, was
not a good scheme for controlling the unprecedented duties, or for
encouraging the unexampled activities, of an air force.

When the Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps was first established, in
1912, H.M.S. _Hermes_, under the command of Captain G. W. Vivian, was
commissioned as its headquarters. During the following year naval air
stations came into being at the Isle of Grain, at Calshot, Felixstowe,
Yarmouth, and Cromarty, and in December 1913 the duties of the captain
of the _Hermes_ were taken over by Captain F. R. Scarlett, who was given
the newly created post of Inspecting Captain of Aircraft, with
headquarters at the Central Air Office, Sheerness. At the time of the
outbreak of war the Royal Naval Air Service was administered by the
Admiralty, and consisted of the Air Department at Whitehall, the Central
Air Office at Sheerness, the Royal Naval Flying School at Eastchurch,
the various naval air stations, and such aircraft as were available for
naval purposes. The Sheerness office was under the Nore command, and the
Inspecting Captain of Aircraft, who took his instructions from the
Director of the Air Department, was also responsible to the
Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleets in all matters relating to
aircraft operations with the main fleet.

The coming of the war soon multiplied air stations as well as aircraft;
inland stations were established at Hendon, Chingford, Wormwood Scrubbs,
and Roehampton; squadrons were dispatched abroad, and seaplane ships
were commissioned; so that efficient control by the Nore command was no
longer possible. In February 1915 the Admiralty decided that the whole
of the Royal Naval Air Service should be forthwith placed under the
orders of the Director of the Air Department, who was to be solely
responsible to the Board of Admiralty. The Central Air Office was
abolished, and Captain Scarlett was appointed to the staff of the Air
Department to carry out inspection duties.

When this decision took effect in Admiralty Weekly Orders, certain
points of difficulty were at once raised by the Commander-in-Chief of
the Nore. 'Is the personnel of the air stations', he asked, 'to be
subject to local Port Orders? I can hardly imagine that their Lordships
intend otherwise. There are 77 officers and 530 men, including 94 naval
ratings, in the three air establishments at present in my command
(Eastchurch, Grain, and Kingsnorth), and it is understood that these
numbers will shortly be i