The Military Aeroplane Competition being over, and there being nothing very particular in front of us to attract attention till the Paris Show of next month provides fresh controversial points of design for discussion, the moment seems opportune to discuss or suggest how fresh developments are to be made in aviation. Machines and engines cannot remain as they are, in their present primitive state, nor can the act of flying be confined to naval and military officers, and to the advertising agents of enterprising business concerns. The aeroplane and its engine have to be improved, and flying must be brought within reach of the sportsman who will fly for the fun of flying.

The necessary improvements are so obvious that the chief difficulty is to know where to begin rather than to know what to leave unaltered. Practically everything in every machine existing to-day can be improved in one way or another, and in some cases only the most crass stupidity can be responsible for retaining certain points of design. Some people will argue that because certain machines are turned out in quantities, with all their parts standardised and interchangeable, therefore the aeroplane is approaching finality in design, and we need only concern ourselves with perfecting details and materials, with perhaps certain improvements in the aerodynamic efficiency of the planes.

On the contrary, we are actually further advanced in plane designs than in almost anything else, for we are already able to carry a bigger load to the square foot of surface than even the most efficient of birds. Also, the material and the detail design in the more reputable machines is wholly admirable. Where improvement is needed is in the general outline design and arrangement of machines; indeed, alteration rather than improvement is the proper word for the situation.

Mr. Fenwick's fatal accident on the Mersey and Lieut. Parke's wonderful escape with Mr. Le Breton on the Avro go to show that the whole question of the front elevator needs to be reconsidered-an opinion which Mr. A. E. Berriman, one of the leading scientific students of aviation, expressed to the writer on Salisbury Plain, and a view which one can cordially endorse.

One is naturally averse to reasoning from things living to things mechanical, because Nature's designs are frequently so obviously defective for the uses to which we desire to put them. For instance, no one wants to design a motor-car with legs instead of wheels, and a hopper-feed to a turnip-slicer or corn crusher is obviously superior to the human mouth in simplicity and self-feeding ability. Nevertheless, one cannot help feeling that, as a bird does

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most of his flying with his head-physically as well as mentally-it may be well worth while investigating the possibilities of a form of combined elevator and rudder in front of a machine, as an auxiliary to those behind. The fact that forward rudders are not a success on ships is no proof that they will not work on aeroplanes. Fish do not move their heads, but birds do.

Experiments in this direction will be much simplified in future by the disappearance of the tractor screw. The propeller is known to be more efficient, especially when geared down, it does not throw oil or cause an unpleasant slip-stream, and it is not in the way. For the last three reasons, also, the naval and military fliers prefer propellers, which makes it practically certain that they will have to be fitted, so constructors may just as well recognise the fact now and design their machines accordingly.

Again, the throwing away of the lives of Captain Hamilton and Mr. Stuart is another proof of the unnecessary danger of the high speed rotary engine, for a similar accident would be impossible with any form of stationary cylinder engine. Over and over again the writer has insisted on this particular danger. If a cylinder comes off, or even if a valve-rod breaks and jambs in the housing of a fifty-horse sevencylinder rotary engine, the whole engine may pull up instantly without doing material damage to the machine, but in a fourteen-cylinder engine, not only is the momentum so enormous as to carry all before it, but, owing to there being double the number of explosions per revolution, several explosive impulses may follow before anything occurs actually to stop the engine, so that the huge tangled revolving mass carries all before it and practically tears the front out of the machine, as undoubtedly happened in that

case.

The

For short flights by trick fliers, where lightness is everything, the rotary engine may survive, but where weight does not count in comparison with safety, reliability, and fuel efficiency for a long flight there are already many better engines. rotary engine does not hold the passenger height record, it does not hold the duration record, and these are the best tests of real efficiency. Add to lack of efficiency its inherent dangers, and one sees that it must lose pride of place when the aeroplane becomes a practical vehicle, as it is becoming.

Manufacturers the world over in all trades are quick enough to experiment with new ideas if they can see immediate profits in them, but for some unknowable reason they have a rooted objection to making changes for the better. The boat-body on motor-cars is still only half developed, because car

builders will not realise that the radiator and bonnet are part of the body, yet it is five or six years, or perhaps more, since the "Motor" first suggested the real boat body as it will be ultimately. Nothing but sheer stupidity, mental inertia, and pure laziness prevent the necessary alterations from being made, and we are already up against the same position in the aeroplane industry, young as it is. In consequence we find valuable lives thrown away time after time simply because aeroplane designers have science than sense, or else are mere copyists.

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These are only a few points for consideration, and are merely suggested for that purpose. They are far from exhausting the sins of the designer-they merely indicate directions for improvement.

The Sporting Side.

Turning now to the development of aviation generally. Has it occurred to anyone that this sudden awakening of the authorities, followed by big naval and military orders, which is at the moment the salvation of the industry, may in the end prove its damnation, if the sporting side is neglected?

The natural trend of military equipment is towards standardisation. Once produce an aeroplane which does its work well enough for its purpose, and it will be standardised like a gun. Then all the orders will go to a few big firms and the little ones will expire gracefully but dolefully.

A strong sporting element is necessary if steady improvement is to continue. Consider what would have happened but for the introduction of horseracing. In the Georgian period, "when every gentleman wore a wig, and every horse a crupper, we had evolved a fiddle-headed, straight-shouldered, puddingy quadruped with no action, no pace, and, precious little stamina. Horse-racing produced the modern thorough-bred, the gamest beast that ever breathed, and the most beautiful.

Similarly, but for sport demanding speed and distance, we might all still be wallowing on box-kites. As we are trending now, we may evolve a big, solid,

The King and Mr. Cody.

On Thursday of last week Sir Douglas Haig, Commandingin-Chief at Aldershot, paid a visit to Mr. Cody's shed on Laffan's Plain and read to him a letter from his Majesty the King congratulating Mr. Cody on his victory in the War Office Competition.

Nothing definite is yet known as regards Mr. Cody's future intentions beyond the fact that he has had an offer from the Australian Commonwealth to go to them as an instructor; but it hardly seems likely, after the salaries offered recently, that

fairly fast military machine. and nothing else. The question is, how to develop the sport.

Even to-day few men can afford to fly purely for fun, and keep their own machine and mechanics, but there are a surprisingly large number of men who could afford to spend anything from £150 to £300 a year on flying for sport, if it could be done, and if there was a chance of winning fair prizes to help pay running expenses.

The solution seems to be the foundation of properly run, and soundly financed, flying clubs, to which a man can pay a subscription of, say, £100 a year, to pay interest on capital, and his share of mechanics' wages, and afterwards so much per hour in the air for fuel and insurance, plus a reasonable profit.

Such a club, possessing a couple of modern monoplanes and a couple of modern biplanes, could provide reasonable flying for something like thirty members, for one knows from school experience that only a small proportion of the members would be likely to turn up on any given day. Use of the machines would then have to be decided by lot, except when actual competition flying was taking place, when the machines would, of course, be booked for competitors only.

The growth of competition would increase public interest, which would mean more gate-money, and consequently bigger prizes. This would naturally bring more money into the attempts to win such prizes, with improvements in the machines as a result. The whole sport would grow more rapidly, the smaller makers would get orders for special machines which the big firms, busy on Government orders, would not be bothered to make, as they departed from standard design. So we should get machines which were able to beat the standard Service pattern and force an alteration in it, just as the development of the match rifle has from time to time forced an alteration in the Service rifle. And so the industry might be kept in a flourishing state instead of becoming a monopoly of perhaps half-a-dozen big firms.

Australia will be able to offer Mr. Cody sufficient inducement." It is also said that he has had a very good offer from the Austrian Government, which is rather natural, considering that Mr. Cody has done so well with an Austrian engine, as usual getting better results out of it than anyone else, which seems to be Mr. Cody's habit with any engine he uses. It is also said that he has had offers from other foreign Governments, and it is therefore to be hoped that some really important British firm will take Mr. Cody up and allow him to carry out the experiments he wishes to make, so that his services may be retained for this country.