he Retreat and the
following weeks of the war under centralized control. The French
distributed their "Escadrilles," which were approximately of the size of
our "flight," from the beginning, and it is probable that one cause of
failure in the German air service during the same period lay in the
initial dispersion of units and lack of unified control by the higher
command. The British Expeditionary Force having been saved during the
Retreat, Paris having been saved at the Marne, the great German army
having made a retirement, a lengthy war of position having become
obvious, confidence in the air service, both within and without, having
been established, the centralized system necessarily adopted up to that
time could be relaxed, and we were able to send home officers and men
with greatly increased experience to help build up the many new
squadrons which would be required to co-operate with the new armies.

[2] On October 17, 1914, Sir J. French wrote: "Such efficiency as the
R.F.C. may have shown in the field is, in my opinion, principally due to
organization and training."

Gradually, as the numbers in the field permitted, increased duties were
undertaken. The Army, though it did not do so at first, yet came to
understand the immense importance to itself of air reconnaissance. So
much so indeed that our machines and pilots were generally many too few
to attempt more than the absolute essentials, and calls were often made
upon them which were beyond their strength to meet. An ironic contrast
to this was supplied, however, at the evacuation of the Dardanelles,
where I was commanding the air service (the R.N.A.S.), and was asked to
be careful not to do too much air work. This at a time when through
stress and strain and loss we had, I think, a total of five machines
left able to take the air!

Observation was, and remains, the prime purpose for which the Royal
Flying Corps was formed. 1914 was a year of reconnaissance, but with the
advent of trench warfare at the Battle of the Aisne, the first attempts
were made to extend its scope by the use of wireless for artillery
co-operation, and by air photography, both of which developed rapidly.
Headway was also being made with bombing. Then machines carrying out
their special duties had to be protected, while it became necessary to
prevent hostile machines from effecting similar functions, with the
result that 1915 saw the beginnings of systematic air fighting.

In 1915 the e