978 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



December 1, l'J13. 



range, look for another, and settle in 



that. 



It can be manoeuvred at a speed of 25 

 miles an hour with ease on the surface of 

 the water, and by speeding up skims over 

 the tops of the waves like a hydroplane at 

 50 miles an hour, while, by elevating- the con- 

 trols, it rises and flies 60 miles an hour. 

 Already it is becoming very popular with 

 amateur sportsmen, and the list of owners 

 is growing daily longer and socially more 

 impressive. In this matter, as in the hydro- 

 aeroplane, Europe was quick to follow suit, 

 but though there are several variations made 

 abroad, the type has not had time to in- 

 gratiate itself there, as has its elder brother, 

 the hydroaeroplane, although the influence 

 of naval requirements, demanding as they 

 do that machines shall be, above a.11, sea- 

 worthy, will necessitate development in boat- 

 hull construction. All navies of any import- 

 ance have now secured this equipment ; \he 

 United States in particular, which has cer- 

 tainly never erred on the side of reckless 

 encouragement of aviation, has purchased 

 flying boats of the Curtiss and Burgess 

 types. 



The popularity of the flying boat is 

 already great. Many well-known motor 

 boat owners are going in for these flying 

 yachts, and the type of flying boatman 

 that is being evolved is of a vastly dif- 

 ferent kind from the dare-devil death- 

 chasers of the early days of amateur 

 aviation. A recent boat built in France 

 weighs 85- tons, and will carry six pas- 

 sengers. 



The French naval authorities insist 

 upon very severe tests before purchas- 



ing a flying boat. Amongst other things 

 it must be capable of rising from a sea 

 running in 3-foot waves. They predict 

 a brilliant future for this sort of craft. 



AN UNLIMITED RANGE OF USEFULNESS. 



One reason for the rapid development 

 of this type in size and endurance is 

 the far greater safety enjoyed by the 

 operator and the greater opportunity 

 this affords to experiment toward its 

 perfection. As the flrst aviation experi- 

 ments were made over water to insure 

 safety to the fragile models, so now the 

 aeroplane returns to an over-water 

 phase, for greater safety to the aviator. 

 Not only does water afford a uniform 

 surface where winds are usually steady, 

 but in case of accident, a fall seldom 

 means more than a ducking, while fatali- 

 ties in hydrocraft are very rare. 



This at once opens a new and almost un- 

 limited range of usefulness, and has indeed 

 made the aeroplane once more a commercial 

 possibility, after a period when the public, 

 thoroughly sobered by the many fatalities, 

 withdrew, in America, at least, from its en- 

 couragement of aviation. In time of war the 

 flying-boat is invaluable to the navy in 

 directing artillery fire ; for the army, besides 

 the duties of a regular scouting air-machine 

 that are the commonplaces of actual warfare 

 abroad, it is an ideal blockade runner and 

 makes a living link between army and navy. 

 .\11 that communication means to progress, 

 the safe, swift air-water boat, so far im- 

 mune from terrestrial fire, means to war. 



THEEE NEW BO.\TS IN FULL FLIGHT. 



