The last months of this strenuous year, 1909, and of the first decade of dynamic flight, closed without further startling developments. True, some records were made, but they merely pleased, not perturbed the world, now accustomed to marvels. Be it recorded, however, that, with a Voisin biplane, Paulhan, on November 1st, flew 96 miles in 2 hours, 20 minutes, and on November 20th flew 1,960 feet high in a Farman biplane; on December 9th, Maurice Farman, mounted on his own type of biplane, rode through the icy atmosphere from Buc to Chartres, a distance of 40 kilometers, in 50 minutes, the longest town-to-town flight up to that date; and on December 31st he flew from Chartres to Orleans, a distance of 41.6 miles, in forty-six minutes. But several fine achievements which the world anticipated for that year remained unattempted. The great prize flight of 183 miles from London to Manchester was still untried, though several machines and pilots seemed equal to the voyage, and $50,000 would be awarded by Lord Northcliffe to the brave aviator who should accomplish that journey in not more than three stages and within a period of twenty-four hours. Neither had anyone yet flown to an elevation of one kilometer. These tasks were left over as allurements for the succeeding year. CHAPTER XII FORCING THE ART The decade that inaugurated dynamic man-flight had closed without fully demonstrating the capabilities of such aëroplanes as had been so far developed. No considerable altitude record had as yet been achieved. No very long cross-country flight had yet been attempted, though for many months the New York _World_ had offered $10,000 for the first aërial voyage from Albany to New York, and the London _Daily Mail_ had long offered $50,000 for a flight from London to Manchester. The uses of the aëroplane for scouting by land and sea had not been tested, much less its probable value in aggressive warfare. Such experiments were for the immediate future, as also the development of specialized types of machines for racing, for climbing, for burden bearing, for distance, for endurance, for landing on water, for rising from water, for protection of passengers from severe weather. To air men and spectators alike the future of the art promised to be quite as captivating as the past.