with a sound like the frantic drawing of
ginger beer corks; the machine scutters along the ground with its tail
well up; then down comes the tail suddenly and seems to slap the ground
while the front jumps up, and all the spectators rock with laughter. The
whole attitude and the jerky action of the machine suggest a grasshopper
in a furious rage, and the impression is intensified when it comes down,
as it did twice on Wednesday, in long grass, burying its head in the
ground in its temper.'--(The Aero, July, 1910.)

The Lanark Meeting followed in August of the same year, and with the
bare mention of this, the subject of flying meetings may he left
alone, since they became mere matters of show until there came military
competitions such as the Berlin Meeting at the end of August, 1910,
and the British War office Trials on Salisbury Plain, when Cody won his
greatest triumphs. The Berlin meeting proved that, from the time of the
construction of the first successful German machine mentioned above, to
the date of the meeting, a good number of German aviators had qualified
for flight, but principally on Wright and Antoinette machines, though
by that time the Aviatik and Dorner German makes had taken the air. The
British War office Trials deserve separate and longer mention.

In 1910 in spite of official discouragement, Captain Dickson proved the
value of the aeroplane for scouting purposes by observing movements
of troops during the Military Manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain. Lieut.
Lancelot Gibbs and Robert Loraine, the actor-aviator, also made flights
over the manoeuvre area, locating troops and in a way anticipating the
formation and work of the Royal Flying Corps by a usefulness which could
not be officially recognised.

XV. THE CHANNEL CROSSING

It may be said that Louis Bleriot was responsible for the second great
landmark in the history of successful flight. The day when the brothers
Wright succeeded in accomplishing power-driven flight ranks as the first
of these landmarks. Ader may or may not have left the ground, but the
wreckage of his 'Avion' at the end of his experiment places his doubtful
success in a different category from that of the brothers Wright and
leaves them the first definite conquerors, just as Bleriot ranks as
first definite conqueror of the English Channel by air.

In a way, Louis Bleriot ranks before Farman in point of time; his
first flapping-wing model was built as early as 1900, and Voisi