AMERICA IN THE AIR 



339 



hand-clasp of innumerable friends; but, 

 greatest of all, the reunion with my par- 

 ents after five long years. 



Our heartfelt thanks are due to the 

 officers and mechanics of the Royal Air 

 Force; to the Dutch authorities for con- 

 structing aerodromes and other assist- 

 ance, and for the cooperation of numer- 

 ous friends, whose willing and generous 



help laid the paving-stones over which 

 Fortune piloted me. 



My brother Keith shares equally any 

 worthiness that the effort might merit, 

 as also do my two master mechanics, Ser- 

 geants Bennett and Shiers, whose loyalty 

 and devotion to duty have done much to 

 bind closer the outposts of the Empire 

 through the trails of the skies. 



AMERICA IN THE AIR 



The Future of Airplane and Airship, Economically 

 and as Factors in National Defense 



By Brigadier-General William Mitchell 



Assistant Chief of Air Service, Formerly Commanding Aviation, First Corps, First Army, and Group 



of Armies, A. E. F. 



THE flying-machine, dreamed of 

 for centuries, became a reality 

 with the development of the gaso- 

 line engine. Before that all sorts of ap- 

 pliances had been tried, ending with an 

 actual flying-machine, developed by Pro- 

 fessor Langley, of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution. 



A steam-engine furnished the motive 

 power for Langley's creation, and it 

 actually flew alone, but it did not succeed 

 in carrying a man to and from an air- 

 drome until a gasoline engine was fitted 

 to it years after Langley's death. 



Although the Wright Brothers had ex- 

 perimented for several years, their first 

 public demonstrations took place in 1908. 

 So, really, the practical application of 

 aviation has been within the last twelve 

 years. 



Similarly, lighter-than-air craft — that 

 is, dirigible balloons, or "airships," as we 

 call them today — had been experimented 

 with for a long time, but they also had 

 to wait for the gasoline engine as a pro- 

 pelling force. 



Much as we would like to see the great- 

 est application of aeronautics to civil and 

 commercial uses, this will come gradually 

 and not at once. It took many years for 

 the railways to supplant the stage-coach 

 and for the motor cars to do away with 

 the horse-drawn vehicles. 



At present over 90 per cent of all aero- 

 nautical appliances are used exclusively 

 as elements of national defense by the 

 countries owning them. 



An airplane* is one of the most com- 

 plicated instruments in all its parts, and 

 changes -more rapidly as the knowledge 

 of its properties expands than any other 

 creation which has been known hereto- 

 fore. 



THE AIRPLANE AS A FIGHTING MACHINE 

 INTRODUCED IN WORLD WAR 



Up to the time of the World War. all 

 military power was exerted either on the 

 land or on the water, and offensive and 

 defensive equipment was made so as to 

 withstand attack in a single dimension. 

 With the coming of the fighting airplane 

 all of these notions had to be modified, 

 and a third element, acting both over the 

 ground and over the sea, considering no 

 frontiers such as rivers or mountains, 

 deserts or coast-lines, and whose only 

 limit was the amount of fuel in its tanks. 

 had to be considered. 



Slow as the old services, both army ami 

 navy, were to recognize the power of this 

 new arm, it was forced upon them to such 



* In the preceding article Sir Ross Smith's 

 use of the British form aeroplane has been re- 

 tained, but airplane is the official name for a 

 heavier-than-air machine in America. — Editor. 



