alloon school, and was
a skilled military airship pilot. Of the officers attached, Captain J.
D. B. Fulton, of the Royal Field Artillery, and Captain C. J. Burke, of
the Royal Irish Regiment, have inscribed their names on the history of
aviation; Captain A. D. Carden, of the Royal Engineers, and Captain E.
M. Maitland, of the Essex Regiment, were apostles of the airship.
Captain Carden was an expert in meteorology, and Captain Maitland's name
will long be remembered in connexion with the first airship flight
across the Atlantic, achieved by the R 34, piloted by Major G. H. Scott,
in July 1919. The gradual rise in esteem of aviation is witnessed by the
fact that during the last days of the Air Battalion's short career not
only Sir Alexander Bannerman but also Captain Broke-Smith and Captain
Carden were engaged in qualifying for the aviation certificate of the
Royal Aero Club. There is, of course, no inconsistency in the union of
the two methods; the Air Battalion took all aeronautics for its
province; there need be no falling out between the aeroplane pilot and
the airship pilot so long as each recognizes and believes in the other.
What most delayed progress was that the higher authorities did not know
what to encourage. The most valuable work done for the national air
force in the winter of 1911-12 was done in committee at Whitehall, where
the whole matter was conscientiously investigated, and the scheme of the
Royal Flying Corps was prepared. Meantime the Air Battalion, in view of
its probable speedy extinction, received very little support. The number
of aeroplanes supplied to the flying camp at Larkhill was almost
ludicrously small, and a large proportion of the time spent in training
was devoted to theory and observation work.

The difficulties of the position appear in a memorandum sent by the
commandant on the 25th of August 1911 to the chief engineer at
Aldershot. This memorandum discusses the employment of the battalion
during the coming winter, and recommends that No. 2 Company (that is,
the aeroplane company) be recalled to Farnborough for a time, 'in order
that the men may live in barracks, do a little drill, and be generally
smartened up'. But as some new machines will need trying during the
winter, a detachment of the company, it is suggested, should be kept on
Salisbury Plain, and its members changed from time to time, so as to
prevent the discipline of the company from becoming too lax. Further it
is urge