Another long wire, the receiver, was stretched between posts on the ground; and then Mr Loraine ascended, and began to circle round and round the aerodrome. For transmitting purposes, he had a little key strapped to his knee, and operated it with his left hand—his right hand being engaged, of course, with the controlling lever of his machine. Again, as in the American experiments, only the simplest messages were attempted. They were, however, quite distinctly heard. At first, the signals were not received over a distance of more than half a mile, but it was soon found possible to increase the distance between transmitter and receiver to approximately one mile. At this distance, the dots and dashes telegraphed were distinctly read by Mr Thorne Baker, who received them—as is the custom with wireless telegraphy—through telephone ear-pieces. Following these tests, Mr Thorne Baker set himself the task of perfecting his apparatus; and a very interesting experiment was planned, in December, 1910, in connection with the De Forest cross-Channel aeroplane prize. Lieutenant H. E. Watkins, one of the competitors, consented to take up a transmitting apparatus with him, on his cross-Channel flight, so that he might endeavour to keep in touch with a steam-tug, in which his friends intended to follow him from Folkestone to the French coast. The transmitter which Mr Baker prepared for this experiment was more powerful than the one used in the Salisbury Plain tests, and some conclusive results were expected from this oversea flight. Unfortunately, however, Lieutenant Watkins was delayed by bad weather, and a series of trifling accidents, and so was unable to start upon the flight. The wireless test had, therefore, to be abandoned. After this, it fell to the lot of America to make the next move of any interest. Lieutenant Beck, a young officer-airman engaged in military experiments with aeroplanes, took up a transmitter with him, and was able to send messages to a special receiving station, over a distance of quite two and a half miles. This, naturally, was regarded as distinct progress. The messages were clearly read; and there now seemed no difficulty, with better transmitting mechanism, in increasing the distance over which the signals were sent. II. French triumphs with wireless telegraphy—Messages sent over a distance of thirty-five miles. In the meantime, as may be imagined, France had not been lethargic in dealing with this subject. The French military authorities had, from the first, recognised that wireless telegraphy, if it could be applied reliably to the aeroplane, would greatly increase the utility of aircraft in time of war. At several of the French military aerodromes, at the beginning of 1911, experiments were in progress, and clever civilian electricians were called into conference by the authorities. But only meagre news leaked out as to what was actually being done.