In the battles in the air, too, the Allies were rapidly becoming supreme. On October 18, 1918, the British air force alone destroyed sixty-seven Hun machines and brought down fifteen more out of control, losing only fifteen machines themselves. Thus these fliers blinded the German artillery, and in contact patrol swept the Teuton trenches, bombed their motor and rail transports, and dispersed concentrations of their troops. Indeed, the only place to escape these relentless dragons of the air was actually under ground. Meanwhile, after much delay and many mistakes, American-built aeroplanes were beginning to appear in quantity on the West Front. Here is the record of what the Americans accomplished during the short time in which they had machines: 926 German aeroplanes and 73 balloons were destroyed. The Americans lost 265 aeroplanes and 38 balloons. Finally, in October, 1918, 350 American-built aeroplanes in one single formation dropped thirty-two tons of high explosives on Wavrille. When the armistice was signed, there were actually engaged on the West Front 740 American aeroplanes, 744 pilots, 457 observers, and 23 aerial gunners. Of these, 329 were pursuit machines, 296 observation machines, and 115 were bombers. How much damage the French and Italians did to German aerial supremacy and manufacturing efficiency is difficult to summarize. It was very considerable and, taken in conjunction with the others, sufficient to convince the German military leaders that the Allied production of aircraft was so rapid that within less than a year at most the Allies would sweep the Huns from the skies and not even Berlin would escape the fate the Huns had so often visited upon London, Paris, and Bucharest. Finally the plea issued by the German Government to the Allies, about a month before the end, to confine air raids to within a fifty-mile zone of the fighting-line was a complete confession that the Allied supremacy of the air was one of the most deciding factors in causing Germany to surrender. But though the primary uses of the aeroplanes during the last four years were polemic, nevertheless, several of the startling new feats demonstrate clearly what may be expected when the same aircraft manufacturers design and construct machines for the avowed purpose of commercial aerial transportation. Here are only a few of the most startling world’s records that suggest these possibilities: