co-operate with the several army corps; and these squadrons, instead of
returning at night to the central landing-place at the Flying Corps
headquarters, as they did during the battles of the Marne and the Aisne,
remained permanently with the army corps which they were helping. The
new scheme regularized and extended this practice.

The creation of wings involved some transfers and promotions. The First
Wing, intended to operate with the Indian Corps and the Fourth Army
Corps, consisted of Squadrons Nos. 2 and 3; the command was given to
Lieutenant-Colonel H. M. Trenchard, who came to St.-Omer on the 18th of
November. The Second Wing, intended to operate with the Second and Third
Army Corps, consisted of Squadrons Nos. 5 and 6, and was commanded by
Lieutenant-Colonel C. J. Burke.

No. 4 Squadron and the wireless unit (afterwards No. 9 Squadron) were
kept under the direct control of the Royal Flying Corps headquarters.
Shortly before the battle of Neuve-Chapelle the Third Wing was formed
under Lieutenant-Colonel H. R. M. Brooke-Popham, and No. 9 Squadron was
dispersed amongst the other squadrons. What had been the Military Wing
at Farnborough was now decentralized into two separate commands--the
Administrative Wing and the Fourth Wing--each controlled directly by the
War Office. The Administrative Wing, with headquarters at Farnborough,
consisting of Nos. 1 and 2 Reserve Aeroplane Squadrons, the Depot, the
Aircraft Park, and the Record Office, was placed under the command of
Lieutenant-Colonel E. B. Ashmore, who was transferred from the staff of
the General Officer Commanding the Home Forces. The Fourth Wing, with
headquarters at Netheravon, was placed under the command of
Lieutenant-Colonel J. F. A. Higgins, who had commanded No. 5 Squadron in
France, and had been wounded, on the 30th of October, in the air above
Bailleul. This wing consisted of Nos. 1 and 7 Squadrons, preparing for
service in France.

The institution of wings was a great step in advance, and made it easy
to provide for later additions to the strength of the Flying Corps. When
the newly-formed squadrons began to appear in number, they were formed
into wings, and the wings themselves, in the winter of 1915-16, were
combined in pairs to form brigades. The brigade became a self-sufficient
unit, to work with an army; it was commanded by a brigadier-general, and
comprised, besides the two aeroplane wings, a third wing for kite
balloons, an aircraft park, a