of "reprisals" it was
the R.N.A.S. which opened the campaign with a raid upon the German town
of Mannheim.

As the war continued the duties of the naval pilot increased. He played
a great part in the ceaseless hunt for submarines. You must often
have noticed how easily fish can be seen from a bridge which are quite
invisible from the banks of the river. On this principle the submarine
can be "spotted" by air-craft, and not until the long silence upon naval
affairs is broken, at the end of the war, shall we know to what extent
we are indebted to naval airmen for that long list of submarines which,
in the words of the German reports, "failed to return" to their bases.

In addition to the "Blimps" of which mention has been made, the Royal
Naval Air Service are in charge of air-ships known as the Coast Patrol
type, which work farther out to sea, locating minefields and acting as
scouts for the great fleet of patrol vessels. The Service has gathered
laurels in all parts of the globe, its achievements ranging from an
aerial food service into beleaguered Kut to the discovery of the German
cruiser Konigsberg, cunningly camouflaged up an African creek.

CHAPTER XXXVII. The First Man to Fly in Britain

The honour of being the first man to fly in this country is claimed
by Mr. A. V. Roe, head of the well-known firm A. V. Roe & Co., of
Manchester, and constructor of the highly-efficient Avro machines.

As a youth Roe's great hobby was the construction of toy models of
various forms of machinery, and later on he achieved considerable
success in the production of aeroplane models. All manner of novelties
were the outcome of his fertile brain, and as it has been truly
remarked, "his novelties have the peculiarity, not granted to
most pioneers, of being in one respect or another ahead of his
contemporaries." In addition, he studied the flight of birds.

In the early days of aviation Mr. Roe was a firm believer in the
triplane form of machine, and his first experiments in flight were
made with a triplane equipped with an engine which developed only 9
horse-power.

Later on, he turned his attention to the biplane, and with this craft he
has been highly successful. The Avro biplane, produced in 1913, was
one of the very best machines which appeared in that eventful year. The
Daily Telegraph, when relating its performances, said: "The spectators
at Hendon were given a remarkable demonstration of the wonderful
qualities of this