AUTHOR’S NOTE vii INTRODUCTION 3 I. JOINING THE SERVICE 10 II. THE AIRMAN’S FIRST DAYS 17 III. THE INITIAL FLIGHT 23 IV. THE PERILS OF THE AIR 28 V. THE SPIRIT OF THE AIR 34 VI. SEAPLANES 40 VII. A ZEPPELIN CHASE 48 VIII. THE COMPLETE AIRMAN 53 PART II ON ACTIVE SERVICE IX. BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 61 X. THE FIRST TRIP ACROSS THE LINE 66 XI. SOME ANECDOTES 74 XII. SPORT EXTRAORDINARY 81 XIII. A BALLOON-TRIP BY NIGHT 85 XIV. THE BATTLE OF THE WOOD 92 XV. A TIGHT CORNER 97 XVI. AN AIR FIGHT WITH A HUN 108 XVII. A GREAT RAID 114 XVIII. A DAY-DREAM 123 XIX. A MID-AIR BATTLE 127 XX. A BATTLE FROM ABOVE 132 XXI. A TRUE STORY OF THE WAR 136 XXII. HEROISM IN THE AIR 144 PART III OTHER CRAFT AND THE FUTURE XXIII. THE EVOLUTION OF THE AIRSHIP 151 XXIV. LAWS OF THE AIR 161 XXV. AERIAL COMBAT 166 XXVI. THE AIR--THE WAR--AND THE FUTURE 170 PART I THE SERVICE AIRMAN IN THE MAKING INTRODUCTION In writing of modern aviation it is to be regretted that the sport or science, call it what you will, was developed more in two years by the war than would have been possible in twenty-two years under normal conditions. Prior to 1914 we did not look upon aircraft and aviation with the degree of interest that their useful qualities warranted. Instead we were apt to regard them rather in the manner of a sporting spectacle, in much the same light as a football match, or a boxing entertainment, or as the _pièce de résistance_ of the showmen; thus aircraft, the greatest and most potential discovery of all the ages, had to prove their worth in the maiming of humanity and the destruction of property. Quietly and unobtrusively they were introduced into the plans of war; it must be admitted greatly despised and with a strong feeling of repugnance. Gradually--so gradually as almost to be unnoticed--they began to prove their worth. From the very first days of the war it began to be realized that we must have aircraft. Our large Navy was in desperate need of seaplanes to hunt the enemy warships from their lairs and his merchantmen from the seas. In the same way our tiny Army required aeroplanes, but for a somewhat different reason: to be prepared against all enemy surprises, which in those desperate days of early 1914 would have been fatal.