anes
and flying boats were still in their infancy, and the organization of
the Naval Wing was wisely left undetermined for the time. The
distribution of the aeroplane squadrons of the Military Wing was left
for the consideration of the War Office, but the sub-committee
recommended that one squadron should be stationed at Salisbury Plain,
within reach of the Central Flying School, and one at Aldershot, in the
neighbourhood of the Aircraft Factory. All recruits training as pilots,
whether for the Naval Wing or the Military Wing, were to graduate at the
Central Flying School, and thence were to be detailed to join either the
Naval Flying School at Eastchurch, for a special course of naval
aviation, or one of the military aeroplane squadrons, for a special
course of military aviation.

That was the plan. So far as the Military Wing was concerned, it was
punctually carried out. In the Naval Wing a certain centrifugal tendency
very early made itself felt. The official name 'Royal Flying Corps,
Naval Wing', after making its appearance in a few documents, dropped out
of use, and its place was taken by a name which in process of time
received the stamp of official recognition--'The Royal Naval Air
Service'. Thereafter the words 'Military Wing', though they were still
used, were no longer required, and 'The Royal Flying Corps' became a
sufficient description of what was a distinctively military body. The
Admiralty from the first worked independently. Soon after the Naval Wing
of the Royal Flying Corps was created the First Lord of the Admiralty
set up a new department to supervise it, and placed Captain Murray
Sueter in charge, as Director of the Air Department. At an earlier date
Commander C. R. Samson had been placed in charge of the Naval Flying
School. The energies of the school, pending the establishment of the
Central Flying School, were devoted mainly to elementary training in
flying. By the provisions of the original scheme this elementary
training belonged to the joint Central Flying School, while the Naval
Flying School was to be used for experiment and for specialized
training in naval air work. But the Naval Flying School continued
throughout the war to train naval flying officers from the beginning,
teaching them the art of flying as well as its special applications for
naval purposes.

The question whether there should be a single air service, specialized
in its branches, or separate air services, organized for mu