The Curtiss factory has been at work for several years on the problem of the small fast fighter. Its first effort was a biplane whose top wing span was only 20 feet. In a test flight by Victor Carlstrom at Sheepshead Bay Speedway, New York City, its unusual performances amazed the spectators. With startling swiftness the pilot mounted into the blue, maneuvered his little biplane with the agility of an acrobat, gave excellent tests of speed, and descended. Reducing the speed of his motor but not cutting it off entirely, he allowed the little airplane to skim slowly along the ground. Then, alighting, he took hold of the fuselage close to the tail, and steered the diminutive craft to a suitable spot from which to make another flight. With the motor still running, and much to the surprise of the onlookers, he stepped in once more, put on full power and was off. This little airplane was nicknamed the _Curtiss Baby Speed Scout_. In one interesting respect it was different from the _Nieuport_, whose upper plane had to be cut away to increase the pilot's range of vision. In the Curtiss machine the pilot sits just behind the planes, so that he can see above and on all sides with the greatest ease. As a protection in battle his seat and the front portion of the fuselage are surrounded with thin steel, and the pilot sits close to the floor, so that he does not offer a very good target to the enemy's stray bullets. The "baby" biplane is fitted with a standard V-type motor of about 100 horsepower, and it carries fuel for a run of two and one-half hours. The British have done some very fine work in developing airplanes of the speed scout type. Their fighting machines flew over the lines and downed the German planes in goodly numbers. Among those which earned fame for their achievements are the _Bristol Scout_, familiarly known as the "bullet," one of the fastest of the military airplanes; and the _Vickers Scout_, another of the swift eagles that helped to maintain Allied supremacy in the clouds. One of the interesting features of the Vickers scout is the high "stagger" of its planes. By this we mean that the upper plane has been set far forward, so that it appears to overhang the lower. Quite recently another British scout machine, a _Sopwith triplane_, was flown by the British Royal Flying Corps, and it made a splendid record of victories over the lines.