The question has been often asked why we were so long in this country in grasping the necessity of keeping pace with other countries by having a national flying corps? In an introductory chapter I have stated that a want of public interest was the cause of British dilatoriness in aëronautical matters; but there was also another very potent reason--a meteorological one. From the weather point of view, the conditions for practising flight in this country cannot be compared with those obtaining on the Continent. Our insular position affords an uncertainty of wind force that in the earlier days of the aëroplane would have been fatal to progress had the pioneers chosen this isle for their experiments. Even while the aëroplanes were only calm-weather machines, and even when they first essayed flight in moderate winds, there was an undoubted instinct in the minds of an eminently practical nation that the loss of life consequent upon a systematic military use would be hardly justifiable. So the nation waited for a certain stage of progress in flying machines before launching them into the winds and gusts for serious military work. When they were first used in this country, the nature of our climate proved exceedingly disastrous and swelled the casualty lists of peace. Those who have survived have had a hard and exceptionally strenuous training in the ways of the air, ever having had to be on the alert against the ever-present threatening blasts which tend to upset the stability of flying machines. But is it not the exceptionally hard training that the military aviators in this country have had to undergo that has produced the exceedingly able and successful Flying Corps that is struggling for King and country in the present campaign? It has been seen how they have been commended in the first report of Sir John French. Their efforts have also met with the greatest appreciation of the French. General Joffre in his report specially dwelt on the regular and valuable reconnaissance of the British Royal Flying Corps. In Sir John French’s report, dated September 11th, the following passage appears:-- Quite one of the features of the campaign, on our side, has been the success attained by the Royal Flying Corps. In regard to the collection of information it is impossible either to award too much praise to our aviators for the way they have carried out their duties or to overestimate the value of the intelligence collected, more especially during the recent advance. In due course certain examples of what has been effected may be specified, and the far-reaching nature of the results fully explained, but that time has not yet arrived. That the services of our Flying Corps, which has really been on trial, are fully appreciated by our Allies is shown by the following message from the Commander-in-Chief of the French armies, received on the night of September 9th by Field-Marshal Sir John French:--