For that reason, as soon as the Wrights began to demonstrate in France, in 1908, the feasibility of the aeroplane as a scout, the Germans realized the importance of the aeroplane as an adjunct of the dirigible, whose development they had already been committed to since 1900, when Count Ferdinand Zeppelin built his first rigid lighter-than-air craft. Since aeronautic motors had to be used on both types of aircraft, and since the speed and flying radius depended on the efficiency of the engine, the Germans set about to develop them. The French War Department had in 1910 laid down rules and regulations for a competition to develop aeronautics. They specified that the aeroplane and engine should be made in France, and that the distance of flight must at least be 186 miles, carrying 660 pounds of useful load, or three passengers, and to attain an altitude of 1,640 feet. The sum of 100,000 francs was to be paid for the machine which accomplished this feat, and 20 other machines of the same type were to be bought for 40,000 francs each. In the lists of that year 34 aeroplanes of as many designs were built, but only 8 passed the tests. Weyman’s Nieuport with a Gnome engine attained an average speed of 116 miles an hour. As a result of this contest England, Germany, and Austria established aeroplane meets for 1912. England offered 10,000 pounds in prizes. Prince Henry of Prussia urged the German Government to appropriate $7,000,000 for military aeronautics. On January 27, 1912, the Kaiser offered 50,000 marks in prizes to develop aeromotors. The Aerial League of Germany started a public subscription which brought in 7,234,506 marks. The purpose of the league was to train a large number of pilots for a reserve and to encourage general development of aeronautics in Germany. This proved to be a great success, for by the end of 1913, 370 additional German pilots had been trained, making a total of over 600. Meanwhile, German constructors increased from 20 to 50 in the same period of time. The development of aeronautics under the auspices of the Aerial League induced the Reichstag to appropriate $35,000,000 to be expended during the next five years for military aeronautics. This was by far the most liberal appropriation made for war aeronautics by any government in Europe. Under this encouragement, by the middle of July, 1914, the German aviators broke all the world’s records, making a total of over 100 new records of all kinds. The non-stop endurance record of 24 hours, 12 minutes was made by Reinhold Boehm, and Heinrich Oelrich attained a new ceiling at 26,246 feet. Herr Landsman covered 1,335 miles in one day, making the world’s record for distance covered by one man in one day. Roland Garros held the world’s record of 19,200 feet before Otto Linnekogel made 21,654.