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Show PAULHAN'S LONG FLIGHT. The flight of Louis Paulhan, from London to Manchester, a distance dis-tance of 186 miles, with but one stop, places aviation on a higher plane than ever, and causes one to speculate on the future of the aeroplane. The aeroplane was a plaything three years ago and the skeptical declared that it would answer no purpose beyond amusing the eccentric ec-centric who delight in trying to accomplish the impossible in mechanics. Today we see great possibilities in aerial navigation and already the great powers are planning to strengthen their armies by adding thereto air machines, The first stop made by Paulhan was at Lichfield, 118 miles from London. With such a record flight it is evident an aeroplane can be made of service in reconnoitering from warships or in hovering hov-ering over an encamped army on land. There is no port in the world so fortified as to successfully resist an attack from aeroplanes which can sail from ships 50 or 60 miles at sea, drop explosives and return to be supplied for a renewal of the attack, and we predict that Paulhan 's flight will be accepted by military men who are studying aviation, as confirming their views that all nations must provide a coast defense against invasion through the air or stupidly ignore the lessons that these aeroplane demonstrations are teaching. Like wireless telegraphy, aviation is proving deeply interesting to the young people of the country. A boy named Thomas, 14 years old, has built an aeroplane in Salt Lake and, in a test this week, flew six hundred feet. We read in the dispatches today of a boy 13 years old who appeared before the senate committee in Washington and talked so entertainingly on wireless telegraphy as to cause astonishment. aston-ishment. The grasp of these new subjects and the mind development thereby afforded school boys proves that our schools should introduce intro-duce these subjects and encourage experiments in these new fields of investigation and study. |