On
the 17th January, E. B. Ely, an American, flew from the shore of San
Francisco to the U.S. cruiser Pennsylvania, landing on the cruiser,
and then flew back to the shore. The British military designing of
aeroplanes had been taken up at Farnborough by G. H. de Havilland, who
by the end of January was flying a machine of his own design, when he
narrowly escaped becoming a casualty through collision with an obstacle
on the ground, which swept the undercarriage from his machine.

A list of certified pilots of the countries of the world was issued
early in 1911, showing certificates granted up to the end of 1910.
France led the way easily with 353 pilots; England came next with 57,
and Germany next with 46; Italy owned 32, Belgium 27, America 26, and
Austria 19; Holland and Switzerland had 6 aviators apiece, while Denmark
followed with 3, Spain with 2, and Sweden with 1. The first certificate
in England was that of J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon, while Louis Bleriot was
first on the French list and Glenn Curtiss, first holder of an American
certificate, also held the second French brevet.

On the 7th March, Eugene Renaux won the Michelin Grand Prize by flying
from the French Aero Club ground at St Cloud and landing on the Puy de
Dome. The landing, which was one of the conditions of the prize, was
one of the most dangerous conditions ever attached to a competition;
it involved dropping on to a little plateau 150 yards square, with
a possibility of either smashing the machine against the face of the
mountain, or diving over the edge of the plateau into the gulf beneath.
The length of the journey was slightly over 200 miles and the height of
the landing point 1,465 metres, or roughly 4,500 feet above sea-level.
Renaux carried a passenger, Doctor Senoucque, a member of Charcot's
South Polar Expedition.

The 1911 Aero Exhibition held at Olympia bore witness to the enormous
strides made in construction, more especially by British designers,
between 1908 and the opening of the Show. The Bristol Firm showed three
machines, including a military biplane, and the first British built
biplane with tractor screw. The Cody biplane, with its enormous size
rendering it a prominent feature of the show, was exhibited. Its
designer anticipated later engines by expressing his desire for a motor
of 150 horse-power, which in his opinion was necessary to get the best
results from the machine. The then famous Dunne monoplane was exhibited
at this sho