AEROPLANES have become so much part of modern life that the boys of to-day take them for granted. Yet aviation is still such a youthful science that these machines amazed their parents and were regarded by their grandparents as a fantastic dream. Air lines, air mails, travelling at unheard-of speeds across thousands of miles of ocean, from continent to continent-these are almost commonplace now. But the story of the men who made this possible is an inspiring and romantic one, brimful of courage and determination and sacrifice, alive with the very spirit of adventure.
I have followed very closely each step in the progress of aviation. For, apart from my own flying experience which stretches back to the early days, I represent in Australia one of Britain's greatest
aircraft manufacturing firms. And the older I grow the more I realize the vital part played in the history of flying by the pioneers who faced death so often in machines so inferior in performance and reliability to those we have to-day.
Australia has just cause for pride in the fact that so many of these airmen were her own sons. And Australian boys who have not realized how much their countrymen have contributed to air history are fortunate in having their deeds so vividly recorded here by Mr. Norman Ellison, a man who knew personally many of them.
Keith Smith
(Sir Keith Smith, K.B.E., F.R.G.S.,
F.R.Ae.S.)
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