Part I--THE EVOLUTION OF THE AEROPLANE I. THE PERIOD OF LEGEND II. EARLY EXPERIMENTS III. SIR GEORGE CAYLEY--THOMAS WALKER IV. THE MIDDLE NINETEENTH CENTURY V. WENHAM, LE BRIS, AND SOME OTHERS VI. THE AGE OF THE GIANTS VII. LILIENTHAL AND PILCHER VIII. AMERICAN GLIDING EXPERIMENTS IX. NOT PROVEN X. SAMUEL PIERPOINT LANGLEY XI. THE WRIGHT BROTHERS XII. THE FIRST YEARS OF CONQUEST XIII. FIRST FLIERS IN ENGLAND XIV. RHEIMS, AND AFTER XV. THE CHANNEL CROSSING XVI. LONDON TO MANCHESTER XVII. A SUMMARY--TO 1911 XVIII. A SUMMARY--TO 1914 XIX. THE WAR PERIOD--I XX. THE WAR PERIOD--II XXI. RECONSTRUCTION XXII. 1919-1920 Part II--1903-1920: PROGRESS IN DESIGN I. THE BEGINNINGS II. MULTIPLICITY OF IDEAS III. PROGRESS ON STANDARDISED LINES IV. THE WAR PERIOD Part III--AEROSTATICS I. BEGINNINGS II. THE FIRST DIRIGIBLES III. SANTOS-DUMONT IV. THE MILITARY DIRIGIBLE V. BRITISH AIRSHIP DESIGN VI. THE AIRSHIP COMMERCIALLY VII. KITE BALLOONS PART IV--ENGINE DEVELOPMENT I. THE VERTICAL TYPE II. THE VEE TYPE III. THE RADIAL TYPE IV. THE ROTARY TYPE V. THE HORIZONTALLY-OPPOSED ENGINE VI. THE TWO-STROKE CYCLE ENGINE VII. ENGINES OF THE WAR PERIOD APPENDICES PART I. THE EVOLUTION OF THE AEROPLANE I. THE PERIOD OF LEGEND The blending of fact and fancy which men call legend reached its fullest and richest expression in the golden age of Greece, and thus it is to Greek mythology that one must turn for the best form of any legend which foreshadows history. Yet the prevalence of legends regarding flight, existing in the records of practically every race, shows that this form of transit was a dream of many peoples--man always wanted to fly, and imagined means of flight.