ncreased by the personnel of three additional
air stations (Clacton, Westgate, and Maidstone).' Further, he asked
whether the Commander-in-Chief was to remain the controlling authority
with regard to punishments; and he added, 'I strongly urge the
re-establishment of some Central Air Authority in the port under my
command with whom I can deal on defence and other important matters
without reference to the individual air stations, which may often be
commanded by officers of small naval experience to whom the naval aspect
of the situation may not especially appeal.'

It was felt in the air service that owing to the technical nature of the
work the question of punishments should not be relegated to any one
outside the air service. The Commander-in-Chief of the Nore had invoked
the King's Regulations, so the question was referred to the naval law
branch of the Admiralty, which, in April 1915, replied that 'the
discipline of the air service is governed entirely by the King's
Regulations, which provide that the powers conferred upon commanding
officers by the Naval Discipline Act shall be subject to the approval of
a Flag officer whose flag is flying or the Senior Naval Officer.... As a
matter of fact the Director of the Air Department has no disciplinary
power under the Naval Discipline Act, and the reference of warrants to
him would neither be in accordance with the King's Regulations nor the
Naval Discipline Act.'

This verdict threw the organization of the Royal Naval Air Service once
more into the melting-pot. The question of discipline was at the root of
the whole matter. The navy were not willing to hand over the control of
discipline to a body which, though it was called the Royal Naval Air
Service, was much looser in discipline than the Royal Navy. The causes
of this comparative laxity are easily intelligible. When the war came,
the need for new pilots was pressing; the training accommodation at the
Central Flying School and at Eastchurch was wholly inadequate; so the
Admiralty had at once made arrangements for entering officers direct
from civilian life, and for training them at civilian schools of
aviation, such as the schools at Brooklands, Hendon, and Eastbourne. The
important thing at the outbreak of war was to get officers who could fly
a machine, and to get them quickly. Of professional training in naval
knowledge and naval discipline there was perforce little. The spirit of
adventure brought many youths at a