ich had the effect
of reducing the wing-loading. In the case of the biplanes exhibited
this averaged about 4 1/2 lbs. per square foot, while in the case of
the monoplanes in the same exhibition the lowest was 5 1/2 lbs., and
the highest over 8 1/2 lbs. per square foot of area. It may here be
mentioned that it was not until the War period that the importance
of loading per horse-power was recognised as the true criterion of
aeroplane efficiency, far greater interest being displayed in the amount
of weight borne per unit area of wing.

An idea of the state of development arrived at about this time may be
gained from the fact that the Commandant of the Military Wing of the
Royal Flying Corps in a lecture before the Royal Aeronautical Society
read in February, 1913, asked for single-seater scout aeroplanes with
a speed of 90 miles an hour and a landing speed of 45 miles an hour--a
performance which even two years later would have been considered modest
in the extreme. It serves to show that, although higher performances
were put up by individual machines on occasion, the general development
had not yet reached the stage when such performances could be obtained
in machines suitable for military purposes. So far as seaplanes were
concerned, up to the beginning of 1913 little attempt had been made to
study the novel problems involved, and the bulk of the machines at the
Monaco Meeting in April, 1913, for instance, consisted of land machines
fitted with floats, in many cases of a most primitive nature, without
other alterations. Most of those which succeeded in leaving the water
did so through sheer pull of engine power; while practically all were
incapable of getting off except in a fair sea, which enabled the pilot
to jump the machine into the air across the trough between two waves.
Stability problems had not yet been considered, and in only one or two
cases was fin area added at the rear high up, to counterbalance the
effect of the floats low down in front. Both twin and single-float
machines were used, while the flying boat was only just beginning
to come into being from the workshops of Sopwith in Great Britain,
Borel-Denhaut in France, and Curtiss in America. In view of the
approaching importance of amphibious seaplanes, mention should be made
of the flying boat (or 'bat boat' as it was called, following
Rudyard Kipling) which was built by Sopwith in 1913 with a wheeled
landing-carriage which could be wound up above the