The first aeroplane to fly with consistent success equipped with more than one engine was the twin-motored Caudron, with two 110 horse-power Le Rhone engines. Various other similar experiments had been made and some machines were designed which afterward made good. The French twin Caudron, however, may claim to be the first twin-engined aeroplane. The engines were placed one on each side of the fuselage but inaccessible to the pilot. [Illustration: The huge four-motored Handley Page bomber. This machine carried 40 passengers at one time over London and has flown from London, via Cairo and Bagdad, to India. It has a wing spread of 126 feet.] THE 1916 TWIN HANDLEY PAGE In 1916 the British Handley Page machine with 100-foot wing spread, driven by two Rolls-Royce motors of 250 horse-power, performed many remarkable bomb-carrying feats for long distance. A later machine, with 127-foot wing spread and four engines, flew via Cairo and Bagdad to Delhi, India, and still another carried a piano over the Channel. A large fleet of these bombers were ready to attack Berlin when the armistice was signed. THE 1917 SPAD The Spad was designed by M. Bechereau, of Deperdussin fame. It and the Albatross D3 model were both descended from the Deperdussin, the Nieuport, and the Tabloid. The Spad superseded the Nieuport as a fighting scout on the West Front because of its superior speed when driven by a Salmson engine. THE 1917 D. H. 4 The 1917 D. H. 4 was designed by De Havilland, and the S. E. 5 was built by his successors at the Royal Aircraft Factory. Both were descendants of the B. E., as is the Bristol Fighter, built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, of British, and designed by Captain Barnwell. The German Gotha, which bombed London so often, was a descendant of the Caudron and the Handley Page twin-engine planes. In 1917 Italy produced her famous three-engined Caproni triplane, driven by three Fiat 1,000 horse-power engines. It had 150-foot wing spread and was used for bombing purposes. S. I. A. and Pomilio were smaller fighting-machines, equipped with Fiat engines. All of these machines were exhibited in the United States and many Caproni triplanes were built in this country. CHAPTER VI DEVELOPMENT OF THE AEROPLANE FOR WAR PURPOSES GERMAN AERIAL PREPAREDNESS—PRIZES GIVEN FOR AERONAUTICS BY VARIOUS GOVERNMENTS—FIRST USE OF PLANES IN WAR—FIRST AIRCRAFT ARMAMENT There is no gainsaying the fact that Germany, in her eagerness to develop every engine of war further than any other nation, so that when “Der Tag” came she would be mechanically superior and thus able to quickly crush any adversary, instantly saw the advantage that control of the air would give her.