ual demonstration and the
field of imagination which was opened up, these early flights proved
to be a world's wonder only for a moment.

For years aviation dragged on. Daredevils and adventurers took it up
to make money by hair-raising exploits at various meets and exhibits.
Many died, and the general public, after satiating its lust for the
sensational, turned its thought elsewhere. Flight was regarded as
somewhat the plaything of those who cared not for life, and as a
result the serious, sober thought of the community did not enter into
its solution.

Business men held aloof. Apart from circus performances there seemed
no money to be made in aviation and consequently practically none was
invested in it. What little manufacturing was done was by zealots and
inventors. Workmanship was entirely by hand, slow, amateurish, and
unreliable.

Strangely enough, scientists were equally apathetic. It might have
been expected that their imaginations would be fired by the unexplored
realms of the air and by the incomparably new field of experiment
opened to them; but they were not. The great question, that of flight
itself, had been answered, and but few were interested in working out
the less spectacular applications of its principles. Aviation remained
very much of a poor sister in the scientific world, held back by all
the discredit attaching to the early stunt-flying and by failure to
break through the ancient belief in its impracticability for any
purposes other than the sensational.

So the science limped along, unsupported by either public interest or
capital. Now and again some startling feat attracted the world's
attention, as when the English Channel was first crossed by air and
England was made to realize that her insularity was gone. For a moment
this feat held public interest, but again without a true realization
of its significance. There seemed nothing which would drive man to
develop the gift which had been put within his reach.

Up to that fatal moment in August, 1914, when the World War broke out,
aviation had made but little progress. All nations had what passed as
air services, but they were very small and ill-equipped and were
regarded with doubt and suspicion by the military leaders of the
various countries. Compared with what has since taken place, the
experiments previous to the war were only the most rudimentary
beginnings.

Then came the war. Man's imagination was aroused to a feverish desire
fo