M 
LAND & WATER 
August 2, 1917 
The Rise of the R. F. C. 
By B. C. Fellows. 
IT is not easy, without giving information which should be 
withheld, to give a coherent account of the Royal Flying 
Coqjs— the R.F.C. as it is known to everyone in these last 
two y-ears of war. This r6sum6 deals generally 
with the administrative expansion which has taken place 
and in no part touches on tlie technical developments of 
modern aerial science. It took the nation the first year of 
war to realise the problem which faced it, and so great was the 
stress of public affairs, that even then many of those with 
whom the ultimate decision of yea and nay rested, were 
unable to appreciate the possibilities which modern aircraft 
gave to the power with imagination enough to grasp the oppor- 
tunity thus offered. 
To those who have been associated with the R.F.C. during 
its amazing expansion in the last few years, so much that 
seemed visionary is now rapidly becoming fact that there 
seems no limit (metaphoricaUy) to the possibilities of modern 
aircraft in war. The start of the war saw one squadron at 
Montrose, a central flying school on Salisbury Plain, and the 
administrative offices at Farnborough. One year later, 
in August, 1915, we see an Aeronautical Directorate estab- 
lished at Whitehall, Farnborough still the administrative 
and training centre, but other training organisations now 
in being with headquarters at Gosport and Salisbury Plain 
respectively. From a single squadron at Montrose, we find 
squadrons dotted throughout the greater part of England, 
though the geographical limits at this time were still bounded 
by Birmingham, m the north, Norwich in the east, and the 
South-Eastern Coast-line. 
How different is now the case ; is there a country district 
in all England and Scotland where the aeroplane is not known 
and the distinctive uniform of the R.F.C. not a common 
feature ? Let us pay tribute to the debt which the Corps 
owes to the firm and efficient hands which controlled its early 
destinies, both at Farnborough and at the War Office. Pro- 
bably no new organisation has been luckier in its birth-throes 
than the R.F.C; to the satisfaction of all, the sams capable 
hands which guided its pohcy in its early days, are still a 
dominant power in its councils. 
First Real Expansion 
It was about June, 1915, that educated England, beginning 
to awake to the necessity of conscription, saw her manhood 
generally being eruolled in a great national army ; it was 
in August, 1915, that the first real expansion of the R.F.C. in 
the field took place. Round about this date, the star of 
Farnborough began to pale and the Headquarters of the 
Training Organisation were instituted in London, General 
Officers were appointed to command the force in France and 
the Training Brigade at home, the whole co-ordinated under 
the G.O.C., R.F.C, who guided the destinies of the Corps 
from Whitehall. 
Time passed, and early in 1916 we find the R.F.C. in France 
consisting of several Brigades, with a Major-General command- 
ing the whole, a Brigade in the Middle East, with its forces 
far flung from Salonika in the West, to Mesopotamia, East 
Africa and India in the East, a vast training organisation 
at home under its own G.O.C, and a host of departmental 
depots for repair and store purposes. 
It is interesting to note here how from three rooms at 
Whitehall in 1914, the Aeronautical Directorate was forced 
by its expansion to take new premises in Albemarle Street, 
then to move in toto to De Keyser's Hotel (happily renamed 
Adastral House), and finally, in February of this year, to 
occupy the vast premises of the Hotel Cecil. It is sufiicient 
to add that the expansion throughout has been on correspond- 
ing hnes. This expansion at Headquarters was forced on 
the R.F.C. by the necessity of coping with the ever-increasing 
demands made on it by the numerous expeditionary forces 
it had not only to feed but constantly to reinforce and ex- 
pand. The history of the development of the R.F.C both at 
home and abroad is wonderful indeed, and those who have 
Uved and toiled in the midst of it cannot yet grasp its true 
significance. Historical perspective, the only true gauge, 
is necessarily lacking. 
It is not my purpose here to do more than sketch lightly 
the progress which has been made and to pay some slight 
tribute to the great minds who have guided its destinies 
throughout these crucial days. 
In July, 1916, the Air Board was /instituted, a new era 
began, and an attempt was made to co-ordinate the two air 
services, whose aims and ambitions had necessarily to some 
extent overlapped, more especially in the manufacturing 
market, and the claims which the increasing demands of Home 
Defence made on each. The country was lucky to have the 
brains of Lord Curzon to deal with the questions then raised, 
and the seed which he sowed during the five months of his 
reign at the Air Board will be reaped by his successors. More 
than that, his prestige was such that the War Cabinet know 
now, as they would never have known otherwise, how vital 
to the future of our Empire is an efficient Air Service. It 
is not too much to say that the foundations of a future Imp- rial 
Air Ser\'ice were then laid, and more important than all, the 
duties allocated respectively to the Naval and MiUtary 
Services were, for the first time, clearly defined, and responsi- 
bility definitely apportioned. Discussions, moreover, proved 
how necessary it was to have a single control of the output of 
both engines and aeroplanes ; all this, together with the placing 
of supply under the Ministrv of Munitions, was consummated 
in the reorganised Air Board of December, 1916. No 
praise can be too great for the spade work done by the late 
President and his able coadjutors in the late summer and 
autumn of 1916. 
Home Defence 
In an article of this nature hgures and places must necessar- 
ily be used with reserve, and without themit is hard to bring 
home the expansion which has taken place. To take Home 
Defence alone, though new and difficult conditions have now 
to be met, there is no doubt the antidote is already to hand, 
and the aeroplane raids of June and July 1917 will rank 
with the destructive Zeppelin raids of 1916 as an evil that 
has been met and conquered. 
To many of us the answer is not primarily in reprisals or 
counter bombing, but in the defeat of the hostile forces in 
the air. Anything else is a makeshift. Look at the position 
when the Zeppelin raids of the summer of 191 5 occured ; 
we had resources to meet them which can only be described 
as pitiable, and yet we conquered, and not at the expense of 
the army in the field. Similarly the present menace will 
be countered and overcome in the air and at no distant date. 
The present public anxiety is justifiable, but in fairness to 
our airmen, it must be stated that the twin-engine Gotha 
biplane, with which the recent raids have been carried out, 
is no light thing to tackle. 
Apart from the forces specifically allocated to Home De- 
fence, we can say very roughly that the R.F.C. is to-day ten 
times the size that it was two years ago. As it increases in size, 
so necessarily must the dependent organisations and depots 
which feed it. It is comparatively easy to decide on an in- 
crease of say twenty squadrons, but think of what that means; 
it entails twenty new training squadrons for the upkeep of 
pilots, new repair depots, and new Store Depots. More and 
more does the R.F.C, like its sister arms, become the province 
of specialists; our men must have their special wireless training 
establishment, their special photographic training establish- 
ment, their special armament training establishmmt. It 
is not sufficient now-a-days to teach a man to fly and 
then send him out to fight, he must pass prescribed tests 
in all the special training phases he passes through, and be 
finally polished off and taught the use of his weapons in 
the air at the special training schools which have been 
instituted for the purpose. All that training can do to 
secure the life of a pilot or observer in modern war 
conditions is done. In no branch has progress on scientific 
lines made greater strides ; the casualties are heavy, the strain 
on pilots is great, but the training organisation expands 
with the development of the forces in the field, and not 
behind it, and therein lies the secret of its success. 
We are all inclined to concentrate in the West, and probably 
rightly so, as the main theatre of the war, but we cannot 
neglect our commitments in the East, and one of the many 
long-sighted moves initiated by the Aeronautical Directorate 
at'the War Office, was the installation of a training organisa- 
tion in the near East, to meet the requirements of these 
other theatres of war. At this school of military aeronau- 
tics, the young pilot is taught the theory and ground part of 
his training ; here are to be found elementary and higher 
training squadrons, and, finally, a school of aerial gunnery 
in which he qualifies for being a service pilot. 
It is not a little wonderfifl that all this has been e\olved 
during the present war, and, in fact, wholly within the last 
two years. Think again what it means ; all the pilots for 
Salonika, Mesopotamia, and East Africa can be trained there 
and the time and risk of sea- passage to England saved. Such 
too is the equableness of the climate that this training can 
