Mr. Weymann drove a special Nieuport machine, which was the most speedy type of aeroplane built at that time, and was successful in landing and starting from a ploughed field, which many thought impossible for a very fast type of machine. It took the greatest skill to land such a speedy machine on rough ground, for he had to glide down with absolute accuracy, to land without a smash. Among Army officers the keenest competition is developed, and it is only by a spirit of rivalry and a desire to excel that the best qualities in officers and men are brought out in times of peace. Of course in time of war there is a need which calls for the best there is in a man. The needs of the Army and Navy aviators have developed some special features in machines built for their purposes. They want to be as far out in front of the machine as possible so they can have an unobstructed view, and so that if they should be so unfortunate as to be pitched out, they will be quite clear of everything. This is especially true of naval machines built to fly over the water. Military aeroplanes also should have a standard method of control, so that any Army or Navy aviator can operate any Army or Navy machine. CHAPTER V THE AEROPLANE AS APPLIED TO THE ARMY (By Captain Paul W. Beck, U. S. A.) [8] Whenever science discovers anything new or startling, such discovery is immediately tested by practical men of commercial or professional life to ascertain whether or not it can be applied to their business or profession. In civil life these tests are to determine whether or not this new discovery can be applied to cheapen production or benefit mankind in any other way. In the Army two tests are always applied: first, to determine whether or not the discovery can be used to kill the other fellow and, second, to determine whether or not it can be used to prevent the other fellow from killing us. These are the tests which have been applied to the aeroplane by the military. Let us see how these heavier-than-air machines have responded to these tests. Can aeroplanes be used to kill the other fellow? Our problem here is not ethical but practical; it is not based on the determinations of the Hague peace convention, but upon the actual capabilities of the machine from a physical standpoint, considered apart from humanitarian principles. In other words we do not discuss whether or not it is ethically right to use aeroplanes aggressively, but whether or not aeroplanes are mechanically capable of such use. The Army does not disturb itself with ethical questions until they become rules of International Law, and then it only considers them as being binding in their actual observance under the conditions imposed by such law. Meanwhile the Army, by preparation in time of peace, seeks to gain the fullest possible measure of information along the lines of investigation necessitated by the mechanical side of the question.