great achievements of the Royal Flying Corps during the war may seem
to make its early history and early efforts a trivial thing in the
comparison. But the spirit was there; and some of the merits of the
later performance may be detected in the tedious and imperfect
rehearsals, the long hours of duty-flights and experiment, demanding
that three-o'clock-in-the-morning kind of courage which is willing to
face danger in the midst of a world at ease.

In March 1912 Colonel Seely had announced in the House of Commons that
there would be required at once for the Military Wing a hundred and
thirty-three officers, and for the Naval Wing about thirty or forty
officers. It was not proposed at first to teach all these officers at
the Central Flying School. They would learn to fly privately, and would
go to the school for more advanced instruction. The skilled men required
were of many kinds. The most important of these were mechanics, men who
had served at full pay in engineering workshops, who had some knowledge
of electricity, and could make intelligible sketches of machinery. A
list of some other classes whose services were invited proves that
though the air service was small its needs were many and complex. Men of
the following trades were to be enrolled, by enlistment or transfer, in
the Military Wing: blacksmiths, carpenters and joiners, clerks,
coppersmiths, draughtsmen, electricians, fitters, harness-makers,
instrument repairers, metal-turners, painters, pattern-makers,
photographers, riggers, sail-makers, tinsmiths, turners, wheelwrights,
whitesmiths, wireless operators, wood-turners. Men of the following
minor trades were also invited: cable-jointers, chauffeurs, drillers,
dynamo attendants, electric-bell fitters, joiners' helpers, machinists,
motor fitters, plumbers' mates, switchboard attendants, tool-grinders,
wiremen. Last, a welcome was promised to men above average intelligence
whose education at school had reached what is called the Fifth Standard.
When an aeroplane glides down to earth as easily as a bird, and comes to
rest, a chance onlooker would hardly guess what a world of intricate
labour and pains has gone to the attainment of that beautiful
simplicity. It is the workshop which gives safety in flight; and because
the workshop needs highly skilled men, whose services are in demand, at
high wages, for many other purposes, an air force must always be
difficult and expensive to maintain in time of peace.

Capt