he Dardanelles. But what is more relevant to the subject of
these pages is that when in future years the story of Helles and Anzac
and Suvla is weighed, it will, I think, appear that had the necessary
air service been built up from the beginning and sustained, the Army and
Navy could have forced the Straits and taken Constantinople. I
insistently urged the dependence of the naval and military forces upon
air assistance and the necessity for carrying out a strong aerial
offensive, especially by bombing, for which the local conditions
governing the enemy operations on the Peninsula offered exceptional
advantages.

From the autumn of 1915 onwards Egypt became the centre of training and
expansion for operations in the Middle East and, as the organization
developed, a brigade was formed with Wings in Macedonia, Sinai and a
training Wing, which by 1918 had become a training brigade, in Egypt.
The work of the Wing sent to Sinai in 1916, and expanded in 1917 into a
brigade, is well summarized in the following extract from a telegram
received from Egypt on October 3rd, 1918:--

"Before operations commenced our mastery of the air was complete and
this was maintained throughout, enabling the cavalry turning
movement to be completely protected and concealed. Enemy retreating
columns were so effectively machine gunned and bombed by offensive
machines that in all three cases the surviving personnel abandoned
their vehicles and consequently upset all plans of retirement. An
enemy column thus abandoned was seven miles in length."

The Wings in Macedonia and Mesopotamia, though they could not beat the
record of the Palestine Brigade, gained a marked supremacy over the
enemy. Air operations in East Africa were originally carried out by the
Royal Naval Air Service with seaplanes, which in 1915 were brought up to
the strength of two squadrons and replaced by aeroplanes under the
orders of the military forces, their duties being carried out under the
difficult conditions of bush warfare. Valuable work was also done by the
Royal Flying Corps squadrons which were sent out to operate in the
south.

In addition to these major operations, air forces were used in the
expeditions on the Indian frontier, against Darfur and in the vicinity
of Aden. Five squadrons were sent to Italy after the Italian retreat
from the Isonzo and took a prominent part in the final Austrian defeat;
a Royal Air Force contingent was sent to