Another R. A. F. series is the F. E. or large pusher biplane, descended from the Henry Farman. The initials stood originally for Farman Experimental, but now stand for Fighting Experimental, the type being variants of the Vickers Gun Bus. THE 1914 B. E. 2C Just before the war broke out the British R. A. F. produced an uncapsizable biplane nicknamed “Stability Jane.” Officially she was known as the B. E. 2c and was another type of Mr. De Havilland’s original B. E. Once it was in the air the machine flew itself and the pilot had only to keep it on its course. It was so slow in speed and manœuvring that it was called the “suicide bus,” yet the type was useful for certain purposes. THE 1912 DEPERDUSSIN A very small monoplane, designed by MM. Bechereau and Koolhoven for the Deperdussin firm to compete in the James Gordon Bennett race at Rheims, proved to be the fastest machine built to the close of 1912. It was a tiny plane with a fourteen-cylinder, 100 horse-power Gnome engine. It covered 126½ miles in an hour—the first time a man had ever travelled faster than two miles a minute for a whole hour—and won the race. Allowing for corners, it must have flown well over 130 miles an hour on the straight course. The little machine was stream-lined, even to the extent of placing a stream-lined support behind the pilot’s head. Two wheels, an axle, and four carefully stream-lined struts made up the under-carriage. The plane was remarkable for having its fuselage built wholly of three-ply wood, built on a mould without any bracing inside. It was the prototype of all the very high-speed machines of to-day. In 1916-17 the three-ply fuselage was adopted in all German fighting-machines and this country is gradually appreciating the improvement and has made many fuselages of three-ply wood. THE 1912 CURTISS FLYING-BOAT But perhaps the most remarkable achievement of 1912 was the Curtiss flying-boat. Glenn Curtiss, who won the James Gordon Bennett race in 1909, had succeeded in rising from the water in 1911 with a similar biplane fitted with a central pontoon float instead of a wheeled under-carriage. This he made into a genuine flying-boat, consisting of a proper hydroplane-boat, with wings and engine superimposed. All the great modern flying-boats have descended from this, and it is the forerunner of the great passenger-carrying seaplanes of the future. Curtiss is also credited with the invention of ailerons. THE 1912 SHORT SEAPLANE Another type of seaplane was also developed in 1912 when, after many trials, the Short brothers, of Eastchurch, England, built a successful seagoing biplane, equipped with twin floats instead of the ordinary landing-gear. This, with only an 80 horse-power Gnome engine, was the first flying-machine to arise from or alight on any kind of sea. THE 1912 TAUBE