w, its planes being V-shaped in plan, with apex leading. It
embodied the results of very lengthy experiments carried out both with
gliders and power-driven machines by Colonel Capper, Lieut. Gibbs,
and Lieut. Dunne, and constituted the longest step so far taken in the
direction of inherent stability.

Such forerunners of the notable planes of the war period as the Martin
Handasyde, the Nieuport, Sopwith, Bristol, and Farman machines, were
features of the show; the Handley-Page monoplane, with a span of 32
feet over all, a length of 22 feet, and a weight of 422 lbs., bore no
relation at all to the twin-engined giant which later made this firm
famous. In the matter of engines, the principal survivals to the present
day, of which this show held specimens, were the Gnome, Green, Renault
air-cooled, Mercedes four-cylinder dirigible engine of 115 horse-power,
and 120 horsepower Wolseley of eight cylinders for use with dirigibles.

On April 12th, of 1911, Paprier, instructor at the Bleriot school at
Hendon, made the first non-stop flight between London and Paris. He left
the aerodrome at 1.37 p.m., and arrived at Issy-les-Moulineaux at 5.33
p.m., thus travelling 250 miles in a little under 4 hours. He followed
the railway route practically throughout, crossing from Dover to nearly
opposite Calais, keeping along the coast to Boulogne, and then following
the Nord Railway to Amiens, Beauvais, and finally Paris.

In May, the Paris-Madrid race took place; Vedrines, flying a Morane
biplane, carried off the prize by first completing the distance of 732
miles. The Paris-Rome race of 916 miles was won in the same month by
Beaumont, flying a Bleriot monoplane. In July, Koenig won the German
National Circuit race of 1,168 miles on an Albatross biplane. This was
practically simultaneous with the Circuit of Britain won by Beaumont,
who covered 1,010 miles on a Bleriot monoplane, having already won
the Paris-Brussels-London-Paris Circuit of 1,080 miles, this also on
a Bleriot. It was in August that a new world's height record of 11,152
feet was set up by Captain Felix at Etampes, while on the 7th of the
month Renaux flew nearly 600 miles on a Maurice Farman machine in 12
hours. Cody and Valentine were keeping interest alive in the Circuit of
Britain race, although this had long been won, by determinedly plodding
on at finishing the course.

On September 9th, the first aerial post was tried between Hendon and
Windsor, as an experiment in