AVIATION.
The flight tests in a unique aviation competition begin this summer at Mitchel Field, Long Island. The Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics has organized an International Safe Aircraft Competition, and is offering a first prize of $100,000 and five safety prizes of $10,000 each for the aeroplane showing the greatest advance in safety without loss of efficiency. So far fifteen aeroplane manufacturers—one Italian, three British and eleven American —have entered for the competition. The three British entries are the Gloster Aircraft Co., Handley-Page with slotted wing device, and the Cierva Autogiro, in which the lift is obtained from a large horizontal windmill instead of the usual fixed surfaces. The aim of the competition is the development of a machine for private flying which can be safely operated by a lay pilot. Entrants are subjected to nine tests, designed to assure more efficient take-offs, landings, and control of the machine at all speeds and in all altitudes. Judged by the foremost aeronautic authorities in the country, the competition is expected to develop one plane, incorporat- ing the safety features of others, which will be the " safe " aeroplane.
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