Having already organised an aviation regiment, French army officers are now agitating the question upon the basis of having no less than a thousand aeroplanes ready at a moment's notice under the command of superior officers and under perfect control of army pilots trained to handle them. This training of officers is the most important part, for it takes time to make good fliers. Machines may be turned out very rapidly, but fliers become skilled to the point where they may be of use in army work only by long practice and practical experience. Our government has given an appropriation, small in comparison with what France, Germany and England appropriated, and we have a few aeroplanes in the signal corps of the Army now and three machines in the Navy, but these are only the first steps in this important branch of our military and naval development. We all hope for at least adequate equipment, an equipment that will equal, if not surpass, that of the European powers. After the development of the aeroplane for sport and commercial purposes, its greatest field of growth is for purposes of war and here we find that the aeroplane can be at once the most deadly weapon of offensive warfare as yet developed by man, and an even more serviceable agent for defensive measures, or for all those most important duties related to scouting and obtaining and carrying information. WHAT THE AEROPLANE CAN DO IN WAR I feel confident that an aeroplane can be even now built which will be able to lift a ton of dynamite or other high explosive, and that it can be so constructed that it will be an aerial torpedo or winged projectile, the engine charged with compressed air and set to run any required distance, from one mile to ten miles. Such a machine can be steered by wireless controlling apparatus just as submarine boats and small airships are directed. A hydroaeroplane can be made to fly at just a certain height over the water by attaching it to a drag or a float which would prevent its exceeding the desired limit of altitude. The machine so equipped might be started in a circle and flown around in a circular course gradually widening and widening, like a bird dog hunting a scent, until the object aimed at is hit. One of the most important uses of an aeroplane adapted to the uses of the Navy will be its valuable assistance in enabling the manner of formation of the enemy's ships in line of battle to be made known to the commanding officer and the angle of approach to be estimated, in order that our own ships may be so formed in line of battle as to meet the brunt of the attack effectually.