thereof, has not been utilised in the navigation of the ship on which he serves.

Apparently also an error was implied in referring to the speed which can be raised on the cross-Channel steamers by Naval engineers. One is told that the engineer officers of the "Engadine," "Riviera," and "Empress" are the same as those who ran the boats before the war. One naturally has the greatest respect for these officers who have deliberately stuck by their ships when transferred from peaceful passenger carrying to the dangers of the mine-strewn North Sea, and it is well to chronicle their patriotism in volunteering for such duty. Of course the reference should nave been to the speed of these ships when driven by their engineers on Naval service.

MILITARY.

The following passages from the report of the official Eyewitness, dated January 8th, and published on January 11th, deal with aircraft:

According to the reports of aviators, whole districts in Southern Belgium are now flooded, for the Scheldt, as well as the Lys, has overflowed its banks. . . .

It is extremely hard to conceal the position of trenches from an aerial observer, and once their position is notified to the guns and the exact range is obtained it is not long before a whole length of trenches will be blown in and entanglements, trous-de-loup, and every form of obstacle, however, ingenious, swept away. That the moral effect is very great is shown by the written and verbal evidence of prisoners who have lately been captured. The Allied artillery is gradually assuming a superiority over the German, a factor of great importance in the prosecution of our general offensive.

It should be particularly noted that this superiority can only be retained so long as adequate supplies of aircraft are maintained.

From information gathered from various sources it appears that Captain W. Picton Warlow, R.F.C., who was reported as missing, disappeared while flying a Blériot from France to England, and it is feared that he must now be given up as lost. Apparently aeroplanes which are not actually damaged, but have merely lost their lift owing to continued use, are sent back to be overhauled, and one assumes that officers returning home on leave, or being sent home for some special duty, are allowed to fly them back.

Under the circumstances it does not seem a particularly well advised system. Flying the Channel to take a new machine to France in a hurry is a matter of military necessity, or at any rate, it accelerates delivery and decreases the work of the land and sea transport services, but machines which are being sent back for overhaul can, one imagines, easily be accommodated on the empty ships, and if they are slightly damaged in handling it does not matter.

Capt. W. Picton Warlow, of the Welch Regiment, was appointed to the Royal Flying Corps on June 7th, 1913, and was promoted to Flight Commander in May, 1914. He was born on April 6th, 1884, at Bridgend, Glamorgan, and took his certificate, No. 451, at the Bristol School at Brooklands, the certificate being dated April 1st, 1913.

It was announced on January 6th that Mr. T. W. Weeding, Clerk of the Peace for Surrey and Clerk to the Surrey County Council, had received official notification from the War Office that his son, Second Lieutenant J. R. B. Weeding, the Welch Regiment, had been killed in action in France. Soon after the outbreak of war Mr. Weeding joined the Royal Flying Corps, and on October 28th obtained a commission in the Welch Regiment.

He was thirty-two years of age and had long been keenly interested in aviation. He was a well-known visitor to Brooklands ever since the day when his brother, Capt. T. Weeding, of the Royal West Surrey Regiment, learned to fly. All will offer their very sincere sympathy to his family.

*

a new machine up in the sky for observation purposes. All the Tommies were peering at it as a Zeppelin, but it is some sausage-shaped captive balloon or a kind of man-lifting kite. I am afraid this new apparatus will help them to know all about us and our location To-night our guns have been 'biffing' at it. . . . The best help of all are the aeroplanes; we had three of ours up to-day. One of our batteries is skilfully hidden in an orchard. We passed near it, but were afraid to approach close unless we might have been spotted from the distance and given away the exact position of guns and men."

FRANCE.

The following passage from the report of the French Official Eye-witness published in Paris on January 7th deals with aircraft:

In aerial warfare our aviators, in spite of the atrocious weather, showed great activity. Several of them in the course of reconnaissances had their machines struck. Two lieutenants were slightly wounded by bullets.

On the right front successful bombardments were carried out. Twenty bombs were dropped on the railway station at Metz on Christmas Day and six on December 26th. This was our reply to the Zeppelin raid on Nancy. Since December 26th no Zeppelin has been seen, while the railway stations of Château Salions, Remilly, Arnaville, Thiaucourt, and Heuvicourt have been bombarded on several occasions, as have also been concentrations of troops and bivouacs both by day and. night.

On Christmas Day 12 bombs were dropped on a company at Gercourt, 4 on a bivouac at Dondrien, and 2,000 darts on wagons and infantry at Nampoel. On the 26th 10 bombs and 3,000 darts were dropped. On the 27th 8 bombs were launched against a captive balloon on the heights of the Meuse, and on the 29th 2,000 darts were showered on a detachment at Dondrien. On the 31st 1,000 darts were dropped on troops at Saint Hilaire. A German aeroplane flying towards Paris was stopped and driven off. The night of December 25th was very clear, and, notwithstanding the high wind, aviators went up at seven o'clock in the evening and passed the enemy's lines at a height of 16,000 metres. [This is Reuter's translation, as reported by numerous papers; the height was probably 1,600 metres (5,200 ft.), and. not 52,000 feet, which is over double the world's height record. —Ed.]

They observed a well-lighted camp, and dropped bombs,. the effect of which they were able to see. When the first bomb fell all lights were extinguished. On their return journey the aviators were followed by searchlights, and star shells were also thrown up. They kept at a great height, and escaped.

Two of our aviators have fallen into the hands of the enemy owing to the breakdown of their engines. We got news of them in a letter which a German aviator dropped at Dunkirk. The following are the most interesting passages in the letter: "We met with a bad accident yesterday, but we are still alive. Our motor was working splendidly when we passed over the lines at Ypres, then we were subjected to a violent cannonade between Menin and Courtrai. At a height of 2,400 metres the motor began to misfire. We tried to get back, but still the engine would not work. We could seeYpres, but our machine continued to fall. With rage in our hearts we were obliged to land. During our descent the guns continued to fire, and the aeroplane was tossed about by the airwaves caused by the bursting of the shells. The infantry also fired on us, but we got safely to the ground. We immediately tried to burn our machine, but we could not do so because the German soldiers approached, threatening to fire at us, and the petrol refused to light. Finally my comrade fired a shot with his rifle into the reservoir. Then there was a regular hail of bullets. I succeeded in lighting the petrol with my last match. I do not know how we escaped, because we were fired at at point blank range.' [For the benefit of young officers one may point out that the

volver bullets into the tank and then fire with the muzzle of the pistol right in the stream of petrol. It is no use fiddling about with matches.—Ed.]

PARIS, Thursday (January 7th). This afternoon's official communiqué stated :—“ Our batteries put to flight some German aeroplanes which were flying towards Dunkirk."

The following official message was issued verbally from the French Press Bureau on Monday, January 11th :

The German aviators who flew over Dunkirk threw a number of bombs and caused five victims among the civil population.

At Malo-les-Bains, near Amiens [? near Dunkirk? Ed.], a German aviator was chased by a French airman on a monoplane and brought down, the German machine falling in our lines. The pilot officer was killed and his companion

wounded.

It was officially stated in Paris on January 11th that M. Millerand, Minister of War, accompanied by General Gallieni, his Chief of Staff, General Clergere, and General Hirschauer, Director of Aeronautics, proceeded on that day to the outskirts of Paris, where Captain Morache, Chief of the Anti-Aircraft Corps, invited M. Millerand to inspect the camp. Searchlights and anti-aircraft guns were tested in presence of the Minister, who expressed his satisfaction with the arrangements.

The people of Paris are shortly to be advised of the measures for the reduction of the lighting of the city in certain contingencies, so that, if alarm be given, there may be no panic.

The special correspondent of the "Daily Mail," in a message from the North of France under date Wednesday, 6th, says:

"A German Zeppelin airship was seen early this morning skirting the coast near Gravelines, when it turned westward towards England. It is rumoured that two other Zeppelins had preceded it.

"Thence onward throughout the day Dunkirk was subjected to aeroplane raids. One following the other the German aeroplanes approached the town to drop their bombs. As soon as they got within range the guns opened fire from military points about the town. One excellent shot from an anti-aircraft gun at Ferminy Station exploded right underneath one aeroplane, an Aviatik, and made it totter visibly for ten seconds. The airman could be seen flexing one wing and then the other, attempt

ing to recover his balance. This done, he turned and flew away down wind at a speed estimated to be 120 miles an hour. "Then six German aeroplanes beat up slowly against the wind and hung poised over the town till the fire of rifles and machine guns forced them to turn tail and run down the wind. "From the small number of bombs dropped on this occasion one may infer that the gun-fire was effectual in keeping the raiders from getting close enough to their marks, whatever these might be, unless, of course, the aeroplanes had some objective in connection with the Zeppelins.

"Nothing was heard during the day concerning the Zeppelins' achievements, and no news has reached here yet concerning their return.

[The above, taken in conjunction with stories of a Zeppelin over Chelmsford and another over Colchester, and another over Dover, and one brought down in the Thames, all on that day, leads one to believe that an airship of some sort did appear somewhere in the Channel in the calm of the morning. If it was a hostile ship evidently the R.N.A.S. missed it somehow. Later in the day the wind must have risen considerably, for one reads of the German aeroplanes-which are quite fast-beating up slowly against the wind, and doing 120 m.p.h. with it. Apparently the Aviatik mentioned was hit, or else the pilot wasthe description is rather good.-Ed.]

The "Chronicle's" correspondent in the North of France reported on January 7th that German aeroplanes again visited Dunkirk on that day. Three of them made their appearance soon after daylight. They dropped several bombs and then disappeared. There was no loss of life or serious injury. Two Aviatiks dropped bombs on Furnes early on the same day.

On Saturday, January 9th, bombs were dropped on Armentierès, Abbeville and Doullens.

Another raid was made on January 10th over Dunkirk by a number of German aeroplanes, estimated variously at from 12 to 15, and resulted in the loss of six lives-a soldier, a Red Cross worker, and four civilians. The aeroplanes appeared at 11 a.m., and their arrival was signalled by the pealing of a bell and the hoisting of a blue and white flag. The inhabitants, who had been collecting in small groups, quickly responded and the main thoroughfares emptied. The aeroplanes circled over the town and suburbs, and dropped, in the course of the four hours (from 11 till 3) during which the visitation lasted, some 50 bombs. Five of the deaths occurred in the little suburb of St. Malo-les-Bains, the sixth in Dunkirk itself.

Calais was also visited by a Taube on January 10th, about 1.30. It was flying very high, and though efforts were made to bring it down with machine-guns these proved ineffective. No damage was done.

The "Daily Chronicle's" correspondent, describing the performance with vigour and vim, says:—

"After dropping their missiles the airmen were preparing to leave when two Belgian aeroplanes were seen coming to the attack. A thrilling encounter in the air was then witnessed. Although outnumbered (by seven to two) the Belgians fought gallantly and completely outmanoeuvred their opponents. They rose to a height of 7,000 ft., and having gained this advantage fired at the Germans with mitrailleuses. It was exceedingly difficult and dangerous work, and demanded the greatest skill, for the slightest slip resulting from the fairly high wind blowing at the time would have sent airman and machine to the ground."

[This last remark is, of course, pure rot, and anyhow, from what one hears of the Belgian aviators now left on the Continent, one is inclined to disbelieve this part of the story. The same correspondent says that one German machine was brought down and the pilot killed.-Ed.]

It was reported on the 11th that two German aeroplanes attempted to fly over Paris on Sunday, one from the direction of Montdidier and Pontoise and the other from Dammartin. French aircraft put the invaders to flight.

GERMANY.

The following passage in the German war news officially circulated through German wireless stations and received by the Marconi Company deals with aircraft :

BERLIN, January 5th.-Main Headquarters reports as follows: German airmen have dropped bombs on the outskirts of Coudekerque and Rosendael on the ammunition stores of the British Army situate there. One bomb set fire to and destroyed part of the place (village). The total number of killed and injured in both places amounts to 100.

The "Allgemeine Zeitung" on Sunday, January 3rd, printed the following:-"Contrary to other reports, we learn from a trustworthy source that the English raid on Cuxhaven caused no damage whatever. Every one of the bombs dropped by the English seaplanes missed its mark. On the other hand, it may be taken as certain that the English lost four seaplanes in the attack. Moreover, credible eye-witnesses assure us that the English light cruiser "Arethusa" was damaged by a bomb. On another English ship, which was also struck by several German bombs, an outbreak of fire was observed. Finally, two English destroyers were damaged. Hence the English have little reason to be satisfied with the result of their attack, which showed once more how very much on the alert the German coast defence is."

It is, of course, perfectly true that we lost four seaplanes, but no other damage was done to our flotilla, and it is generally considered that the "moral and intellectual" damage done to Germany was value at the price.-Ed.]

RUSSIA.

The "Morning Post's" Petrograd correspondent reports the following

:

A curious aviation incident happened a while ago between the opposing trenches, a few hundred yards apart. A Russian aviator, having completed a reconnaissance, was returning, and apparently feeling fairly safe after having got past the artillery positions, came down preparatory to landing behind his own lines. He was promptly fired at by the Germans, who put three bullets through the benzine tank, and the aviator landed about half-way between the opposing trenches.

The Germans did not continue shooting, but thinking the prize was secured rushed out empty-handed to bring in the machine. The Russians did the same, and a hearty bout of fisticuffs took place between the two lines for the possession of the prisoner and aeroplane. The Russians finally saved their man, and ran off with the aeroplane, but were then fired upon from the German trenches. [The "M.P." man must think of something more novel than this if he wants to keep up his reputation as a news provider. The story has already been told of Belgian and French aviators, and probably circulates locally about Servians and Montenegrins, whether these countries have aviators or not.-Ed. |

However, on the following day the Russians got even by bringing down a German aeroplane behind their own lines. The Germans carry besides their ordinary tank a supplementary one whch can be turned on either to prolong the voyage or to save themselves if the first tank is damaged. Luckily, on this occasion, a Russian bullet severed some essential connecting part and the German aviator was compelled to plane down. He landed a good way off in a field, and the aviator pluckily repaired the connections before the Russians could come up, and started the propeller. It struck him on the head killing him instantaneously, while the officer who usually accompanies German aviators was thrown out. When the Russians ran up they caught the officer with all his notes and, of course, captured the machine. This is a trifle more ingenious, but not very convincing, for most German machines are fitted with dual ignition and the engine can be started from the ignition switch. It is possible, however, that after the pilot had pulled the propeller over a few times the passenger may have switched on just when the pilot was not expecting it.-Ed.]

BELGIUM.

It is reported that the Germans continue night and day fortifying all their positions in Flanders. They have mounted several machine guns on the belfry at Bruges against raids by the Allies' aircraft. They are reported to be putting up new Zeppelin sheds there, and to be forming a big aviation centre just outside the town. Several seaplanes and an airship are said to be at Zeebrugge.

A British aviator, after a successful flight in the direction of Zeebrugge, was forced to come down in a flooded field. The wheels of his monoplane sank into the swampy ground, and he was sornewhat injured. French soldiers rescued him. [The moral for the British authorities is: Don't use monoplanes, when biplanes are faster, climb better, and can be pancaked at a standstill.-Ed.]

The "Echo Belge" states that in view of the danger to the Zeppelin sheds caused by the air raids of the Allies over Brussels the Military Governor has promised £1,000 to anyone capturing a hostile aviator dead or alive.

*

The Sluis correspondent of the "Telegraaf" reports that one of the Allied aeroplanes reconnoitring the Flanders coast was hit on Saturday, and came down at Zeebrugge. The French pilot and a Belgian observer were captured.

HOLLAND.

According to Mr. Feibelman of the "Express" (Amsterdam, January 8th), the great invasion by Zeppelin is to take place at the end of January, presumably when the moon is approaching the full. The vast fleet of 70 Zeppelins has now dwindled to 10, which seems much more reasonable. Ten Zeppelins mean about 25 tons of explosives at most, and more probably 15. Not more than 10 or 12 men are likely to be carried by each ship, so there is likely to be much disappointment among the "hundreds of German airmen," whom Mr. Feibelman states to have volunteered. The Zeppelin Fleet is to be escorted by "aeroplanes and hydroplanes, and many destroyers and torpedo-boats.' Just how so many craft of various speeds will keep station is not explained, nor is the utility of bringing hydroplanes, which are merely high-speed fair-weather motorboats. The story comes from Holland, which is not a particularly ingenious country where lies are concerned.

However, the ten Zeppelins and sundry aeroplanes seem a rational proposition, so we may as well prepare for them.

DENMARK.

The special correspondent of the "Telegraph" wiring on January 9th from Copenhagen, says :-"A German aeroplane, with two passengers, was observed at Esbjerg and its environs, flying only about forty metres above the ground. The passengers were waving their hands to the inhabitants. The aeroplane disappeared after an hour.

"On account of this visit, the 'Ribe Stiftstidende,' an old provincial paper of high standard, prints an article, saying, 'We hope the German military authorities will instruct their aviators not to fly over neutral territory, as the aeroplanes of belligerent Powers should have nothing to do in neutral countries, and we trust our Government will call the German Government's attention to the matter, pointing out that similar flying excursions will not take place in future without risk to the passengers and their machines. In neutral Switzerland they shoot at them without ceremony.

MONTENEGRO.

It was reported from Cettinje on January 10th that on the previous day an Austrian aeroplane appeared over the town and threw two bombs. One did not explode. The other destroved a shop. Both bombs fell in the neighbourhood of the hospital. No one was injured. Another Austrian aeroplane having flown over Budua, also came towards Cettinje. The Montenegrin batteries, however, forced it to change its course towards Cattaro. While passing over the village of Bieloche the hostile

aviator noticed a crowd of women congregated before the church. He threw three bombs without effect. One of the bombs failed to explode. It is rating the ability of the Austrian observers rather high to assume that they could at once spot the location of a hospital and of a crowd round a church door in cramped little towns like those of Montenegro, and one may set these stories down among Reuter's other inventions.Ed. |

ITALY.

News comes to hand that Captain Guiseppi Martinolo, the LeRhone engine concessionaire, was killed at Cameri on December 27th while piloting a Gabardini monoplane.

The new military airship Y has been doing a considerable amount of flying at Bracciano lately.-T. S. H.

EGYPT.

The following story was told by the "Times" correspondent at Cairo, on January 5th, of the escape of a captain and a French pilot in an accident to a seaplane in the Sinai Peninsula.

The engine, which had previously given trouble, failed some 20 miles inland. The pilot planed down, and, landing on a rock, was thrown out on his head. The observer, pinned down in the wreck, was beginning to wonder whether starvation or capture would be his fate when the pilot, whom he believed to be dead, proved, first by coughing and then by struggling to his feet, that he had merely been stunned. The pilot extricated his companion, and both made for the sea. Progress was slow and difficult, the Frenchman being unable to walk more than 200 yards at a time. After taking four hours to cover five miles, the captain left his exhausted companion in the best hiding-place he could find, gave him his water-bottle, and made his way to the sea, 15 miles away, which he reached in four hours, only to find that the British warship had gone. He slept on the beach, and when he awoke the warship had returned. He hailed her and was taken on board.

The following day a landing party was sent to try to find the pilot. A party of the enemy fled before the sailors, but there was no sign of the pilot. That night the searchlight was directed on the shore, a hail was heard, a boat's crew put off, and returned with the pilot. It appears that, after sleeping off the effects of the shock, the Frenchman struggled to the sea. He went to sleep on the beach, and was roused after nightfal! by the searchlight falling upon his face.

[This seems to have been one of the cases in which a real amphibian chassis might have been useful. In any case the pilot seems to have been a fairly bad flier, as he ought to have been able to pancake without turning the machine onto her nose.-Ed.]

SOUTH-WEST AFRICA.

It was reported from Chaukiab (near Luderitzbucht) on Monday, January 4th, that a German biplane and a Taube flew over the British camp early that day from the direction of Aus. Both dropped a couple of bombs, but no damage was done. The machines were never within gun range. One bomb fell near some trenches, but did no harm. The Taube dropped bombs on the railway line several miles eastward of our position, at a place where it had been already wrecked.

EAST AFRICA.

Captain Willett, of Leigh, Southend, in command of one of the vessels which blocked the channel in which the "Koenigsberg" was sequestered, in the River Refigi, on the East Coast of Africa, says :-"The German cruiser had so effectively concealed herself amongst the palms by actually covering herself with foliage that it was impossible to locate her exact position. To get over this difficulty the 'Kinfauns Castle' arrived on the scene with an aeroplane. This was soon soaring over the river, and the position of the hidden cruiser conveyed to the British by means of smoke bombs. Very quickly the big guns of our ships got the range and battered the 'Koenigsberg' till she was sunk."

One assumes the machine was one of Mr. Hudson's Curtiss's from Durban, piloted by Mr. Cutler.-Ed.]

On Saturday, December 19th, the wedding took place at the Church of St. Barnabas, Kensington, of Mr. L. Howard Flanders and Miss M. Franks, of Durban, South Africa.

Mrs. Flanders was a botanist of considerable note and was employed by the Government of South Africa in that capacity. Mr. Flanders is, of course, well known to everyone connected with aviation as one of our cleverest and most practical designers, whose products have hitherto always been successful as flying machines without having had the luck to bring commercial success. He is now in the employ of Vickers, Ltd., and his latest designs give every promise of being successful in both ways.

All concerned with aviation will wish every happiness to Mr. and Mrs. Howard Flanders.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING.

The major portion of the "Times" History of the War, Part 18, Vol. 2, published on December 22nd, is devoted to a chapter on "Military Aeronautics and the British Air Service." Any contemporaneous "history" of the War must present almost insuperable difficulties to its author by reason of the restrictions of the Censor and the present unreliability of reports, but since the chapter under review is purely retrospective, its inaccuracy is less excusable, and this is the greater pity because the majority of its readers will accept it as a textbook and set it aside for reference in that light.

The first section is devoted to introductory matter. A brief review covers the time between the experiments of Montgolfier and Count Zeppelin, and the observation is made that modern 720-h.p. Zeppelins are capable of achieving a 30-hour run at full speed, and that they can carry maxims and 1pounders not only in the cars, but on top (which involves a load of five tons or thereabouts of petrol). It has puzzled the writer of these comments to determine the origin of the high estimation in which Zeppelins are held by the generality of daily papers, which seems to be shared in part by the "Times" historian, but the solution is to be discovered in their practice of looking up all the records ever performed by a Zeppelin and lumping them together, neglecting the fact that special preparations have been made for each individual feat. Thus, it is perfectly true that a Zeppelin has remained in the air for 30 hours (but well throttled down); another Zeppelin has travelled at 50 miles per hour (for a limited number of hours), another ship has reached 10,000 feet (with a minimum crew and a light load of fuel), and Zeppelins have left the ground with a war crew, an arsenal of quick-firers, maxims, bombs and wireless, and not too much petrol; but no Zeppelin yet built, or likely to be built for a long while to come, can travel for 30 hours at 50 m.p.h. with full load of weapons and crew, at ten thousand feet, a habit so frequently recorded by journalists.

Some really amusing paragraphs occur in the alleged history of the Royal Flying Corps and its beginnings; for instance, the surprising admission is made that the Beta, the Gamma, and the Delta were "useful rather for experiment and instruction than for serious military operations." The advent of the "Morning Post" airship is mentioned as an example of the result of the stimulation of the official world by the Parlia mentary Aerial Defence Committee, but nothing is said of the fact that the ship was a "wash-out.'

A graceful compliment is paid to Colonel Seely, "who, like Mr. Churchill, took a strong personal interest in aeronautics,' and who saw to it that the Aircraft Factory had "Royal" tacked on to its name, "whose duties would be the higher training of mechanics, the reconstruction of aeroplanes" (inter alia, the reconstruction of box-kites into B.Es.), "repair work for the corps, tests with British and foreign engines" (on wonderfully destructive test plant!) "and experimental work."

The article closes with a typical "Times" eulogy of Colonel Seely, the Royal Aircraft Factory and of all their doings and relations. Mention is made of the ex-Under-Secretary of State for War's figure-shifting in the House of Commons in. February, 1914, when the "History" narrates how he stated that "the Army at that date possessed 161 machines, having struck off 52 from, and added 100 new ones to, the total of 113 that (he had said) existed at the end of the previous July. No doubt, this number had been increased before the beginning of the War." No doubt, the number did increase, and very largely. Incidentally, Mr. Joynson Hicks showed there were only 42 at the time when Colonel Seely claimed 161.

Then comes the inimitable "B.E." (Blériot experimental), on which experiments, to bring it up to the standard of the "trade's" machines, never cease. "The machines were of various types, but that most approved" (by its creators?) "and comprising the majority in use, was a product of the Royal Aircraft Factory, evolved after careful scientific and practical experiment in this country. It is known as the 'B. E.,' and exists in a variety of somewhat (!) differing designs." " "The excellence of the 'B.E.' machine probably contributed its share towards securing that individual ascendancy over the aircraft

of the enemy to which Sir John French has borne such emphatic testimony. It is stated on competent authority to have proved its superiority in two qualities of prime importance, namely, speed and climbing power."

The designs of the B. E, certainly do differ. Those particular brands which command any speed at all are unstable and of dubious strength, and those that can claim to be stable are wonderfully slow and sluggish.

Continuing, the eulogist remarks:-"The British B.E. is also declared to be handier in steering than the German 'Taube,' and much quicker in response to its controls." If the comparison is directed to the genuine "Taube," which is almost as obsolete as the "box-kite," the observation may be correct, but if the word "Taube" stands generically for all German aeroplanes, then the "Times" historian can never have studied the performances of the German Albatros, L.V.G., Aviatik, and D.F.W. biplanes. For instance, one has yet to hear of a B. E. performing a 1,000 foot vertical dive to escape an enemy aeroplane whose armament preponderates.

All honour to the "airmen" of the R.F.C., but opinion will be divided as to whether they turned its "advantages" to full account because they liked it, or because they had to make the best of it when it was served out to them, or because most of them had never had a chance of flying anything better. Illustration Extraordinary.

Finally, come the illustrations in the "History." They are the most uninformative, incorrect, and misleading feature of the whole thing. They seem to have been scattered about the article without regard to date or design, and the reader is left entirely in the dark as to which machines were built in 1910, 1911 or 1912, and what were their capabilities and performances. To take the photographs seriatim; first of all, is a reproduction of a drawing by Mr. Joseph Pennell, labelled "Zeppelin Leaving Shed," possibly a work of art, but a very bad likeness of a Zeppelin. After various sins of omission and commission there is a photograph of a streamlined front elevator " Maurice Farman, labelled Twoseater Henri Farman Biplane." Overleaf is a photo of the Hon. Alan Boyle's "Avis" monoplane, with nothing to tell the reader that it is not a modern racer, and a dual control Henri Farman is called "latest pattern,' although the type is over a year old. The 120-h.p. Shorthorn Maurice is branded the "Gun 'Bus," although that "pet-name" is applied by everybody in the trade to a machine of an entirely different make and type. The "Ilia Mourametz" is merely passed by as the "Aeroplane used by the Russian Army, which it is not. The worst illustration of the whole set is that of a "French Aeroplane Attacking a German Taube." This picture was recently reproduced by a leading labour paper, the editor of which had the common sense to explain that it was a "fake." It shows a Henri Farman dual control biplane flying about twenty feet off the ground, carrying only the pilot in the front seat, who is supposed to be training a mitrailleuse on a very elderly Etrich monoplane, which is situated above his starboard bow about 50 yards away, and as many feet above the ground. The picture has been rendered the more ludicrous by an accident of the "faker" who has managed to re-touch out both the landing wheels and most of the chassis !

Finally, appears a representation of "The Royal Flying Corps in France." A little intelligence in the inspection of this photograph would have revealed to the "Times" "Historian" the presence of a marine on guard, the "Astra Torres" airship flying the White Ensign, and a Short tractor land machine, and he would have deduced a detachment of the Royal Naval Air Service, and not of the Royal Flying Corps.

In sorrow, more than in anger, one deplores the loss of a magnificent opportunity on the part of the editor of the great "Times" "History" to present to a wide public a true and informative description of our Air Services and their work. All the author has really taught the readers of this history is that certain brave soldiers and sailors go up in "those dangerous balloons," some of which are called airships, others aeroplanes, and others B. Es., and that it is possible to see a long way from them and throw bombs and things overboard.