Five years ago, before the offensive and defensive needs of war provided a supreme _raison d'être_, flying was but a costly and dangerous pastime. As such it attracted the first-class adventurers of every race, many of whom lost their lives on weird, Jabberwock-like aircraft, built and tested before experimental data and more accurate methods of calculation became available. But even these men could not realize the wonderful possibilities of the coming air age, of which they were the pioneers. Nearly all the early aëroplanes were born of private enterprise, for capitalists had no faith in the commercial future of flight. Very few firms applied themselves solely to the manufacture of aircraft or aëro engines, and only two or three of the great engineering companies had the vision to maintain aëronautical departments. Among the few important companies that, in those days, regarded aëronautics seriously was Messrs. Vickers, Ltd. They established an experimental department, and as a result of its work began to produce military types of aircraft which were in advance of their period. Later, when the whirlwind of war provided the impetus which swept pioneer aviation into headlong progress, the Vickers productions moved with the times, and helped largely to make the British aircraft industry the greatest in the world. Now that aviation has entered into the third phase of its advance--that of a peace-time commercial proposition--they are again in the forefront of production. Incidentally they provided me with the greatest chance of my life--that of taking part in the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic. Since then a Vickers aëroplane has won yet another great distinction--the prize for the first flight from England to Australia. At this point I desire to pay a very well-deserved tribute to the man who from the beginning has backed with money his faith in the future of aviation. The development of aëronautics has been helped enormously by the generous prizes of Lord Northcliffe and the _Daily Mail_ for the first flights across the English Channel, from London to Manchester, around the circuit of Britain, and finally across the Atlantic. In each case the competitions seemed impossible of fulfilment at the time when they were inaugurated; and in each case the unimaginative began with scoffing doubts and ended with wondering praise. Naturally, the prizes were offered before they could be won, for they were intended to stimulate effort and development. This object was achieved. But for the stimulus of these competitions, Great Britain, at the beginning of the war, might well have been in an even worse position as regards aviation than she was. And all who flew on active service during the first three years of the war realize what they owe to Lord Northcliffe's crusades for more and better machines, and for a more extensive use of aircraft.