The launching apparatus consisted of a wooden tower at the
starting end of the launching ways--a wooden rail about 60 or 70
feet in length. To the top of the tower a weight of about 1/2
ton was suspended. The suspension rope was led downwards over
pulleys, thence horizontally to the front end and back to the
inner end of the railway, where it was attached to the aeroplane.
A small trolley was fitted to the chassis of the machine and this
ran along the railway.

To launch the machine, which, of course, stood on the rail, the
propellers were set in motion, and the 1/2-ton weight at the top
of the tower was released. The falling weight towed the
aeroplane rapidly forward along the rail, with a velocity
sufficient to cause it to glide smoothly into the air at the
other end of the launching ways. By an ingenious arrangement the
trolley was left behind on the railway.

It will at once occur to you that there were disadvantages in
this system of commencing a flight. One was that the launching
apparatus was more or less a fixture. At any rate it could not
be carried about from place to place very readily: Supposing the
biplane could not return to its starting-point, and the pilot was
forced to descend, say, 10 or 12 miles away: in such a case it
would be neces- sary to tow the machine back to the launching
ways, an obviously inconvenient arrangement, especially in
unfavourable country.

For some time the "wheeled" chassis has been in universal use,
but in a few cases it has been thought desirable to adopt a