pp. 1-14

New means of warfare in the Great War--submarines and aircraft. The
first free flight of an aeroplane, December 17, 1903. Attitude of the
peoples; English stolidity. The navy and the air. The German menace
hastens the making of our air service. The British air force at the
outbreak of the war, and at its close. The achievement of the British
air force. Uses of aircraft in war extended and multiplied--reconnaissance,
artillery observation, photography, contact patrol, battle in the air,
bombing. Naval developments--kite balloons, coast patrol, convoy of
vessels, seaplanes and seaplane-carriers, work against submarines.
Secret dropping of agents. Development of machines. New scientific
devices. Men of science and men of action. The supremacy of the
infantry in war. The making of its tradition by the Royal Air Force.

CHAPTER I. The Conquest of the Air. pp. 15-66

Our ignorance of man's history. The conquest of the sea and the conquest
of the air. Pioneers of flight. The physical basis of flight. Essential
features of an aeroplane. Two kinds of aircraft--floating machines and
soaring machines. Early legends and adventures. Progress the reward of
risk. Wilbur Wright's view. Progress towards aerial navigation in the
age of Louis XIV, and of the French Revolution. The Royal Society and
Bishop Wilkins. Joseph Glanvill's prophecies. Sir William Temple's
satire. Study of the flight of birds by Borelli. Lana's aerial ship. The
discovery of gases. Soap-bubbles filled with hydrogen in 1782. The
Montgolfier hot-air balloon, 1783. The hydrogen balloon of Professor
Charles. The first aeronaut--Pilatre de Rozier. First ascents in Great
Britain; James Tytler and Vincenzo Lunardi. Lunardi's narrative. Dr.
Johnson and Horace Walpole on balloons. The _Great Nassau_. The balloon
as a spectacle. Scientific work of James Glaisher. His highest ascent,
September 5, 1862. Pioneers of aviation--Sir George Cayley, John
Stringfellow. Foundation of Aeronautical Society, 1866. Francis Wenham's
paper on aerial locomotion. Fermentation of ideas. The study of soaring
birds--Cayley, M. Mouillard. The gliders; stories of Captain Lebris; the
work and writings of Otto Lilienthal; his death and influence. Percy
Pilcher and his work. Other experiments--Montgomery, Chanute, Phillips,
Maxim, Ader. Laurence Hargrave; his inventions; his public spirit.
Professor Samuel Pierpont Langley; his whirling tabl