Gliding flight is a comparatively new field for the amateur to delve into, but the time has arrived when it is being extensively taken up both as a sport and as a means of experiment. Many very costly airplanes have failed to fly because of man's total inexperience in the art of flying. All of the great aviators now before the world, whose machines are the result of their own genius learned to fly before succeeding in a motor-driven machine. The leaps and bounds with which aviation has since progressed both in the hands of the Wrights and others is a matter too well known to be repeated. There is therefore no excuse necessary to be made for this little book, coming as it does at this time and it is sincerely hoped that it may interest and lead many to experiment first and build their airplane afterward so that when their machine is complete it may be practical and not intended to operate in some “lift-yourself-by-your-boot-straps” manner.
