average weight of bombs dropped at each raid works out about 1000
lbs. This welcome official report is but one of many signs which
point the way to the growing supremacy of the Allies in the air.



PART II
AEROPLANES AND AIRMEN

CHAPTER XIV
Early Attempts in Aviation

The desire to fly is no new growth in humanity. For countless
years men have longed to emulate the birds--"To soar upward and
glide, free as a bird, over smiling fields, leafy woods, and
mirror-like lakes," as a great pioneer of aviation said. Great
scholars and thinkers of old, such as Horace, Homer, Pindar,
Tasso, and all the glorious line, dreamt of flight, but it has
been left for the present century to see those dreams fulfilled.

Early writers of the fourth century saw the possibility of aerial
navigation, but those who tried to put their theories in practice
were beset by so many difficulties that they rarely succeeded in
leaving the ground.

Most of the early pioneers of aviation believed that if a man
wanted to fly he must provide himself with a pair of wings
similar to those of a large bird. The story goes that a certain
abbot told King James IV of Scotland that he would fly from
Stirling Castle to Paris. He made for himself powerful wings