which Germany tried to win back superiority in the third year of the
War, but Allied design kept about three months ahead of that of the
enemy, once the Fokker had been mastered, and the race went on. Spads
and Bristol fighters, Sopwith scouts and F.E.'s played their part in the
race, and design was still advancing when peace came.

The giant twin-engined Handley-Page bomber was tried out, proved
efficient, and justly considered better than anything of its kind that
had previously taken the field. Immediately after the conclusion of its
trials, a specimen of the type was delivered intact at Lille for the
Germans to copy, the innocent pilot responsible for the delivery doing
some great disservice to his own cause. The Gotha Wagon-Fabrik Firm
immediately set to work and copied the Handley-Page design, producing
the great Gotha bombing machine which was used in all the later raids on
England as well as for night work over the Allied lines.

How the War advanced design may be judged by comparison of the military
requirements given for the British Military Trials of 1912, with
performances of 1916 and 1917, when the speed of the faster machines had
increased to over 150 miles an hour and Allied machines engaged enemy
aircraft at heights ranging up to 22,000 feet. All pre-war records of
endurance, speed, and climb went by the board, as the race for aerial
superiority went on.

Bombing brought to being a number of crude devices in the first year of
the War. Allied pilots of the very early days carried up bombs packed
in a small box and threw them over by hand, while, a little later, the
bombs were strung like apples on wings and undercarriage, so that
the pilot who did not get rid of his load before landing risked an
explosion. Then came a properly designed carrying apparatus, crude but
fairly efficient, and with 1916 development had proceeded as far as the
proper bomb-racks with releasing gear.

Reconnaissance work developed, so that fighting machines went as escort
to observing squadrons and scouting operations were undertaken up to 100
miles behind the enemy lines; out of this grew the art of camouflage,
when ammunition dumps were painted to resemble herds of cows, guns were
screened by foliage or painted to merge into a ground scheme, and many
other schemes were devised to prevent aerial observation. Troops were
moved by night for the most part, owing to the keen eyes of the air
pilots and the danger of bombs, though oc