in those days. The
position of the occupants, as they sat in the machine, differed from
the arrangement in the cross-Channel Bleriot. In the latter the pilot
sat in a hull placed between the planes, and with his head and
shoulders above them. But in this new and larger machine the pilot and
passenger sat in seats which were placed below the planes.

The craft was, as a matter of fact, an experiment, being built almost
purely for speed; hence its powerful motor. M. Bleriot's idea, in
constructing it, was to have a machine with which he might win the
Gordon-Bennett international speed race at Rheims. But this hope he
did not realise; nor did I obtain delivery of the craft I desired.
Bleriot, flying alone in this big monoplane, started in a speed flight
for the Gordon-Bennett; but he was only a quarter of the way round the
course, on his second lap, when the machine was seen to break suddenly
into flames and crash to the ground from a height of 100 feet. It was
wrecked entirely, but Bleriot was fortunate enough to escape with
nothing worse than burns about the face and hands, and a general
shock. The cause of the accident was that an indiarubber tube, fixed
temporarily to carry petrol from the tank to the carburettor, had been
eaten through and had permitted petrol to leak out, and to ignite, on
the hot exhaust pipes of the motor.

The destruction of this monoplane was, to me, a great disappointment.
No other machine of the type was in existence, and I learned that it
would take three months to build one. M. Bleriot promised, however, to
put a machine in hand at once; and, as a special concession, I
obtained permission to go daily to the Bleriot factory and superintend
the construction of my own machine. This I did for a full period of
three months, working daily from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and gaining some
valuable knowledge as to aeroplane construction.

On November 6, 1909, after delays which had tried my patience sorely,
I obtained delivery of the new machine--a replica of the craft that
had been destroyed at Rheims. It was too late that day to begin any
trials, so I and a friend who was with me arranged with M. Bleriot's
mechanics that we would be at Issy-les-Moulineaux early next morning,
and there put the craft through its preliminary tests. I can remember
we went to bed early, but sleep was impossible; we were both too
excited at the prospect that lay before us. So presently we got
up--this was at 2 a.m.--and drove o