137 Yd. Per Sec.

Using his legs for locomotion, the fleetest man in the world can make the earth flash by beneath him at the rate of some 10 1/2 yd. per sec. for a few seconds. Using his brain and an aeroplane, he has so far learned to travel about 13 times as fast--137 yd. per sec. for many minutes.

The latest demonstration--and expansion--of this ratio was given last week. Adjutant Bonnet of the French Army, after months of preparation, climbed into a machine motored with a 450-h.p. Hispano Suiza, soared aloft, cometed down at 448 kilos, an hour (280 mi.) to a three-kilometer track near Paris, and won back to France the world's air-speed record, held by the U. S. since 1922. Like Lieut. Williams, U. S. N., who set the last world's record in 1923 at Dayton, Ohio, Adjutant Bonnet flew his course twice each way to establish an average.