As a commercial proposition the manufacture and sale
of motor-equipped aeroplanes is making much more
rapid advance than at first obtained in the similar
handling of the automobile. Great, and even phenomenal,
as was the commercial development of the motor
car, that of the flying machine is even greater. This is
a startling statement, but it is fully warranted by the
facts.
It is barely more than a year ago (1909) that attention
was seriously attracted to the motor-equipped aeroplane
as a vehicle possible of manipulation by others
than professional aviators. Up to that time such actual
flights as were made were almost exclusively with the
sole purpose of demonstrating the practicability of the
machine, and the merits of the ideas as to shape, engine
power, etc., of the various producers.
