Opportunities for the peaceful use of airplanes are beginning to suggest themselves daily. After the main body of this book was in type the Postmaster-General of the United States called for bids for an aërial mail service between New York and Washington--an act urged upon the Government in this volume. That service contemplates a swift carriage of first-class mail at an enhanced price--the tentative schedule being three hours, and a postage fee of twenty-five cents an ounce. There can be no doubt of the success of the service, its value to the public, and its possibilities of revenue to the post-office. Once its usefulness is established it will be extended to routes of similar length, such as New York and Boston, New York and Buffalo, or New York and Pittsburgh. The mind suggests no limit to the extension of aërial service, both postal and passenger, in the years of industrial activity that shall follow the war.
In the preparation of this book the author has made use of many records of personal experiences of those who have dared the air's high altitudes and the sea's stilly depths. For permission to use certain of these he wishes to express his thanks to the Century Co., for extracts from My Airships by Santos-Dumont; to Doubleday, Page & Co., for extracts from Flying for France, by James R. McConnell; to Charles Scribner's Sons, for material drawn from With the French Flying Corps, by Carroll Dana Winslow; to Collier's Weekly, for certain extracts from interviews with Wilbur Wright; to McClure's Magazine, for the account of Mr. Ray Stannard Baker's trip in a Lake submarine; to Hearst's International Library, and to the Scientific American, for the use of several illustrations.
W. J. A.
NEW YORK, 1918.
CONTENTS
I.
--Introductory 3
II.--The Earliest Flying Men 14
III.--The Services of Santos-Dumont 39
IV.--The Count von Zeppelin 59
V.--The Development of the Airplane 82
VI.--The Training of the Aviator 103
VII.--Some Methods of the War in the Air 123
VIII.--Incidents of the War in the Air 159
IX.--The United States at War 182
X.--Some Features of Aërial Warfare 207
XI.--Beginnings of Submarine Invention 235
XII.--The Coming of Steam and Electricity 256
XIII.--John P. Holland and Simon Lake 271
XIV.--The Modern Submarine 294
XV.--Aboard a Submarine 318
XVI.--Submarine Warfare 333
XVII.--The Future of the Submarine 362
Index 383
ILLUSTRATIONS
Page Fighting by Sea and Sky Frontispiece Painting by John E. Whiting
Dropping a Depth Bomb 4 Painting by Lieut. Farré
A Battle in Mid-air 8 Painting by Lieut. Farré
Victory in the Clouds 12 Painting by John E. Whiting
The Fall of the Boche 16 Painting by Lieut. Farré
Lana's Vacuum Balloon 18
Montgolfier's Experimental Balloon 21
A Rescue at Sea 24 Painting by Lieut. Farré
Montgolfier's Passenger Balloon 27
Charles's Balloon 31
A French Observation Balloon on Fire 32
Roberts Brothers' Dirigible 34
Giffard's Dirigible 37
A British Kite Balloon 40
British "Blimp" 40 Photographed from Above.
A Kite Balloon Rising from the Hold of a Ship 48
The Giant and the Pigmies 60 Painting by John E. Whiting
A French "Sausage" 64 Photo by Press Illustrating Co.
A British "Blimp" 64
The Death of a Zeppelin 72 Photo by Paul Thompson
A German Dirigible, Hansa Type 76
A Wrecked Zeppelin at Salonika 76 Photo by Press Illustrating Co.
British Aviators about to Ascend 80
Langley's Airplane 84
A French Airdrome near the Front 84
Lilienthal's Glider 86
A German War Zeppelin 88
French Observation Balloon Seeking Submarines 88 Photo by Press Illustrating Co.
Chanute's Glider 90
A German Taube Pursued by British Planes 92
The First Wright Glider 93
Pilcher's Glider 94
Comparative Strength of Belligerents in Airplanes at the Opening of the War 96
Comparative Strength of Belligerents in Dirigibles at the Opening of the War 96
The Wright Glider 98
At a French Airplane Base 100 International Film Service
Stringfellow's Airplane 101
The "America"--Built to Cross the Atlantic 104
A Wright Airplane in Flight 104
First Americans to Fly in France 108 The Lafayette Escadrille
Distinguishing Marks of American Planes 116
What an Aviator must Watch 116
A Caproni Triplane 124
A Caproni Triplane Showing Propellers and Fuselage 124
The Terror that Flieth by Night 128 Painting by Wm. J. Wilson
