ed courage not only won
him the fame that came to a few of the pilots of those days, but also
advanced the cause of flying very considerably and contributed not a
little to the sum of knowledge in regard to design and construction.

Another figure of the early days was A. V. Roe, who came from marine
engineering to the motor industry and aviation in 1905. In 1906 he went
out to Colorado, getting out drawings for the Davidson helicopter, and
in 1907 having returned to England, he obtained highest award out of 200
entries in a model aeroplane flying competition. From the design of
this model he built a full-sized machine, and made a first flight on it,
fitted with a 24 horse-power Antoinette engine, in June of 1908 Later,
he fitted a 9 horsepower motor-cycle engine to a triplane of his own
design, and with this made a number of short flights; he got his flying
brevet on a triplane with a motor of 35 horse-power, which, together
with a second triplane, was entered for the Blackpool aviation meeting
of 1910 but was burnt in transport to the meeting. He was responsible
for the building of the first seaplane to rise from English waters, and
may be counted the pioneer of the tractor type of biplane. In 1913 he
built a two-seater tractor biplane with 80 horse-power engine, a machine
which for some considerable time ranked as a leader of design. Together
with E. V. Roe and H. V. Roe, 'A. V.' controlled the Avro works, which
produced some of the most famous training machines of the war period in
a modification of the original 80 horse-power tractor. The first of the
series of Avro tractors to be adopted by the military authorities was
the 1912 biplane, a two-seater fitted with 50 horsepower engine. It was
the first tractor biplane with a closed fuselage to be used for military
work, and became standard for the type. The Avro seaplane, of I 100
horse-power (a fourteen-cylinder Gnome engine was used) was taken up
by the British Admiralty in 1913. It had a length of 34 feet and a
wing-span of 50 feet, and was of the twin-float type.

Geoffrey de Havilland, though of later rank, counts high among designers
of British machines. He qualified for his brevet as late as February,
1911, on a biplane of his own construction, and became responsible for
the design of the BE2, the first successful British Government biplane.
On this he made a British height record of 10,500 feet over Salisbury
Plain, in August of 1912, when he took up Major Sy