l Sir C. L. Ottley and
Captain M. P. A. Hankey as secretaries. The deliberations of this body
were remarkable for agreement and dispatch; their report was ready by
the 27th of February 1912; it passed through its successive stages with
very few alterations, and was approved by the Committee of Imperial
Defence on the 25th of April.

The Royal Flying Corps was constituted by a Royal Warrant on the 13th of
April 1912; a special Army Order was issued two days later setting up
the necessary regulations, and on the 13th of May the old Air Battalion
and its reserve were finally absorbed by the new body.

The advantage of government by committee is that it obtains, by
successive stages, the sanction and support of the many for the plans
initiated by the few. Nothing was ever created by eight men. But eight
or more men, expert in various ways, can render invaluable service by
listening, criticizing, and befriending. The plans which were considered
and adopted by the technical sub-committee had been prepared in private
by a small informal body of three, that is to say, by Brigadier-General
David Henderson, Captain F. H. Sykes, and Major D. S. MacInnes.

Brigadier-General David Henderson had served at the battle of Khartoum
in 1898, and had distinguished himself in the South African War. He was
the author of a book on _The Art of Reconnaissance_, which ran through
several editions. His interest in reconnaissance, and his appreciation
of its importance in war, made him a friend to aviation. In 1911, at the
age of forty-nine, he had learned to fly at Brooklands, and thereafter,
as Director of Military Training at the War Office, did all in his
power to encourage the new movement. Captain Frederick Hugh Sykes was a
General Staff officer who had seen service in many lands. In the South
African War he served with the Imperial Yeomanry, and was severely
wounded. In 1901 he joined the 15th or King's Hussars, and for two years
was stationed in West Africa. Thereafter he was attached to the
Intelligence Department at Army Headquarters in India, passed the Staff
College, and in February 1911 became General Staff officer in the
Directorate of Military Operations under Brigadier-General Sir Henry
Wilson. It was in July and August 1904, while he was on leave from West
Africa, that he made his first acquaintance with the air. He obtained
permission to be attached to the balloon units training with the army on
Salisbury Plain; made many ascen