n the _Circuit de l'Est_ of 1910, made Hendon one of their
stages. The earlier of these, somewhat magniloquently called the
'Circuit of Europe', was organized by a syndicate of newspapers. The
appointed course was from Paris to Paris by way of Liege, Utrecht,
Brussels, and London--a distance of about a thousand miles. The second,
not many days later, organized by the _Daily Mail_ newspaper, and called
the 'Circuit of Britain', laid its course from Brooklands to Brooklands,
by way of Edinburgh and Glasgow, Exeter and Brighton, with Hendon as the
first stopping-place on the outward journey. Both competitions were won
by Lieutenant Conneau of the French navy, who flew under the name of
'Beaumont'. Whether because only one Englishman (Mr. James Valentine)
took part in the earlier competition, or because the second was better
advertised and first awoke the public to the significance of aviation,
it was to witness the second that enthusiastic crowds first flocked to
Hendon. Mr. Holt Thomas, who helped to organize the 'Circuit of Europe',
found a stolid indifference in the English public. As he drove to Hendon
along the Edgware road he noticed that the people on their way to the
aerodrome were mostly French. Indeed, he adds, at the aerodrome itself
there were almost more police than public to witness what was a great
event in the history of flight. For the 'Circuit of Britain', on the
other hand, an enormous crowd gathered at Hendon. The fields on Hendon
Hill were black with spectators. One farmer, remembering to make hay
while the sun shone, erected a canvas screen all along the upper part of
his field, and by charging threepence for admission to the other side
reaped a good harvest. The competitors arrived on a Saturday afternoon,
and left again for the north early on the Monday morning. Thousands of
spectators spent Sunday night in the fields, gathering round bonfires or
singing to keep themselves warm. In this competition the French
monoplane pilots carried off the honours; Beaumont was first, and
Vedrines second. The only competitor who completed the full course on a
British-built machine was the stalwart and persevering Mr. Cody on his
own biplane.

The man who makes a machine and the man who flies one are the heroes of
the epic of flight. Next to them, all credit must be given to the
public-spirited financiers and patrons who encouraged flight, especially
to those of them who were not deceived, and knew that they are the