It says much for the pluck and perseverance of aviators that they
have been willing to run the great risks which ever accompany
their efforts. Four years of the Great War have shown how
splendidly airmen have risen to the great demands made upon them.
In dispatch after dispatch from the front, tribute has been paid
to the gallant and devoted work of the Royal Flying Corps and the
Royal Naval Air Service. In a long and bitter struggle British
airmen have gradually asserted their supremacy in the air. In
all parts of the globe, in Egypt, in Mesopotamia, in Palestine,
in Africa, the airman has been an indispensable adjunct of the
fighting forces. Truly it may be said that mastery of the air is
the indispensable factor of final victory.



CHAPTER II
The French Paper-maker who Invented the Balloon

In the year 1782 two young Frenchmen might have been seen one
winter night sitting over their cottage fire, performing the
curious experiment of filling paper bags with smoke, and letting
them rise up towards the ceiling. These young men were brothers,
named Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, and their experiments
resulted in the invention of the balloon.

The brothers, like all inventors, seem to have had enquiring
minds. They were for ever asking the why and the wherefore of
things. "Why does smoke rise?" they asked. "Is there not some
strange power in the atmosphere which makes the smoke from