Some aircraft helped bridge the gap between the Wright brothers' double wing configuration with the elevators in the front, and the more modern aircraft of today. Louis Bleriot, a Frenchman, built the earliest version of what looks like a modern aircraft in 1907. He called it the Bleriot VII, below.

Some people confuse this aircraft with the one in which Bleriot crossed the English Channel in 1909. He did that, and set a world record for doing it, in a Bleriot XI. London threw him a parade.

As America entered World War I, she saw that her aircraft industry was embarrassingly absent from the conflict. America sent her best pilots, talented and skilled flyers. But in regard to an Air Force, hopelessly lacking.

The Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" never saw military combat. It did, however, fill the need for a dependable military trainer. From April 1917 when the United States entered World War I, it trained probably 95 per cent of all U.S. and Canadian pilots, seen below. It took many years to completely discard the double wing idea.

It would be comforting to say that the U.S. was well represented with our own aircraft in World War I, but it wouldn't be true. The American flyers in Europe, such as the Lafayette Escadrille were a group of Americans flying French planes. One officer noted this fact with disdain, and promised himself that if he were in a position to rectify the situation in a future conflict, he would. His name was Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold, and later had the position.

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