It was on the Farman biplane that M. Louis Paulhan flew, with one halt, the 183-miles aerial journey from London to Manchester; and Mr Grahame-White (one of the joint authors of this book), who also piloted a Farman, had the distinction of competing against him in what is now regarded as an historic contest. In the Circuit de L’Est in France, Leblanc, the winner, flew some 400 miles on his Blériot monoplane, passing over all sorts of country, and finding his way accurately from point to point by means of his map and a special compass. He made frequent landings, without damaging his machine, and demonstrated its reliability in a most convincing way. One question naturally arises, in any consideration of such flights as these, seeing that they were so greatly superior to anything that had been done in 1909. Had the aeroplanes which these pilots used been improved to any remarkable extent? In reply, it is certainly accurate to say that they had not. The "Gnome" engines with which they were fitted had, it is true, been strengthened in small ways, and perfected in the manufacture of certain delicate parts, the result being an even greater reliability in running than had first been attained. As regards the aeroplanes, they were, in essentials, the same which had been flown in 1909. Their controlling mechanism was, for instance, unaltered. Their method of construction was practically the same, although experience had taught manufacturers the need of strengthening certain parts. Landing devices had been slightly improved, from the point of view of everyday wear. Although aeroplanes and engines had both been improved a little, neither had been altered sufficiently to account for such a vast stride forward as was made in 1910. It was not to the machines, indeed, so much as to the men, that this striking progress was due. Practice had begun to make perfect. Pilots now felt more comfortable when they were in the air. They had growing confidence in their aeroplanes. They had learned how to maintain stability when assailed by wind-gusts. Thus, they were ready to attempt far more ambitious flights. SECOND SECTION FIRST EXPERIMENTS WITH AEROPLANES IN THE FRENCH AUTUMN MANOEUVRES, 1910. I. The historic Picardy tests—First official report upon movements of troops, as gleaned by aeroplane. After these introductory notes, intentionally brief, we are led to a consideration of the first practical tests to which aeroplanes were put, so far as their military use is concerned. During the summer of 1910, the French authorities were instructing officers in the handling of machines. They had purchased several Voisin, Wright, and Farman biplanes, and possessed also a few monoplanes, including Blériots and Antoinettes.