lthough 300 feet per minute is desirable.' They had to attain
a speed of not less than 55 miles per hour in a calm, and be able to
plane down to the ground in a calm from not more than 1,000 feet with
engine stopped, traversing 6,000 feet horizontal distance. For those
days, the landing demands were rather exacting; the machine should be
able to rise without damage from long grass, clover, or harrowed land,
in 100 yards in a calm, and should be able to land without damage on any
cultivated ground, including rough ploughed land, and, when landing on
smooth turf in a calm, be able to pull up within 75 yards of the point
of first touching the ground. It was required that pilot and observer
should have as open a view as possible to front and flanks, and they
should be so shielded from the wind as to be able to communicate with
each other. These are the main provisions out of the set of conditions
laid down for competitors, but a considerable amount of leniency was
shown by the authorities in the competition, who obviously wished to try
out every machine entered and see what were its capabilities.

The beginning of the competition consisted in assembling the machines
against time from road trim to flying trim. Cody's machine, which was
the only one to be delivered by air, took 1 hour and 35 minutes to
assemble; the best assembling time was that of the Avro, which was got
into flying trim in 14 minutes 30 seconds. This machine came to grief
with Lieut. Parke as pilot, on the 7th, through landing at very high
speed on very bad ground; a securing wire of the under-carriage broke in
the landing, throwing the machine forward on to its nose and then over
on its back. Parke was uninjured, fortunately; the damaged machine was
sent off to Manchester for repair and was back again on the 16th of
August.

It is to be noted that by this time the Royal Aircraft Factory was
building aeroplanes of the B.E. and F.E. types, but at the same time it
is also to be noted that British military interest in engines was not
sufficient to bring them up to the high level attained by the planes,
and it is notorious that even the outbreak of war found England
incapable of providing a really satisfactory aero engine. In the 1912
Trials, the only machines which actually completed all their tests were
the Cody biplane, the French Deperdussin, the Hanriot, two Bleriots and
a Maurice Farman. The first prize of L4,000, open to all the world,
went to F. S. Cod