as it is to-day manifesting itself, the author can point to the fact that he has in the past taken every opportunity to insist on the importance of dynamic flight in its Military and Naval application. Thus, so long ago as 1897, in a patent specification[1] in which all the main features of the present day aeroplane were figured and discussed, the proposal is made for an air-borne torpedo, a device to which the first nine figures specifically relate.
Writing in 1907, in the preface to the first volume of his "Aerial Flight," the author expressed his view in a passage as follows:—
"The importance of this matter [provision for the scientific study of aerial flight] entitles it to rank almost as a National obligation; for the country in which facilities are given for the proper theoretical and experimental study of flight will inevitably find itself in the best position to take the lead in its application and practical development. That this must be considered a vital question from a National point of view is beyond dispute; under the conditions of the near future the command of the air must become at least as essential to the safety of the Empire as will be our continued supremacy on the high seas."
And in 1909, the "Morning Post" (May 11th), reporting the 3rd Cantor Lecture delivered before the Royal Society of Arts, quotes the author as follows: —
"He considered that the immediate future of the flying machine was entirely confined to its military possibilities."
Again in the spring of 1914 (a few months prior to the outbreak of war) the author wrote:—[2]
"Without looking so far ahead as has been attempted in the preceding paragraph,[3] it cannot to-day be disputed
