importance of amphibious seaplanes, mention should be made of the
flying boat (or 'bat boat' as it was called, following Rudyard
Kipling) which was built by Sopwith in 1913 with a wheeled
landing-carriage which could be wound up above the bottom surface
of the boat so as to be out of the way when alighting on water.

During 1913 the (at one time almost universal) practice
originated by the Wright Brothers, of warping the wings for
lateral stability, began to die out and the bulk of aeroplanes
began to be fitted with flaps (or 'ailerons') instead. This
was a distinct change for the better, as continually warping the
wings by bending down the extremities of the rear spars was
bound in time to produce 'fatigue' in that member and lead to
breakage; and the practice became completely obsolete during the
next two or three years.

The Gordon-Bennett race of September, 1913, was again won by
a Deperdussin machine, somewhat similar to that of the previous
year, but with exceedingly small wings, only 107 square feet in
area. The shape of these wings was instructive as showing how
what, from the general utility point of view, may be
disadvantageous can, for a special purpose, be turned to
account. With a span of 21 feet, the chord was 5 feet, giving
the inefficient 'aspect ratio' of slightly over 4 to 1 only.
The object of this was to reduce the lift, and therefore the
resistance, to as low a point as possible. The total weight was
1,500 lbs., giving a wing-loading of 14 lbs. per square foot--a
hitherto undreamt-of figure. The result was that the machine
took an enormously long run before starting; and after touching
the ground on landing ran for nearly a mile before stopping; but