the Belgian coast, have seldom been free from their attentions. 
And when, under the stress of public outcry, the Government at
last gave its consent to a measure of "reprisals" it was the
R.N.A.S. which opened the campaign with a raid upon the German
town of Mannheim.

As the war continued the duties of the naval pilot increased.  He
played a great part in the ceaseless hunt for submarines.  You
must often have noticed how easily fish can be seen from a bridge
which are quite invisible from the banks of the river.  On this
principle the submarine can be "spotted" by air-craft, and not
until the long silence upon naval affairs is broken, at the end
of the war, shall we know to what extent we are indebted to naval
airmen for that long list of submarines which, in the words of
the German reports, "failed to return" to their bases.

In addition to the "Blimps" of which mention has been made, the
Royal Naval Air Service are in charge of air-ships known as the
Coast Patrol type, which work farther out to sea, locating
minefields and acting as scouts for the great fleet of patrol
vessels.  The Service has gathered laurels in all parts of the
globe, its achievements ranging from an aerial food service into
beleaguered Kut to the discovery of the German cruiser
Konigsberg, cunningly camouflaged up an African creek.

CHAPTER XXXVII
The First Man to Fly in Britain

The honour of being the first man to fly in this country is
claimed by Mr. A. V. Roe, head of the well-known firm A. V. Roe &
Co., of Manchester, and constructor of the highly-efficient Avro
machines.

As a youth Roe's great hobby was the construction of toy models
of various forms of machinery, and later on he achieved
considerable success in the production of aeroplane models.  All
manner of novelties were the outcome of his fertile brain, and as
it has been truly remarked, "his novelties have the peculiarity,
not granted to most pioneers, of being in one respect or another
ahead of his contemporaries."  In addition, he studied the
flight of birds.

In the early days of aviation Mr. Roe was a firm believer in the
triplane form of machine, and his first experiments in flight
were made with a triplane equipped with an engine which developed
only 9 horse-power.

Later on, he turned his attention to the biplane, and with this
craft he has been highly successful.  The Avro biplane, produced
in 1913, was one of the very best machines which appeared in that
eventful year.  The Daily Telegraph, when relating its
performances, said:  "The spectators at Hendon were given a
remarkable demonstration of the wonderful qualities of this fine
Avro biplane, whose splendid performances stamped it as one of
the finest aeroplanes ever designed, if not indeed the finest of
all".

This craft is fitted with an 80-horse-power Gnome engine, and is
probably the fastest passenger-carrying biplane of its type in
the world.  Its total weight, with engine, fuel for three
hours, and a passenger, is 1550 pounds, and it has a main-plane
surface of 342 square feet.

Not only can the biplane maintain such great speed, but, what is
of great importance for observation purposes, it can fly at the
slow rate of 30 miles per hour.  We have previously remarked that
a machine is kept up in the air by the speed it attains; if its
normal flying speed be much reduced the machine drops to earth
unless the rate of flying is accelerated by diving, or other
means.

What Harry Hawker is to Mr. Sopwith so is F. P. Raynham to Mr.
Roe.  This skilful pilot learned to fly at Brooklands, and during
the last year or two he has been continuously engaged in testing
Avro machines, and passing them through the Army reception
trials.  In the "Aerial Derby" of 1913 Mr. Raynham piloted an
80-horse-power Avro biplane, and came in fourth.

CHAPTER XXXVIII
The Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service

The year 1912 was marked by the institution of the Royal Flying
Corps.  The new corps, which was so soon to make its mark in
the greatest of all wars, consisted of naval and military
"wings".  In those early days the head-quarters of the corps were
at Eastchurch, and there both naval and military officers were
trained in aviation.  In an arm of such rapid--almost
miraculous--development as Service flying to go back a period of
six years is almost to take a plunge into ancient history. 
Designs, engines, guns, fittings, signals of those days are now
almost archaic.  The British engine of reliable make had not yet
been evolved, and the aeroplane generally was a conglomerate
affair made up of parts assembled from various parts of the
Continent.  The present-day sea-plane was yet to come, and naval
pilots shared the land-going aeroplanes of their military
brethren.  In the days when Bleriot provided a world sensation by
flying across the Channel the new science was kept alive mainly
by the private enterprise of newspapers and aeroplane
manufacturers.  The official attitude, as is so often the case in
the history of inventions, was as frigid as could be.  The
Government looked on with a cold and critical eye, and could not
be touched either in heart or in pocket.

But with the institution of the Royal Flying Corps the official
heart began to warm slightly, and certain tests were laid down
for those manufacturers who aspired to sell their machines to the
new arm of the Service.  These  tests, providing for fuel
capacity up to 4.0 miles, speeds up to 85 miles an hour, and
heights up to 3500 feet, would now be regarded as very elementary
affairs.  "Looping the loop" was still a dangerous trick for the
exhibiting airman and not an evolution; while the "nose-dive" was
an uncalculated entry into the next world.

The first important stage in the history of the new arm was
reached in July, 1914, when the wing system was abolished, and
the Royal Naval Air Service became a separate unit of the
Imperial Forces.  The first public appearance of the sailor
airmen was at a proposed review of the fleet by the King at a
test mobilization.  The King was unable to attend, but the naval
pilots carried out their part of the programme very creditably
considering the polyglot nature of their sea-planes.  A few weeks
later and the country was at war.

There can be no doubt that the Great War has had an enormous
forcing influence upon the science of aviation.  In times of
peace the old game of private enterprise and official neglect
would possibly have been carried on in well-marked stages.  But
with the terrific incentive of victory before them, all
Governments fostered the growth of the new arm by all the means
in their power.  It became a race between Allied and enemy
countries as to who first should attain the mastery of the air.
The British nation, as usual, started well behind in the race,
and their handicap would have been increased to a dangerous
extent had Germany not been obsessed by the possibilities of
the air-ship as opposed to the aeroplane.  Fortunately for us the
Zeppelin, as has been described in an earlier chapter, failed to
bring about the destruction anticipated by its inventor, and so
we gained breathing space for catching up the enemy in the
building and equipment of aeroplanes and the training of pilots
and observers.

War has set up its usual screens, and the writer is only
permitted a very vague and impressionistic picture of the work of
the R.F.C. and R.N.A.S.  Numerical details and localities must be
rigorously suppressed.   Descriptions of the work of the Flying
Service must be almost as bald as those laconic reports sent in
by naval and military airmen to head-quarters.  But there is such
an accomplishment as reading between the lines.

The flying men fall naturally into two classes--pilots and
observers.  The latter, of course, act as aerial gunners.  The
pilots have to pass through three, and observers two, successive
courses of training in aviation.  Instruction is very detailed
and thorough as befits a career which, in addition to embracing
the endless problems of flight, demands knowledge of wireless
telegraphy, photography, and machine gunnery.

Many of the officers are drafted into the Royal Flying Corps from
other branches of the Service, but there are also large numbers
of civilians who take up the career.  In their case they are
first trained as cadets, and, after qualifying for commissions,
start their training in aviation at one of the many schools
which have now sprung up in all parts of the country.

When the actual flying men are counted in thousands some idea may
be gained of the great organization required for the Corps--the
schools and flying grounds, the training and activities of the
mechanics, the workshops and repair shops, the storage of spare
parts, the motor transport, &c.  As in other departments of the 
Service, women have come forward and are doing excellent and most
responsible work, especially in the motor-transport section.

A very striking  feature of the Corps is the extreme youth of the
members, many of the most daring fighters in the air being mere
boys of twenty.

The Corps has the very pick of the youth and daring and
enterprise of the country.  In the days of the old army there
existed certain unwritten laws of precedence as between various
branches of the Service.  If such customs still prevail it is
certain that the very newest arm would take pride of place.  The
flying man has recaptured some of the glamour and romance which
encircled the knight-errant of old.  He breathes the very
atmosphere of dangerous adventure.  Life for him is a series of
thrills, any one of which would be sufficient to last the
ordinary humdrum citizen for a lifetime.  Small wonder that the
flying man has captured the interest and affection of the people,
and all eyes follow these trim, smart, desperadoes of the air in
their passage through our cities.

As regards the work of the flying man the danger curve seems to
be changing.  On the one hand the training is much more severe
and exacting than formerly was the case, and so carries a greater
element of danger.  On the other hand on the battle-front
fighting information has in great measure taken the place
of the system of men going up "on their own".  They are perhaps
not so liable to meet with a numerical superiority on the part
of enemy machines, which spelt for them almost certain
destruction.