Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 45825-h.htm or 45825-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/45825/45825-h/45825-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/45825/45825-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive/American Libraries. See https://archive.org/details/aeroplane00grahrich Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). Small-capitals in the text have been converted to upper case. “Romance of Reality” Series Edited by Ellison Hawks THE AEROPLANE * * * * * * _VOLUMES ALREADY ISSUED_ 1. THE AEROPLANE. By GRAHAME WHITE and HARRY HARPER. 2. THE MAN-OF-WAR. By Commander E. H. CURREY, R.N. 3. MODERN INVENTIONS. By V. E. JOHNSON, M.A. 4. ELECTRICITY. By W. H. MCCORMICK. 5. ENGINEERING. By GORDON D. KNOX. * * * * * * [Illustration: THE AIR LINER OF THE FUTURE. By the use of such a machine as this, twenty years hence, we shall be able to spend a week-end in New York, as we do now in Paris or Scotland. Flying at immense heights, and at speeds of 200 miles an hour, these huge aircraft--carrying hundreds of passengers in vibrationless luxury--will pass from London to New York in less than twenty hours.] “Romance of Reality” Series THE AEROPLANE by CLAUDE GRAHAME-WHITE and HARRY HARPER Joint Authors of “The Aeroplane; Past, Present, and Future” “The Aeroplane in War" “Heroes of the Air” “With the Airmen" “The Air King's Treasure” etc. etc. [Illustration] London: T. C. & E. C. Jack 67 Long Acre, W.C., & Edinburgh Printed in Great Britain PREFACE Our aim in these pages is to tell a complete story of the aerial conquest, beginning from crude experiments, made hundreds of years ago; passing thence to the first serious experimenters, with their difficulties and triumphs; and so carrying on the tale to present-day achievements and the latest-type machines. There is one aspect of this history which has an especial fascination; and it is the personality of the men who--braving ridicule and scorn and surmounting obstacles without number--laid the foundation-stones of flight. Instead of being a compilation of dates, with certain explanatory matter added, our book endeavours to make these men live: to show what induced them to embark upon their seemingly hopeless quest; to tell of their dreams and longings, and how they built their first frail craft; to trace them to their boyhood and their play with kites; to reveal them, in a word, as living beings, and not merely as names.