Volume 6 No 4 - Royal Air Force Centre for Air Power Studies

23
By Air Marshal ‘Black’ Robertson
The time will come when thou shalt lift thine eyes
To watch a long-drawn battle in the skies.
While aged peasants, too amazed for words,
Stare at the flying fleets of wondrous birds.
England, so long mistress of the sea,
Where winds and waves confess her sovereignty,
Her ancient triumphs yet on high shall bear
And reign the sovereign of the conquered air.
(Thomas Gray, 1716-1771)
Thomas Gray’s words, written in 1737, were
remarkably prescient. While England may
not have reigned sovereign she has certainly
seen some remarkable developments in the story
of flight. This treatise picks out some of the key
moments in British aviation in the last 100 years or
so — from the well known to events that are much
less familiar. In so doing it concentrates on just a
few of the people who contributed to the inspiring
story of flight and, in particular, it examines some
of the qualities they exhibited. The history of