ck into an aerodrome. Obstacles were removed, pits
and ponds were filled in, the solider portions of the ground were
furnished with a fairly good grass surface, rows of wooden sheds were
erected, and the pioneers of the new art were invited by public
advertisement to become their tenants. By the spring of 1910 many
aeroplanes were at work on the Brooklands ground, most of them running
about it in the earnest endeavour to get up sufficient speed to rise
into the air.

There were no instructors. Among the earliest of the pioneers was the
Hon. Alan Boyle, and an account which he has kindly supplied, telling
how he learned to fly his little Avis machine, describes the usual
method of the learners. 'I asked Mr. Howard Wright', he says, 'to build
me this monoplane, which we placed upon the market as proprietors....
She was fitted with an Anzani engine of nominal twenty-five horse-power,
but which really gave about eighteen to twenty horse-power.... She
usually ran for about five minutes, and then got overheated and tired
and struck work.... I took my little Avis to Brooklands about February
1910, after it had been exhibited at the Aero Show. I partitioned off a
corner of my shed, and slept in a hammock, so that I was able to take
advantage of the still hours in the early morning. It is amusing to look
back now and remember how I used to watch anxiously a little flag which
I flew above my shed, to see what strength of wind was blowing. At first
I never used to go out until the flag was practically hanging from the
mast, or was only flapping very gently in the light air, which occurred
usually in the very early morning. At that time there were at
Brooklands, I think, the following: Grahame-White, who was even then a
comparatively experienced pilot; Charles Lane, who like me had brought
out a monoplane, but with a curious tail, a fixed cambered surface with
another elevating plane above and within eight inches or so of it.
However, it flew very steadily indeed, when it was tested some months
later.... A. V. Roe was also there experimenting with his triplanes.
Later on he got them flying well. He did the most astonishing things
with them. They were beautiful little machines and beautifully built,
and it was a delight to watch them in the air. It was wonderful the way
in which they answered to the helm. He used to go straight to a point,
put his rudder over, and without any fuss or "bank" or anything, you
would suddenly find the m