This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917. Excerpt: ... AUTHOR'S NOTE The idea of this little book is to give as clear and graphic a description of modern aviation as circumstances will permit; of the new, heroic race of men to which Flying has given birth; of the conditions under, and the elements in, which their work is carried out, and the difficulties and dangers they have to encounter. Flying is essentially a profession for the younger generation. The strain is too great for men of more mature years. To withstand such strain requires all the vigor, the recklessness, the iron nerve of youth. It is a profession that offers an irresistible appeal to healthy-minded, sport-loving youth, to whom adventure is the nectar of existence. The writer's chief endeavor in the opening chapters has been to help the young man who wishes to adopt "Flying" as a profession. Part II of the book is composed of a collection of incidents taken from the diary of an air pilot on Active Service somewhere in the North of France. They are given in their original form. I also wish INTRODUCTION In writing of modern aviation it is to be regretted that the sport or science, call it what you will, was developed more in two years by the war than would have been possible in twenty-two years under normal conditions. Prior to 1914 we did not look upon aircraft and aviation with the degree of interest that their useful qualities warranted. Instead we were apt to regard them rather in the manner of a sporting spectacle, in much the same light as a football match, or a boxing entertainment, or as the piece de resistance of the showmen; thus aircraft, the greatest and most potential discovery of all the ages, had to prove their worth in the maiming of humanity and the destruction of property. Quietly and unobtrusively they were introduced into the...