It is necessary now to consider the growth of flying in England. While mighty deeds were done in America and France, there had been pioneers at work here--painstaking and enthusiastic, but handicapped sadly by the public indifference that prevailed. They met with no encouragement--no financial help; they had to build their machines as best they could, and whether they succeeded or failed seemed the concern of none. An experimenter who braved this apathy and won his way until he became a constructor of aircraft, was Mr. A. V. Roe. For some time he was an advocate of the triplane form of machine--a craft, that is to say, with three main-planes fitted one above another. The machine with which he obtained flights, although they were very brief, is seen in Fig. 50. Subsequently, however, Mr. Roe adopted the biplane form. His distinction in the pioneer days was that he managed to make his triplane lift into the air and fly a short distance, with the aid of a motor-cycle engine developing no more than 9 h.p. Another ardent worker in England, and one destined to become famous, was Mr. S. F. Cody. After developing a system of man-lifting kites which the British War Office acquired, he joined the military aircraft factory that had been established at Farnborough. Here, after tests with dirigible balloons, he began the construction of experimental biplanes--all machines of large size. Early in 1909 he made brief flights--the longest being one of about 250 yards. Then, after alterations to his machine, he managed in July to fly a distance of 4 miles. This he increased afterwards to 8 miles; and then on 1st September flew for 1 hour 3 minutes, rising to a height of 300 feet. Cody’s biplane was a very large machine, having 1000 square feet of lifting surface--twice that of the Farman or Voisin. Driving it was an 80-h.p. engine, which operated two propellers on the system used by the Wrights. With its pilot on board the machine weighed 2170 lbs. It is illustrated in Fig. 51. [Illustration: A. Elevating-planes and vertical-plane; B. Pilot’s control lever; C.C. Main-planes; D. Motor; E. Propellers; F. Rudder; G. Landing gear; H. Rear skid. MACHINE SEEN FROM ABOVE, showing the large size of the elevators, the position of the pilot, and the placing of the propellers. FIG. 51.--The Cody Biplane.]