ndant. The Royal Aircraft Factory brought out the B.E. and F.E.
types of biplane, admittedly superior to any other British design of the
period, and an Aircraft Inspection Department was formed under Major J.
H. Fulton. The military wing of the R.F.C. was equipped almost entirely
with machines of Royal Aircraft Factory design, but the Navy preferred
to develop British private enterprise by buying machines from private
firms. On July 1st, 1914 the establishment of the Royal Naval Air
Service marked the definite separation of the military and naval sides
of British aviation, but the Central Flying School at Upavon continued
to train pilots for both services.

It is difficult at this length of time, so far as the military wing was
concerned, to do full justice to the spade work done by Major-General
Sir David Henderson in the early days. Just before war broke out,
British military air strength consisted officially of eight squadrons,
each of 12 machines and 13 in reserve, with the necessary complement of
road transport. As a matter of fact, there were three complete squadrons
and a part of a fourth which constituted the force sent to France at the
outbreak of war. The value of General Henderson's work lies in the fact
that, in spite of official stinginess and meagre supplies of every kind,
he built up a skeleton organisation so elastic and so well thought out
that it conformed to war requirements as well as even the German plans
fitted in with their aerial needs. On the 4th of August, 1914, the
nominal British air strength of the military wing was 179 machines. Of
these, 82 machines proceeded to France, landing at Amiens and flying
to Maubeuge to play their part in the great retreat with the British
Expeditionary Force, in which they suffered heavy casualties both in
personnel and machines. The history of their exploits, however, belongs
to the War period.

The development of the aeroplane between 1912 and 1914 can be judged by
comparison of the requirements of the British War Office in 1912 with
those laid down in an official memorandum issued by the War Office
in February, 1914. This latter called for a light scout aeroplane, a
single-seater, with fuel capacity to admit of 300 miles range and a
speed range of from 50 to 85 miles per hour. It had to be able to climb
3,500 feet in five minutes, and the engine had to be so constructed that
the pilot could start it without assistance. At the same time, a heavier
type of mac