This is a long-overdue study of Sir Frederick H. Sykes, Chief of
the Air Staff of Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) during the First
World War. Historians, for the most part, have either overlooked
Sykes or misinterpreted him, leaving a gap in the story of British
flying. Contrary to previous images of Sykes, we now see that he
was not a secretive intriguer or a tangential subject in RAF
history. Rather, he played a fundamental part in organizing and
leading British aviation from 1912 to the end of 1918. He provided
organization, visionary guidance and efficient administrative
control for the fledgling service that tried to survive infancy in
the heat of battle.
Sykes assumed command of the Air Staff immediately after the RAF's
birth - on April 1 1918 - at a critical time, when the German
spring offensives were about to split the French and British
defensive lines and cause an Allied defeat. Sykes stepped in to
quell organizational and bureaucratic fires by working harmoniously
with the Air Minister, Lord Weir. Together they maintained control
of the air service and established a strategic Independent Air
Force prepared to bomb Berlin by the time the Armistice was signed
on 11 November 1918. Sykes battled against fellow airmen, military
traditionalists and French commanders to promote an incipient air
revolution in warfare by instituting 'air-minded' use of new
technologies to economize on manpower and apply air power
tactically, strategically and independently from the inefficient
army and navy competitive control that had plagued the air
services. From the reconnaissance of 1914 to the devastating
precision attacks of Desert Storm in the 1991 Gulf War, aircraft
have transformedthe modern battlefield. As this book shows, Sykes
was important to that revolutionary process.
General
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