thorities are able to decide the type of aeroplane which
is best suited to a certain projected task. According to the dossier
in the pigeon-hole, wherein the results of the type are filed, the
aeroplane will be able to go so far, and upon arriving at that point
will be able to accomplish so much work, and then be able to return
home. Consequently it is dispatched upon the especial duty without any
feeling of uncertainty.

Unfortunately, these experimental processes were too methodical to prove
reliable. The endurance data were prepared from tests carried out in
the aerodrome and from cross-country trials accomplished under ideal or
fair-weather conditions. The result is that calculations have been often
upset somewhat rudely by weather conditions of a totally unexpected
character, which bring home vividly the striking difference between
theory and practice.

The British and French aviation authorities have not adopted such
methodical standardisation or rule of thumb inferences, but rather
have fostered individual enterprise and initiative. This stimulation of
research has been responsible for the creation of a type of aeroplane
specially adapted to naval service, and generically known as the water
plane, the outstanding point of difference from the aeroplane being the
substitution of canoes or floats for the wheeled chassis peculiar to
the land machine. The flier is sturdily built, while the floats are
sufficiently substantial to support the craft upon the water in calm
weather. Perhaps it was the insular situation of the British nation
which was responsible for this trend of development, because so far as
Britain is concerned the sea-going aeroplane is in dispensable. But the
salient fact remains that to-day the waterplane service of Great Britain
is the most efficient in the world, the craft being speedy, designed and
built to meet the rough weather conditions which are experienced around
these islands, and ideal vessels for patrol and raiding duties.

So far as the British practice is concerned the waterplane is designed
to operate in conjunction with, and not apart from, the Navy. It has
been made the eyes of the Navy in the strictest interpretation of the
term. In any such combination the great difficulty is the establishment
of what may be termed a mobile base, inasmuch as the waterplane must
move with the fleet. This end has been achieved by the evolution of
a means of carrying a waterplane upon, and launching