in the air at a time
+when one requires an especially clear brain to manipulate the
+various controls.
+
+But, strange to say, the airman gradually became used to the
+"heels-over-head" position, and, feeling sure of himself, he
+determined to start on his perilous undertaking.  No one with the
+exception of M. Bleriot and the mechanics were present at the Buc
+aerodrome, near Versailles, when Mr. Hucks had his monoplane
+brought out with the intention of looping the loop.
+
+He quickly rose to a height of 1500 feet, and then, slowly
+dipping the nose of his machine, turned right over.  For fully
+half a minute he flew underneath the monoplane, and then
+gradually brought it round to the normal position.
+
+In the afternoon he continued his experiments, but this time at a
+height of nearly 3000 feet.  At this altitude he was flying quite
+steadily, when suddenly he assumed a perpendicular position, and
+made a dive of about 600 feet.  The horrified spectators thought
+that the gallant aviator had lost control of his machine and was
+dashing straight to Earth, but quickly he changed his direction
+and slowly planed upwards.  Then almost as suddenly he turned a
+complete somersault.  Righting the aeroplane, he rose in a
+succession of spiral flights to a height of between 3000 and 3500
+feet, and then looped the loop twice in quick succession.
+
+On coming to earth M. Bleriot heartily congratulated the brave
+Englishman.  Mr. Hucks admitted a little nervousness before
+looping the loop; but, as he remarked:  "Once I started to go
+round my nervousness vanished, and then I knew I was coming out
+on top.  It is all a question of keeping control of your nerves,
+and Pegoud deserved all the credit, for he was the first to risk
+his life in flying head downwards."
+
+Mr. Hucks intended to be the first Englishman to fly upside down
+in England, but he was forestalled by one of our youngest airmen,
+Mr. George Lee Temple.  On account of his youth--Mr. Temple was
+only twenty-one at the time when he first flew upside-down--he
+was known as the "baby airman", but there was probably no more
+plucky airman in the world.
+
+There were special difficulties which Mr. Temple had to overcome
+that did not exist in the experiments of M. Pegoud or Mr. Hucks.
+To start with, his machine--a 50-horse-power Bleriot
+monoplane--was said by the makers to be unsuitable for the
+performance.  Then he could get no assistance from the big
+aeroplane firms, who sought to dissuade him from his hazardous
+undertaking.  Experienced aviators wisely shook their heads and
+told the "baby airman" that he should have more practice before
+he took such a risk.
+
+But notwithstanding this lack of encouragement he practised hard
+for a few days by hanging in an inverted position.  Meanwhile his
+mechanics were working night and day in strengthening the wings
+of the monoplane, and fitting it with a slightly larger elevator.
+
+On 24th November, 1913, he decided to "try his luck" at the
+London aerodrome.  He was harnessed into his seat, and, bidding
+his friends farewell, with the words "wish me luck", he went
+aloft.  For nearly half an hour he climbed upward, and swooped
+over the aerodrome in wide circles, while his friends far below
+were watching every action of his machine.
+
+Suddenly an alarming incident occurred.  When about a mile high
+in the air the machine tipped downwards and rushed towards Earth
+at terrific speed.  Then the tail of the machine came up, and the
+"baby airman" was hanging head downwards.
+
+But at this point the group of airmen standing in the aerodrome
+were filled with alarm, for it was quite evident to their
+experienced eyes that the monoplane was not under proper control. 
+Indeed, it was actually side-slipping, and a terrible disaster
+appeared imminent.  For hundreds of feet the young pilot, still
+hanging head downwards, was crashing to Earth, but when down to
+about 1200 feet from the ground the machine gradually came round,
+and Mr. Temple descended safely to Earth.
+
+The airman afterwards told his friends that for several seconds
+he could not get the machine to answer the controls, and for a
+time he was falling at a speed of 100 miles an hour.  In ordinary
+circumstances he thought that a dive of 500 feet after the
+upside-down stretch should get him the right way up, but it
+really took him nearly 1500 feet.  Fortunately, however, he
+commenced the dive at a great altitude, and so the distance
+side-slipped did not much matter.
+
+It is sad to relate that Mr. Temple lost his life in January,
+1914, while flying at Hendon in a treacherous wind.  The actual
+cause of the accident was never clearly understood.  He had not
+fully recovered from an attack of influenza, and it was thought
+that he fainted and fell over the control lever while descending
+near one of the pylons, when the machine "turned turtle", and the
+pilot's neck was broken.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV
+Accidents and their Cause
+
+"Another airman killed!"  "There'll soon be none of those flying
+fellows left!"  "Far too risky a game!"  "Ought to be stopped by
+law!"
+
+How many times have we heard these, and similar remarks, when the
+newspapers relate the account of some fatality in the air! 
+People have come to think that flying is a terribly risky
+occupation, and that if one wishes to put an end to one's life
+one has only to go up in a flying machine.  For the last twenty
+years some of our great writers have prophesied that the conquest
+of the air would be as costly in human life as was that of the
+sea, but their prophecies have most certainly been wrong, for in
+the wreck of one single vessel, such as that of the Titanic, more
+lives were lost than in all the disasters to any form of aerial
+craft.
+
+Perhaps some of our grandfathers can remember the dread with
+which many nervous people entered, or saw their friends enter, a
+train.  Travellers by the railway eighty or ninety years ago
+considered that they took their lives in their hands, so to
+speak, when they went on a long journey, and a great sigh of
+relief arose in the members of their families when the news came
+that the journey was safely ended.  In George Stephenson's days
+there was considerable opposition to the institution of the
+railway, simply on account of the number of accidents which it
+was anticipated would take place.
+
+Now we laugh at the fears of our great-grandparents; is it not
+probable that our grandchildren will laugh in a similar manner at
+our timidity over the aeroplane?
+
+In the case of all recent new inventions in methods of locomotion
+there has always been a feeling among certain people that the law
+ought to prohibit such inventions from being put into practice.
+
+There used to be bitter opposition to the motor-car, and at first
+every mechanically-driven vehicle had to have a man walking in
+front with a red flag.
+
+There are risks in all means of transit; indeed, it may be said
+that the world is a dangerous place to live in.  It is true, too,
+that the demons of the air have taken their toll of life from the
+young, ambitious, and daring souls.  Many of the fatal accidents
+have been due to defective work in some part of the machinery,
+some to want of that complete knowledge and control that only
+experience can give, some even to want of proper care on the part
+of the pilot.  If a pilot takes ordinary care in controlling his
+machine, and if the mechanics who have built the machine have
+done their work thoroughly, flying, nowadays, should be
+practically as safe as motoring.
+
+The French Aero Club find, from a mass or information which has
+been compiled for them with great care, that for every 92,000
+miles actually flown by aeroplane during the year 1912, only one
+fatal accident had occurred.  This, too, in France, where some of
+the pilots have been notoriously reckless, and where far more
+airmen have been killed than in Britain.
+
+When we examine carefully the statistics dealing with fatal
+accidents in aeroplanes we find that the pioneers of flying, such
+as the famous Wright Brothers, Bleriot, Farman, Grahame-White,
+and so on, were comparatively free from accidents.  No doubt, in
+some cases, defective machines or treacherous wind gusts caused
+the craft to collapse in mid-air.  But, as a rule, the first men
+to fly were careful to see that every part of the machine was in
+order before going up in it, so that they rarely came to grief
+through the planes not being sufficiently tightened up, wires
+being unduly strained, spars snapping, or bolts becoming loose.
+
+Mr. Grahame-White admirably expresses this when he says:  "It is
+a melancholy reflection, when one is going through the lists
+of aeroplane fatalities, to think how many might have been
+avoided.  Really the crux of the situation in this connection, as
+it appears to me, is this: the first men who flew, having had all
+the drudgery and danger of pioneer work, were extremely careful
+in all they did; and this fact accounts for the comparatively
+large proportion of these very first airmen who have survived.
+
+"But the men who came next in the path of progress, having a
+machine ready-made, so to speak, and having nothing to do but to
+get into it and fly, did not, in many cases, exercise this saving
+grace of caution.  And that--at least in my view--is why a good
+many of what one may call the second flight of pilots came to
+grief."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI
+
+Accidents and their Cause (Cont.)
+
+One of the main causes of aeroplane accidents has been the
+breakage of some part of the machine while in the air, due to
+defective work in its construction.  There is no doubt that
+air-craft are far more trustworthy now than they were two or
+three years ago.  Builders have learned from the mistakes of
+their predecessors as well as profited by their own.  After
+every serious accident there is an official enquiry as to the
+probable cause of the accident, and information of inestimable
+value has been obtained from such enquiries.
+
+The Royal Aero Club of Great Britain has a special "Accidents
+Investigation Committee" whose duty it is to issue a full report
+on every fatal accident which occurs to an aeroplane in this
+country.   As a rule, representatives of the committee visit the
+scene of the accident as soon as possible after its occurrence.  
+Eye-witnesses are called before them to give evidence of the
+disaster; the remains of the craft are carefully inspected in
+order to discover any flaw in its construction; evidence is taken
+as to the nature and velocity of the wind on the day of the
+accident, the approximate height at which the aviator was flying,
+and, in fact, everything of value that might bear on the cause of
+the accident.
+
+As a good example of an official report we may quote that issued
+by the Accidents Investigation Committee of the Royal Aero Club
+on the fatal accident which occurred to Colonel Cody and his
+passenger on 7th August, 1913.
+
+"The representatives of the Accidents Committee visited the scene
+of the accident within a few hours of its occurrence, and made a
+careful examination of the wrecked air-craft. Evidence was also
+taken from the eye-witnesses of the accident.
+
+"From the consideration of the evidence the Committee regards the
+following facts as clearly established:
+
+"1. The air-craft was built at Farnborough, by Mr. S. F. Cody, in
+July, 1913.
+
+"2. It was a new type, designed for the Daily Mail Hydroplane
+Race round Great Britain, but at the time of the accident had a
+land chassis instead of floats.
+
+"3. The wind at the time of the accident was about 10 miles per
+hour.
+
+"4. At about 200 feet from the ground the air-craft buckled up
+and fell to the ground.  A large piece of the lower left wing,
+composing the whole of the front spar between the fuselage and
+the first upright, was picked up at least 100 yards from the spot
+where the air-craft struck the ground.
+
+"5. The fall of the air-craft was broken considerably by the
+trees, to such an extent that the portion of the fuselage
+surrounding the seats was practically undamaged.
+
+"6. Neither the pilot nor passenger was strapped in.
+
+"0pinion.  The Committee is of opinion that the failure of the
+air-craft was due to inherent structural weakness.
+
+"Since that portion of the air-craft in which the pilot and
+passenger were seated was undamaged, it is conceivable their
+lives might have been saved had they been strapped in."
+
+This occasion was not the only time when the Accidents
+Investigation Committee recommended the advisability of the
+airman being strapped to his seat.  But many airmen absolutely
+refuse to wear a belt, just as many cyclists cannot bear to have
+their feet made fast to the pedals of their cycles by using
+toe-clips.
+
+Mention of toe-clips brings us to other accidents which sometimes
+befall airmen.  As we have seen in a previous chapter, Mr.
+Hawker's accident in Ireland was due to his foot slipping over
+the rudder bar of his machine.   It is thought that the disaster
+to Mr. Pickles' machine on "Aerial Derby" day in 1913 was due to
+the same cause, and on one occasion Mr. Brock was in great danger
+through his foot slipping on the rudder bar while he was
+practising some evolutions at the London Aerodome.  Machines are
+generally flying at a very fast rate, and if the pilot loses
+control of the machine when it is near the ground the chances are
+that the aeroplane crashes to earth before he can right it.  Both
+Mr. Hawker and Mr. Pickles were flying low at the time of their
+accidents, and so their machines were smashed; fortunately Mr.
+Brock was comparatively high up in the air, and though his
+machine rocked about and banked in an ominous manner, yet he was
+able to gain control just in the nick of time.
+
+To prevent accidents of this kind the rudder bars could be fitted
+with pedals to which the pilot's feet could be secured by
+toe-clips, as on bicycle pedals.  Indeed, some makers of
+air-craft have already provided pedals with toe-clips for the
+rudder bar.  Probably some safety device such as this will soon
+be made compulsory on all machines.
+
+We have already remarked that certain pilots do not pay
+sufficient heed to the inspection of their machines before making
+a flight.  The difference between pilots in this respect is
+interesting to observe.  On the great day at Hendon, in 1913--the
+Aerial Derby day--there were over a dozen pilots out with their
+craft.
+
+From the enclosure one could watch the airmen and their mechanics
+as the machines were run out from the hangars on to the flying
+ground.  One pilot walked beside his mechanics while they were
+running the machine to the starting place, and watched his craft
+with almost fatherly interest.  Before climbing into his seat he
+would carefully inspect the spars, bolts, wires, controls, and so
+on; then he would adjust his helmet and fasten himself into his
+seat with a safety belt.
+
+"Surely with all that preliminary work he is ready to start,"
+remarked one of the spectators standing by.  But no! the engine
+must be run at varying speeds, while the mechanics hold back the
+machine.  This operation alone took three or four minutes, and
+all that the pilot proposed to do was to circle the aerodrome two
+or three times.  An onlooker asked a mechanic if there were
+anything wrong with that particular machine.  "No!" was the
+reply; "but our governor's very faddy, you know!"
+
+And now for the other extreme!  Three mechanics emerged from a
+hangar pushing a rather ungainly-looking biplane, which bumped
+over the uneven ground.  The pilot was some distance behind, with
+cigarette in mouth, joking with two or three friends.  When the
+machine was run out into the open ground he skipped quickly up to
+it, climbed into the seat, started the engine, waved a smiling
+"good-bye", and was off.  For all he knew, that rather rough
+jolting of the craft while it was being removed from the hangar
+might have broken some wire on which the safety of his machine,
+and his life, depended.  The excuse cannot be made that his
+mechanics had performed this all-important work of inspection,
+for their attention was centred on the daring "banking "
+evolutions of some audacious pilot in the aerodrome.
+
+Mr. C. G. Grey, the well-known writer on aviation matters, and
+the editor of The Aeroplane, says, with regard to the need of
+inspection of air-craft:--
+
+"A pilot is simply asking for trouble if he does not go all over
+his machine himself at least once a day, and, if possible, every
+time he is starting for a flight.
+
+"One seldom hears, in these days, of a broken wheel or axle on a
+railway coach, yet at the chief stopping places on our railways a
+man goes round each train as it comes in, tapping the tires with
+a hammer to detect cracks, feeling the hubs to see if there is
+any sign of a hot box, and looking into the grease containers to
+see if there is a proper supply of lubricant.  There ought to be
+a similar inspection of every aeroplane every time it touches the
+ground.  The jar of even the best of landings may fracture a bolt
+holding a wire, so that when the machine goes up again the wire
+may fly back and break the propeller, or get tangled in the
+control wires, or a strut or socket may crack in landing, and
+many other things may happen which careful inspection would
+disclose before any harm could occur.  Mechanics who inspected
+machines regularly would be able to go all over them in a few
+minutes, and no time would be wasted.  As it is, at any aerodrome
+one sees a machine come down, the pilot and passenger (a fare or
+a pupil) climb out, the mechanics hang round and smoke
+cigarettes, unless they have to perform the arduous duties of
+filling up with petrol.  In due course another passenger and a
+pilot climb in, a mechanic swings the propeller, and away they go
+quite happily.  If anything casts loose they come down--and it is
+truly wonderful how many things can come loose or break in the
+air without anyone being killed.  If some thing breaks in
+landing, and does not actually fall out of place, it is simply a
+matter of luck whether anyone happens to see it or not."
+
+This advice, coming from a man with such wide experience of the
+theory and practice of flying, should surely be heeded by all
+those who engage in deadly combat with the demons of the air.  In
+the early days of aviation, pilots were unacquainted with the
+nature and method of approach of treacherous wind gusts; often
+when they were flying along in a steady, regular wind, one of
+these gusts would strike their craft on one side, and either
+overturn it or cause it to over-bank, so that it crashed to earth
+with a swift side-slip through the air.
+
+Happily the experience of those days, though purchased at the
+cost of many lives, has taught makers of air-craft to design
+their machines on more trustworthy lines.  Pilots, too, have made
+a scientific study of air eddies, gusts, and so on, and the
+danger of flying in a strong or gusty wind is comparatively
+small.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII
+Accidents and their Cause (Cont.)
+
+Many people still think that if the engine of an aeroplane should
+stop while the machine was in mid-air, a terrible disaster would
+happen.  All petrol engines may be described as fickle in their
+behaviour, and so complicated is their structure that the best of
+them are given to stopping without any warning.  Aeroplane
+engines are far superior in horse-power to those fitted to
+motorcars, and consequently their structure is more intricate. 
+But if an airman's engine suddenly stopped there would be no
+reason whatever why he should tumble down head first and break
+his neck.  Strange to say, too, the higher he was flying the
+safer he would be.
+
+All machines have what is called a GLIDING ANGLE.  When the
+designer plans his machine he considers the distribution of the
+weight or the engine, pilot and passengers, of the petrol,
+aeronautical instruments, and planes, so that the aeroplane is
+built in such a manner that when the engine stops, and the nose
+of the machine is turned downwards, the aeroplane of its own
+accord takes up its gliding angle and glides to earth.
+
+Gliding angles vary in different  machines.  If the angle is one
+in twelve, this would mean that if the glide wave commenced at a
+height of 1 mile, and continued in a straight line, the pilot
+would come to earth 12 miles distant.  We are all familiar with
+the gradients shown on railways.  There we see displayed on short
+sign-posts such notices as "1 in 50", with the opposite arms of
+the post pointing upwards and downwards.  This, of course, means
+that the slope of the railway at that particular place is 1 foot
+in a distance of 50 feet.
+
+One in twelve may be described as the natural gradient which the
+machine automatically makes when engine power is cut off.  It
+will be evident why it is safer for a pilot to fly, say, at four
+or five thousand feet high than just over the tree-tops or the
+chimney-pots of towns.  Suppose, for example, the machine has a
+gliding angle of one in twelve, and that when at an altitude of
+about a mile the engine should stop.  We will assume that at the
+time of the stoppage the pilot is over a forest where it is quite
+impossible to land.  Directly the engine stopped he would change
+the angle of the elevating plane, so that the aeroplane would
+naturally fall into its gliding angle.  The craft would at once
+settle itself into a forward and slightly downward glide; and the
+airman, from his point of vantage, would be able to see the
+extent of the forest.  We will assume that the aeroplane is
+gliding in a northerly direction, and that the country is almost
+as unfavourable for landing there as over the forest itself.  In
+fact, we will imagine an extreme case, where the airman is over
+country quite unsuitable for landing except toward the south;
+that is, exactly opposite to the direction in which he starts to
+glide.  Fortunately, there is no reason why he should not steer
+his machine right round in the air, even though the only power is
+that derived from the force of gravity.  His descent would be in
+an immense slope, extending 10 or 12 miles from the place where
+the engine stopped working.  He would therefore be able to choose
+a suitable landing-place and reach earth quite safely.
+
+But supposing the airman to be flying about a hundred yards above
+the forest-an occurrence not likely to happen with a skilled
+airman, who would probably take an altitude of nearly a mile. 
+Almost before he could have time to alter his elevating plane,
+and certainly long before he could reach open ground, he would be
+on the tree-tops.
+
+It is thought that in the near future air-craft will, be fitted
+with two or more motors, so that when one fails the other will
+keep the machine on its course.  This has been found necessary in
+Zeppelin air-ships.  In an early Zeppelin model, which was
+provided with one engine only, the insufficient power caused the
+pilot to descend on unfavourable ground, and his vessel was
+wrecked.  More recent types of Zeppelins are fitted with three or
+four engines.  Experiments have already been made with the
+dual-engine plant for aeroplanes, notably by Messrs. Short
+Brothers, of Rochester, and the tests have given every
+satisfaction.
+
+There is little doubt that if the large passenger aeroplane is
+made possible, and if parliamentary powers have to be obtained
+for the formation of companies for passenger traffic by
+aeroplane, it will be made compulsory to fit machines with two or
+more engines, driving three or four distinct propellers.  One of
+the engines would possibly be of inferior power, and used only in
+cases of emergency.
+
+Still another cause of accident, which in some cases has proved
+fatal, is the taking of unnecessary risks when in the air.  This
+has happened more in America and in France than in Great Britain. 
+An airman may have performed a very difficult and daring feat at
+some flying exhibition and the papers belauded his courage.  A
+rival airman, not wishing to be outdone in skill or courage,
+immediately tries either to repeat the performance or to perform
+an even more difficult evolution.  The result may very well end
+in disaster, and
+
+     FAMOUS AIRMAN KILLED
+
+is seen on most of the newspaper bills.
+
+The daring of some of our professional airmen is notorious. 
+There is one particular pilot, whose name is frequently before
+us, whom I have in mind when writing this chapter.  On several
+occasions I have seen him flying over densely-packed crowds, at a
+height of about two hundred feet or so.  With out the slightest
+warning he would make a very sharp and almost vertical dive.  The
+spectators, thinking that something very serious had happened,
+would scatter in all directions, only to see the pilot right his
+machine and jokingly wave his hand to them.  One trembles to
+think what would have been the result if the machine had crashed
+to earth, as it might very easily have done.  It is interesting
+to relate that the risks taken by this pilot, both with regard to
+the spectators and himself, formed the subject of comment, and,
+for the future, flying over the spectators' heads has been
+strictly forbidden.
+
+From 1909 to 1913 about 130 airmen lost their lives in Germany,
+France, America, and the British Isles, and of this number the
+British loss was between thirty and forty.  Strange to say,
+nearly all the German fatalities have taken place in air-ships,
+which were for some years considered much safer than the
+heavier-than-air machine.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII
+Some Technical Terms used by Aviators
+
+Though this book cannot pretend to go deeply into the technical
+side of aviation, there are certain terms and expressions in
+everyday use by aviators that it is well to know and understand.
+
+First, as to the machines themselves.  You are now able to
+distinguish a monoplane from a biplane, and you have been told
+the difference between a TRACTOR biplane and a PROPELLER biplane. 
+In the former type the screw is in front of the pilot; in the
+latter it is to the rear of the pilot's seat.
+
+Reference has been previously made to the FUSELAGE, SKIDS,
+AILERONS, WARPING CONTROLS, ELEVATING PLANES, and RUDDER of the
+various forms of air-craft.  We have also spoken of the GLIDING
+ANGLE of a machine.  Frequently a pilot makes his machine dive at
+a much steeper gradient than is given by its natural gliding
+angle.  When the fall is about one in six the glide is known as a
+VOL PLANE; if the descent is made almost vertically it is called
+a VOL PIQUE.
+
+In some cases a PANCAKE descent is made. This is caused by such a
+decrease of speed that the aeroplane, though still moving
+forward, begins to drop downwards.  When the pilot finds that
+this is taking place, he points the nose of his machine at a much
+steeper angle, and so reaches his normal flying speed, and is
+able to effect a safe landing.  If he were too near the earth he
+would not be able to make this sharp dive, and the probability is
+that the aeroplane would come down flat, with the possibility of
+a damaged chassis.  It is considered faulty piloting to make a
+pancake descent where there is ample landing space; in certain
+restricted areas, however, it is quite necessary to land in this
+way.
+
+A far more dangerous occurrence is the SIDE-SLIP.  Watch a pilot
+vol-planing to earth from a great height with his engine shut
+off.  The propeller rotates in an irregular manner, sometimes
+stopping altogether.  When this happens, the skilful pilot forces
+the nose of his machine down, and so regains his normal flying
+speed; but if he allowed the propeller to stop and at the same
+time his forward speed through the air to be considerably
+diminished, his machine would probably slip sideways through
+the air and crash to earth.  In many cases side-slips have taken
+place at aerodromes when the pilot has been rounding a pylon with
+the nose of his machine pointing upwards.
+
+When a machine flies round a corner very quickly the pilot tilts
+it to one side. Such action as this is known as BANKING.  This
+operation can be witnessed at any aerodrome when speed handicaps
+are taking place.
+
+Since upside-down flying came into vogue we have heard a great
+deal about NOSE DIVING.  This is a headlong dive towards earth
+with the nose of the machine pointing vertically downwards.  As a
+rule the pilot makes a sharp nose dive before he loops the loop.
+
+Sometimes an aeroplane enters a tract of air where there seems to
+be no supporting power for the planes; in short, there appears to
+be, as it were, a HOLE in the air.  Scientifically there is no
+such thing as a hole in the air, but airmen are more concerned
+with practice than with theory, and they have, for their own
+purposes, designated this curious phenomenon an AIR POCKET.  In
+the early days of aviation, when machines were far less stable
+and pilots more quickly lost control of their craft, the air
+pocket was greatly dreaded, but nowadays little notice is taken
+of it.
+
+A violent disturbance in the air is known as a REMOUS.  This is
+somewhat similar to an eddy in a stream, and it has the effect of
+making the machine fly very unsteadily.  Remous are probably
+caused by electrical disturbances of the atmosphere, which cause
+the air streams to meet and mingle, breaking up into filaments
+or banding rills of air.  The wind--that is, air in motion--far
+from being of approximate uniformity, is, under most ordinary
+conditions, irregular almost beyond conception, and it is
+with such great irregularities in the force of the air streams
+that airmen have constantly to contend.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX
+The Future in the Air
+
+Three years before the outbreak of the Great War, the
+Master-General of Ordnance, who was in charge of Aeronautics at
+the War Office, declared:  "We are not yet convinced that either
+aeroplanes or air-ships will be of any utility in war".
+
+After four years of war, with its ceaseless struggle between the
+Allies and the Central Powers for supremacy in the air, such a
+statement makes us rub our eyes as though we had been dreaming.
+
+Seven years--and in its passage the air encircling the globe has
+become one gigantic battle area, the British Isles have lost the
+age-long security which the seas gave them, and to regain the old
+proud unassailable position must build a gigantic aerial fleet--
+as greatly superior to that of their neighbours as was, and is,
+the British Navy.
+
+Seven years--and the monoplane is on the scrap-heap; the Zeppelin
+has come as a giant destroyer--and gone, flying rather
+ridiculously before the onslaughts of its tiny foes.  In a
+recent article the editor of The Aeroplane referred to the
+erstwhile terror of the air as follows:  "The best of air-ships
+is at the mercy of a second-rate aeroplane".  Enough to make
+Count Zeppelin turn in his grave!
+
+To-day in aerial warfare the air-ship is relegated to the task of
+observer.  As the "Blimp", the kite-balloon, the coast patrol,
+it scouts and takes copious notes; but it leaves the fighting to
+a tiny, heavier-than-air machine armed with a Lewis gun, and
+destructive attacks to those big bomb-droppers, the British
+Handley Page, the German Gotha, the Italian Morane tri-plane.
+
+The war in the air has been fought with varying fortunes.  But,
+looking back upon four years of war, we may say that, in spite of
+a slow start, we have managed to catch up our adversaries, and of
+late we have certainly dealt as hard knocks as we have received. 
+A great spurt of aerial activity marked the opening of the year
+1918.   From all quarters of the globe came reports, moderate and
+almost bald in style, but between the lines of which the average
+man could read word-pictures of the skill, prowess, and ceaseless
+bravery of the men of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air
+Service.  Recently there have appeared two official publications
+[1], profusely illustrated with photographs, which give an
+excellent idea of the work and training of members of the two
+corps.  Forewords have been contributed respectively by Lord Hugh
+Cecil and Sir Eric Geddes, First Lord of the Admiralty.  These
+publications lift a curtain upon not only the activities of the
+two Corps, but the tremendous organization now demanded by war in
+the air.
+
+[1] The Work and Training of the Royal Flying Corps and The Work
+and Training of the Royal Naval Air Service.
+
+
+All this to-day.  To-morrow the Handley Page and Gotha may be
+occupying their respective niches in the museum of aerial
+antiquities, and we may be all agog over the aerial passenger
+service to the United States of America.
+
+For truly, in the science of aviation a day is a generation, and
+three months an eon.  When the coming of peace turns men's
+thoughts to the development of aeroplanes for commerce and
+pleasure voyages, no one can foretell what the future may bring
+forth.
+
+At the time of writing, air attacks are still being directed upon
+London.  But the enemy find it more and more difficult to
+penetrate the barrage.  Sometimes a solitary machine gets
+through.  Frequently the whole squadron of raiding aeroplanes is
+turned back at the coast.
+
+As for the military advantage the Germans have derived, after
+nearly four years of attacks by air, it may be set down as
+practically nil.  In raid after raid they missed their so-called
+objectives and succeeded only in killing noncombatants.  Far
+different were the aim and scope of the British air offensives
+into Germany and into country occupied by German troops.  Railway
+junctions, ammunition dumps, enemy billets, submarine bases,
+aerodromes--these were the targets for our airmen, who scored
+hits by the simple but dangerous plan of flying so low that
+misses were almost out of the question.
+
+"Make sure of your objective, even if you have to sit upon it."
+Thus is summed up, in popular parlance, the policy of the Royal
+Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service.  And if justification
+were heeded of this strict limitation of aim, it will be found in
+the substantial military losses inflicted upon the enemy results
+which would never have been attained had our airmen dissipated
+their energies on non-military objectives for the purpose of
+inspiring terror in the civil population.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Mastery of the Air by Claxton
+
diff --git a/old/tmota10.zip b/old/tmota10.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c7e105
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/tmota10.zip