Many others have told of the thrills of seeing the early flying machines leave the ground for the first time. I also was fortunate enough to see many pioneer flights at Colindale where I used to go during the school holidays; these flights absorbed my interest, and I suppose started me off with the thirst for aviation, which persisted throughout my later life. There is no doubt that the first twenty years of flying were the exciting ones, although we should probably be told that modern aeronautics has its own thrills—but different ones.