These two statements as to undercarriage designs may appear to
be contradictory, but in reality they do not conflict as they
both showed a greater attention to the importance of good
springing, combined with a desire to avoid complication and a
mass of struts and wires which increased head resistance.

The Olympia Aero Show of March, 1913, also produced a machine
which, although the type was not destined to prove the best for
the purpose for which it was designed, was of interest as being
the first to be designed specially for war purposes. This was
the Vickers 'Gun-bus,' a 'pusher' machine, with the propeller
revolving behind the main planes between the outriggers carrying
the tail, with a seat right in front for a gunner who was
provided with a machine gun on a swivelling mount which had a
free field of fire in every direction forward. The device which
proved the death-blow for this type of aircraft during the war
will be dealt with in the appropriate place later, but the
machine should not go unrecorded.

As a result of a number of accidents to monoplanes the
Government appointed a Committee at the end of 1912 to inquire
into the causes of these. The report which was presented in
March, 1913, exonerated the monoplane by coming to the
conclusion that the accidents were not caused by conditions
peculiar to monoplanes, but pointed out certain desiderata in
aeroplane design generally which are worth recording. They
recommended that the wings of aeroplanes should be so internally
braced as to have sufficient strength in themselves not to
collapse if the external bracing wires should give way. The
practice, more common in monoplanes than biplanes, of carrying