ion of a machine weighing 600 lb., including
the operator and an 8 horse-power engine, which on December 17th, 1903,
realized the dreams of centuries.

After an increasing number of experiments, a machine built in 1905 flew
24-1/4 miles at a speed of 38 miles an hour. It is interesting to recall
that the new invention was refused once by the United States and three
times by the British Government.

It was not until September 13th, 1906, that Ellehammer, a Danish
engineer, made the first free flight in Europe, his machine flying 42
metres at a height of a metre and a half. About the same time reports
of the Wrights' successes began to reach Europe and were quickly
appreciated by the French.

Space forbids that I should enter into the achievements of the early
French aviators, among whom the names of Ferber, Bleriot and Farman will
always rank high in the story of human faith, courage and determination.
It is a record of rapid advance. Farman made a circuit flight of 1
kilometre in 1908, and flew from Chalons to Rheims, a distance of 27
kilometres, in twenty minutes. Bleriot crossed the Channel in a
monoplane of his own design in forty minutes. French designers improved
the control system, and French machines became famous. The records of
the Rheims meeting of 1909 serve to illustrate the progress made during
the first phase of aviation. Latham won the altitude prize by flying to
a height of over 500 feet. Farman the prize for the flight of longest
duration by remaining more than three hours in the air, and the
passenger carrying prize by carrying two passengers round a 10-kilometre
course in 10-1/2 minutes. The Gnome rotary engine was first used with
success at this meeting.

Before turning to the pioneer efforts in England and the pre-war
organization of our air forces, some account of the development of the
lighter-than-air dirigible is desirable.

THE FIRST AIRSHIPS.

The earliest conception of an airship is to be found in General
Meusnier's design in 1784 for an egg-shaped balloon driven by three
screw propellers, worked, of course, by hand. The chief interest in his
design, though it never materialized, lies in the fact that it provided
for a double envelope and was the precursor of the ballonet. The first
man-carrying airship was built by Henri Giffard in 1852. It had a
capacity of 87,000 cu. feet, a length of 144 feet, a 3 horse-power
engine, and a speed of 6 miles an hour. A gas engine was first used
tw