The next daring aëroplanist to arouse the world of aviation was Henri Farman, also a votary of the wheel-mounted flyer. He had been an adept motorist, therefore accustomed to brisk driving. In the summer of 1907 he received from the Voisin brothers the aëroplane illustrated in Plate XXIII. With this he made a number of preliminary flights during the autumn, proving that his aëroplane had suitable stability and motive power. On October 26th, on the government drill grounds at Issy-les-Moulineaux he surpassed Santos-Dumont’s record, by flying 771 meters. But this was to him of minor importance; he was preparing to win the Deutsch-Archdeacon prize of 50,000 francs offered for the first person who should fly one kilometer over a returning course. On January 12th, he convoked a committee of the Aëro Club of France to witness a trial on the morrow. Next morning at ten o’clock, the weather being calm and clear, his great machine ran a hundred yards across the course, then rose gracefully into the air, and sailed away for the 500-meter post. Here, making a wide curve, it rounded safely and returned, passing the home line in elegant flight, thus winning the grand prize. The machine with which Farman achieved his first success, and which broadly resembles his subsequent triumphal flyers, seems to be a cross between a Hargrave kite and a Chanute glider, having a Maxim horizontal steering plane in front. As shown in the figure it was mounted on four bicycle wheels; was steered up and down by the front plane, and sidewise by the box rudder seen in the rear. The rider seated between the large supporting surfaces, and in front of his engine, operated these rudders separately, by pushing or rotating a pilot wheel, and abetted the automatic lateral balance by swaying his body. The machine spread 559 square feet of sustaining surface, weighed 1,100 pounds and carried a 50-horse-power _Antoinette_ motor actuating a single two-blade aluminum propeller 6.9 feet in diameter by 3.6 feet pitch, directly connected to the engine shaft. The stability in mild weather was so great that Farman, during his first few weeks’ practice, made over 200 flights, measuring in length from 100 to 500 yards, without serious mishap. In gusty weather, however, his machine was defective in steadiness, and unsafe near the ground. This objection was remedied later by adding flexible wing margins for controlling the lateral balance. The age of prize flying was thus fairly ushered in by the feeble but very important public demonstrations of Santos-Dumont and Henri Farman. Other public flyers would quickly follow. Delagrange, Blériot, Curtiss would soon become international figures, not to mention numerous more recent aviators. They, were men of originality, skill and energy, who would shortly be in the front line contesting for world laurels, and winning them gloriously. PLATE XXIII. [Illustration: FARMAN BIPLANE, 1908. (Courtesy W. J. Hammer.)] [Illustration: FARMAN BIPLANE, 1909.]