It would be impossible in this brief space to describe all of the important flights of the last few busy years in aviation, which were talked of by the boy and his scientist friend, but a very brief outline of the feats accomplished will show the wonderful progress that has been made. The first great international meet, which was held at Rheims, France, in 1909, did more than anything else up to that time to show the world how far the science had gone and how many good machines there were. So great was the public interest in this meet that before the end of the year meets were arranged and held at Blackpool and Donchester, England; Berlin, Juvisy, France, and Brescia, Italy. The most notable achievements of the year in Europe were the flight across the English Channel by Blériot in his graceful monoplane, by which he won the prize of 1,000 pounds offered by the London _Daily Mail_, the winning of the James Gordon Bennett Cup by Curtiss, the only American to contest for the great honour, and the winning of the Grand Prix by Farman in his biplane. Blériot, while practising, before his famous flight across the English Channel, broke many records with his monoplanes, No. XI and No. XII. He was the first man to take two passengers in such a craft, those in the machine besides himself being Santos-Dumont and A. Fournier. The total weight of machine and three men was 1,232 pounds. He also made several cross-country records and received medals from the Aero Club of Great Britain and the Aero Club of France. [Illustration: HARRY N. ATWOOD Arriving at Chicago on his flight from St. Louis to New York.] [Illustration: THE FINISH OF ATWOOD'S ST. LOUIS TO NEW YORK FLIGHT The aviator is here seen arriving at Governor's Island in New York Bay.] [Illustration: POSTMASTER-GENERAL HITCHCOCK AND CAPTAIN BECK STARTING WITH THE AERO-MAIL This is the first time regular United States mail ever was carried by aeroplane. Throughout the meet at Garden City in 1911, Earle L. Ovington and Beck carried mail over a regular route.]