ficent set of officers, and
the N.C.O.'s and men were as one family.'

The other of the two pioneer aeroplane squadrons was formed at
Farnborough in May 1912, and was put under the command of Major Charles
James Burke, of the Royal Irish Regiment. Major Burke rendered enormous
service to the cause of military flying. He took it up because he fully
realized the importance of the part it was destined to play in war. He
had served in the ranks in the South African War, and at the close of
the war was commissioned in the Royal Irish Regiment, becoming captain
in September 1909. In 1910 he learned in France to fly a Farman biplane,
and obtained the aviation certificate of the French Aero Club.
Thereafter he was employed at the balloon school, and in 1911 was
attached to the newly-formed Air Battalion. He was something of a
missionary, and in that same year contributed two papers to the Royal
United Service Institution, one on _Aeroplanes of To-day and their Use
in War_, the other on _The Airship as an aid to the solution of existing
strategical problems_. On the formation of the Royal Flying Corps he was
given command of No. 2 Squadron, which, after a time at Farnborough, was
stationed as a complete unit at Montrose on the east coast of Scotland.
He brought his squadron to a high state of efficiency, and on the
outbreak of war flew with it to France. There he did good service, till
he was invalided home in the summer of 1915 and became temporary
commandant of the Central Flying School. In 1916 he was again in France.
The war was taking a huge toll, and he rejoined his old regiment, which
was in straits for officers. In the previous year Major
Barrington-Kennett, under the same pressure, had returned to duty with
the Grenadier Guards, and had been killed in action near Festubert.
Colonel Burke rejoined the Royal Irish Regiment in the summer of 1916,
and was killed on the 9th of April 1917, on the first day of the Arras
offensive.

He impressed those who knew him by his character. He was not a good
pilot, and was almost famous for his crashes. He was not a popular
officer. He was not what would be called a clever man. But he was
single-minded, and utterly brave and determined, careless alike of
danger and of ridicule. There is often granted to singleness of purpose
a kind of second sight which is denied to mere intelligence. Major Burke
(to give him his earlier title) knew many things about military aviation
and the handling