Business: Baby Planes

A contest at Lympne, England, for small low-powered planes produced astonishing results. One competitor flew 91½ miles on a gallon of gasoline and 812 miles at a total fuel cost of $5. Captain Norman MacMillan on a tiny Parnall machine flew at 76½ miles an hour, although his tiny motorcycle engine turns up only three or four horse power. Handley Page applied his famous slotted wing to an ” air flivver”—when the slot was open the device acted like an air brake, reducing the landing speed so much that the machine came to a standstill almost as soon as it touched the ground. But the most remarkable feature of all was the reliability of the little machines, which did all manner of stunts and made long flights in the face of high winds.