A Curtis Seaplane Leaving a Battleship 132 Photo by Press Illustrating Co.
Launching a Hydroaėroplane 132
At a United States Training Camp 138
A "Blimp" with Gun Mounted on Top 138
Aviators Descending in Parachutes from a Balloon Struck by Incendiary Shells 140
The Balloon from which the Aviators Fled 140
German Air Raiders over England 144
One Aviator's Narrow Escape 148
Downed in the Enemy's Country 156
Position of Gunner in Early French Machine 160
Later Type of French Scout 160 Photo by Kadel & Herbert
A French Scout Airplane 168 Photo by Press Illustrating Co.
"Showing Off." A Nieuport Performing Aėrial Acrobatics around a Heavier Bombing Machine 168
An Air Raid on a Troop Train 174 Painting by John E. Whiting
A Burning Balloon, Photographed from a Parachute by the Escaping Balloonist 176
A Caproni Biplane Circling the Woolworth Building 184
Cruising at 2000 Feet. One Biplane Photographed from Another 184
An Air Battle in Progress 192
A Curtis Hydroaroplane 192
The U. S. Aviation School at Mineola 208
Miss Ruth Law at Close of her Chicago to New York Flight 216
A French Aviator between Flights 216
A German "Gotha"--Their Favorite Type 224
A French Monoplane 232
A German Scout Brought to Earth in France 232
A Gas Attack Photographed from an Airplane 240
A French Nieuport Dropping a Bomb 244
A Bomb-Dropping Taube 248
A Captured German Fokker Exhibited at the Invalides 252
A British Seaplane with Folding Wings 252
British Anti-Aircraft Guns 256
An Anti-Aircraft Outpost 264
A Coast Defense Anti-Aircraft Gun 264
The Submarine's Perfect Work 270 Painting by John E. Whiting
Types of American Aircraft 272
For Anti-Aircraft Service 288
The Latest French Aircraft Guns 288
Modern German Airplane Types 296
A German Submarine Mine-Layer Captured by the British 304
The Exterior of First German Submarine 312
The Interior of First German Submarine, Showing Appliances for Man-Power 312
A Torpedo Designed by Fulton 320
The Method of Attack by Nautilus 320
The Capture of a U-Boat 324 Painting by John E. Whiting
A British Submarine 336
Sectional View of the Nautilus 336
U. S. Submarine H-3 aground on California Coast 344
Salvaging H-3. Views I, II, and III 348
U. S. Submarine D-1 off Weehawken 352
A Submarine Built for Spain in the Cape Cod Canal 356
A Critical Moment 360 Painting by John E. Whiting
A Submarine Built for Chili Passing through Cape Cod Canal 364
A Submarine Entrapped by Nets 368
Diagram of a German Submarine Mine-Layer Captured by British 372
A Submarine Discharging a Torpedo 374
A German Submarine in Three Positions 376
Sectional View of a British Submarine 380
INTRODUCTORY
It was at Mons in the third week of the Great War. The grey-green German hordes had overwhelmed the greater part of Belgium and were sweeping down into France whose people and military establishment were all unprepared for attack from that quarter. For days the little British army of perhaps 100,000 men, that forlorn hope which the Germans scornfully called "contemptible," but which man for man probably numbered more veteran fighters than any similar unit on either side, had been stoutly holding back the enemy's right wing and fighting for the delay that alone could save Paris. At Mons they had halted, hoping that here was the spot to administer to von Kluck, beating upon their front, the final check. The hope was futile. Looking back upon the day with knowledge of what General French's army faced--a knowledge largely denied to him--it seems that the British escape from annihilation was miraculous. And indeed it was due to a modern miracle--the conquest of the air by man in the development of the airplane.
General French was outnumbered and in danger of being flanked on his left flank. His right he thought safe, for it was in contact with the French line which extended eastward along the bank of the Somme to where the dark fortress of Namur frowned on the steeps formed by the junction of that river with the Meuse. At that point the French line bent to the south following the course of the latter river.
