Far more important than the winning of prize contests is the latest achievement of Glen Curtiss in perfecting his "flying boat," pictures of which are shown opposite page 23. Curtiss describes this aeroplane as a combination between a speed motor boat, a yacht and a flying machine. Speaking of the new plane, he said recently: "With this craft the dangers common to land aeroplanes are eliminated and safe flying is here. It will develop a new and popular sport which will be known as aerial yachting." The most important factor in this machine is its safety, but it also is speedy, for in its official tests at Hammondsport it developed 50 miles an hour as a motor boat and 60 miles an hour as an aeroplane. The boat is 26 feet long and 3 feet wide. The planes are 30 feet wide and 5-1/2 feet deep. The rudders are attached to the rear; the propeller, driven by an 80-horsepower motor, is at the front. Before we go on to other inventions let us look closely at a few of the aeroplanes so well known to-day, so that when we see them at the meets we can distinguish the different makes. CHAPTER III AEROPLANES TO-DAY OUR BOY FRIEND AND THE SCIENTIST LOOK OVER MODERN AEROPLANES AND FIND GREAT IMPROVEMENTS OVER THOSE OF A FEW YEARS AGO--A MODEL AEROPLANE. Every effort of the aeroplane inventors these days is bent toward making the power flier useful--a faithful servant to man in his day-to-day life--and to this end greater carrying capacity is one of the chief objects," said the scientist one day in answer to a question from his young friend as to what the future of aviation would be. "No one can tell what the future will bring forth," he continued. "You or one of your friends might invent the ideal aeroplane. There is one way of telling how the wind blows, though, and that is by watching the new developments of aeroplanes very carefully. Let's look at some of them." Of course it was impossible for the boy to study every improvement or every make of aeroplane, but the scientist pointed out a few examples that served to show how science is trying to improve on aviation as we know it to-day. The boy's friend said that probably the most wonderful accomplishment in the art of air navigation since power fliers became an accomplished fact was the work of Orville Wright in the fall of 1911 with his new glider, which he tested at the Wright brothers' old experiment station at Kitty Hawk, N. C. "Never before in the history of aviation, so far as is known," said the scientist, "has man come so near to the true soaring flight which we have seen is the third stage of aeroplaning." Not only did this wonderful glider sail into the wind and reach an altitude of 200 feet, but, under the control of the pilot, it stayed in the air 10 minutes and 1 second, most of the time hovering over one spot, without the use of any propelling device.