ble problems which confront an air force.
Tactical exercises, the reconnaissance of stated areas in the search for
parties of men or lorries, photography, handling balloons, practice in
changing landing-grounds, and the like, were followed by discussions of
the day's work. Lieutenant D. S. Lewis and Lieutenant B. T. James took
every possible opportunity, during the discussions, to urge the
development of wireless telegraphy. In the speed and climbing tests the
greatest success was achieved by a B.E. machine fitted with a seventy
horse-power Renault engine. Much attention was paid to reconnaissance
and to co-operation with other arms. There was a natural rivalry among
the squadrons. Major Burke's squadron was reputed to have the best
pilots, while the Netheravon squadrons had had more training in
co-operation with other arms, and in the diverse uses of aeroplanes in
war. But the unknown dangers which all had to share were a strong bond,
and the spirit of comradeship prevailed. The officers and men of the
Royal Flying Corps were makers, not inheritors, of that tradition of
unity and gallantry which is the soul of a regiment, and which carries
it with unbroken spirit through the trials and losses of war.

The single use in war for which the machines of the Military Wing of the
Royal Flying Corps were designed and the men trained was (let it be
repeated) reconnaissance. There had been many experiments in other uses,
but though these had already reached the stage of practical application,
it was the stress of the war which first compelled their adoption on a
wide scale. The Military Wing was small--much smaller than the military
air forces of the French or the Germans--it was designed to operate with
an expeditionary force and to furnish that force with eyes. Its later
developments, which added the work of hands to the work of eyes, were
imposed on it by the necessities of war. Even artillery observation,
which is the work of eyes, was at first no regular part of its duty.
When the Germans were driven back from the Marne, and the long line of
the battle front was defined and fixed, the business of helping the
artillery became a matter of the first importance.

Many of the functions brilliantly performed during the course of the war
by aeroplanes had been claimed, during the early days of aviation, as
the proper province of the airship. A wireless installation for
receiving and sending messages was too heavy for an aeroplane;