igned by him. The spirit of
cooperation, expressed in pooling ideas and fame, which the Wright
brothers exemplified, is seen again in the association of Curtiss with
the navy during the war. NC is a fraternity badge signifying equal
honors.

Curtiss, in 1900, was--like the Wrights--the owner of a small bicycle
shop. It was at Hammondsport, New York. He was an enthusiastic cyclist,
and speed was a mania with him. He evolved a motor cycle with which he
broke all records for speed over the ground. He started a factory and
achieved a reputation for excellent motors. He designed and made the
engine for the dirigible of Captain Thomas S. Baldwin; and for the first
United States army dirigible in 1905.

Curtiss carried on some of his experiments in association with Alexander
Graham Bell, who was trying to evolve a stable flying machine on the
principle of the cellular kite. Bell and Curtiss, with three others,
formed in 1907, the Aerial Experimental Association at Bell's country
house in Canada, which was fruitful of results, and Curtiss scored
several notable triumphs with the craft they designed. But the idea of
a machine which could descend and propel itself on water possessed
his mind, and in 1911 he exhibited at the aviation meet in Chicago the
hydroaeroplane. An incident there set him dreaming of the life-saving
systems on great waters. His hydroaeroplane had just returned to its
hangar, after a series of maneuvers, when a monoplane in flight broke
out of control and plunged into Lake Michigan. The Curtiss machine left
its hangar on the minute, covered the intervening mile, and alighted on
the water to offer aid. The presence of boats made the good offices of
the hydroaeroplane unnecessary on that occasion; but the incident opened
up to the mind of Curtiss new possibilities.

In the first years of the World War Curtiss built airplanes and flying
boats for the Allies. The United States entered the arena and called for
his services. The Navy Department called for the big flying boat; and
the NC type was evolved, which, equipped with four Liberty Motors,
crossed the Atlantic after the close of the war.

The World War, of course, brought about the magical development of all
kinds of air craft. Necessity not only mothered invention but forced it
to cover a normal half century of progress in four years. While Curtiss
worked with the navy, the Dayton-Wright factory turned out the famous
DH fighting planes under the supervis