IN June, 1909. Rogel' Somnier purchased a biplane Ilofiatt'uctetl by Henri Farman, and on JUly :lrd he made hill first flight. Scarcely 11 month later he held the World'S record for duration of flight, having flown continuously for two and a half hours. His SUdden jump into the ranks of the great aviators Was remark· able and showed that, after ali, it Was hot so hard to learn to fly well. At Rneims and at Doncaster, <luI" hig me fall of 1909, he won many prizes, but shortly after this gave up

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... lying on tne Farman aeroplane and pt6ceeded to design and construct his own. On Janu" flty 6th, 1910, this biplane was completed and tried out fot th ' e first Lme. M. Sommer at once succeeded in making three perfect flights of several kilometers each, ahtl after three days of exp"rimenting, a long cross· country flight was made. This aeroplane is also oper' ated by Lindpainter and Legagneux. The Frame.-The materials of construction of the frame are chiefly hickory and ash, steel joints and steel tubing. The general character and appearance of the frame is somewhat similar to that on the Far· man machine. The Supporting Plane.-Two identical and directly superposed rigid planes carry the machine. The sur· faces are made of rubber cloth covering wooden ribs. The sectional curvature of the surfaces is not as highly arched as on most other types, but is more nearly as in the Wright machine, a very even and gently sloping curve. The spread of the planes is 33 feet, the depth 5.2 feet, and the surface area 326 square