Who was the first military pilot to fly officially? Who supplied the first military aircraft? Who were the first serving officers to be trained as pilots? What was the name of the aviation army unit? Which was the independent air force to be effectively established?
Who was the first military pilot to fly officially?
The first MILITARY PILOT TO FLY OFFICIALLY for the Army was Capt. Bertram Dickson, who performed a reconnaissance mission during the autumn manoeuvres at Larkhill on 24 September 1910. His aircraft was a Bristol Boxkite lent to the War Office by the British & Colonial Aeroplane Co. Both Capt. Dixon and Lt L.D.L. Gibbs, who began flying on reconnaissance the following day in his own clipped wing racing Farman, had learned to fly privately in France; their initial reception at Larkhill by those of their brother officers schooled in a more traditional mode of warfare was far from encouraging.
Three lieutenants of the Royal Navy and one member of the Royal Marine Artillery were selected from some 200 applicants and seconded to Eastchurch for flight training on 1 March 1911. Instruction was given on two Short biplanes. The first officers to qualify as pilots were Lt Charles Rumney Samson and Lt A.M. Longmore on 24 April, followed by Lt R. Gregory and Lt G.V. Wildman Lushington of the Royal Marines on 1 May.
The first AVIATION UNIT OF THE BRITISH ARMY and the lineal ancestor of the RAF was the Air Battalion, Royal Engineers, re-formed from the Balloon Section, RE on 1 April 1911. The original strength of the Battalion, commanded by Maj. Sir Alexander Bannerman RE, was 14 officers, 23 NCOs, 153 men of the Royal Engineers, 2 buglers, 4 riding-horses, 32 Draught-horses, miscellaneous kites, balloons, and airships, and 5 aeroplanes. Four of the aircraft, a Wright, Farman, Paulhan, and de Havilland, were biplanes, and one, a Bleriot, was a monoplane. All were already part of the establishment of the Balloon Corps Factory at Farnborough, which now became the Army Aircraft Factory. Officers applying for transfer to the Air Battalion were recommended to be bachelors under 161 lb in weight and over 30 years old. Desirable qualifications were stated to be good eyesight, medical fitness, and the ability to map-read and make field sketches, immunity from sea-sickness (a practical consideration), and a knowledge of foreign languages. The role assigned to the Air Battalion was solely one of reconnaissance, as little regard was paid in military circles to the aircraft’s potential as an active weapon of war. It was superseded by the Royal Flying Corps, formed on 13 May 1921. The RFC was conceived as an independent service and not as an adjunct to the Army or Navy, though in practice the War Office and the Admiralty regarded the Military and Naval Wing of the RFC respectively each as their special preserve.
The first INDEPENDENT AIR FORCE to be effectively established, subordinate to neither naval nor military command, was the Royal Air Force, formed by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918.
