important bracing wires from the wings to the undercarriage was
condemned owing to the liability of damage from frequent
landings. They also pointed out the desirability of duplicating
all main wires and their attachments, and of using stranded
cable for control wires. Owing to the suspicion that one
accident at least had been caused through the tearing of the
fabric away from the wing, it was recommended that fabric should
be more securely fastened to the ribs of the wings, and that
devices for preventing the spreading of tears should be
considered. In the last connection it is interesting to note
that the French Deperdussin firm produced a fabric wing-covering
with extra strong threads run at right-angles through the fabric
at intervals in order to limit the tearing to a defined area.

In spite, however, of the whitewashing of the monoplane by the
Government Committee just mentioned, considerable stir was
occasioned later in the year by the decision of the War office
not to order any more monoplanes; and from this time forward
until the War period the British Army was provided exclusively
with biplanes. Even prior to this the popularity of the
monoplane had begun to wane. At the Olympia Aero Show in March,
1913, biplanes for the first time outnumbered the
'single-deckers'(as the Germans call monoplanes); which had the
effect of reducing the wing-loading. In the case of the
biplanes exhibited this averaged about 4 1/2 lbs. per square
foot, while in the case of the monoplanes in the same exhibition
the lowest was 5 1/2 lbs., and the highest over 8 1/2 lbs. per
square foot of area. It may here be mentioned that it was not
until the War period that the importance of loading per
horse-power was recognised as the true criterion of aeroplane