The Royal Flying Corps brigades were organizational formations of British military aircraft and personnel during World War I that typically controlled several wings . The air brigade system was introduced into the Royal Flying Corps in late 1915 and initially retained by the Royal Air Force on its establishment on 1 April 1918. Following the Allies' victory later that year the air brigades were disbanded in 1919. Subsequently, the RAF was restructured with commands comprising groups and groups comprising wings without the need for brigades.
29-654: Following Sir David Henderson 's return from France to the War Office in August 1915, he submitted a scheme to the Army Council which was intended to expand the command structure of the Flying Corps. The Corps' wings would be grouped in pairs to form brigades and the commander of each brigade would hold the temporary rank of brigadier-general . The scheme met with Lord Kitchener 's approval and although some staff officers opposed it,
58-656: A brevet promotion to the rank of major on 16 November 1898. Three months before the outbreak of the Second Boer War Henderson was posted to Natal as an intelligence officer. During the opening stage of the war he took part and was wounded at the Siege of Ladysmith . He received a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel on 29 November 1900. In February 1901, the commander-in-chief in South Africa, Lord Kitchener, appointed Henderson his director of military intelligence,
87-795: A vice-admiral in the Royal Navy and an air marshal in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. The rank insignia for both the Army and the Royal Marines is a crown over a crossed sabre and baton. During the Reign of Queen Elizabeth II , the St Edward's Crown , commonly known as the Queen's Crown, was depicted. Before 1953, and again since the accession of King Charles III in 2022,
116-717: A flying accident in June 1918. Following officer training at the Royal Military College Sandhurst, Henderson was commissioned into the British Army on 25 August 1883, joining the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders as a lieutenant . He was promoted to captain on 26 February 1890, and graduated from Staff College, Camberley in 1895. Subsequently, he was a member of the Nile Expedition of 1898, following which he received
145-614: A post he held until the end of the war in June 1902. In a despatch dated 23 June 1902, Kitchener wrote how Henderson had "invariable done his best to cope with the great difficulties of his position." For his service in the war, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in the October 1902 South Africa Honours list. His subsequent works, Field Intelligence: Its Principles and Practice (1904) and The Art of Reconnaissance (1907), did much to establish his reputation as
174-532: A ship-owning family. His father, also called David Henderson, was a joint owner of the Clydeside ship builders David and William Henderson and Company . Henderson entered the University of Glasgow in 1877 at the age of just 15. While there, he read engineering and in his fourth year (1880–1881) he studied civil engineering and mechanics as well as office and field work in engineering. For reasons now unknown, he left
203-476: Is a senior rank in the British Army and the Royal Marines . It is the equivalent of a multinational three-star rank ; some British lieutenant generals sometimes wear three-star insignia, in addition to their standard insignia, when on multinational operations. Lieutenant general is a superior rank to major general , but subordinate to a (full) general . The rank has a NATO rank code of OF-8 , equivalent to
232-777: Is shown in parentheses): Established 16 January 1916 at Aire . Disbanded on 5 March 1919. The brigadier-generals commanding were: Established 23 October 1915 in Great Britain. Disbanded on 14 September 1919. The brigadier-generals commanding were: Established 16 January 1916 at Beauval . Disbanded on 10 March 1919. The brigadier-generals commanding were: Established 1 April 1916 at Les Alençons . Disbanded in October 1918. The brigadier-generals commanding were: Established 15 December 1915 in Great Britain. Disbanded on 1 April.1919. The brigadier-generals commanding were: Established 15 January 1916 with its headquarters at 13 Albemarle Street, Piccadilly, London. On establishment, it comprised
261-515: The 1st Division and his chief of staff Frederick Sykes took up command in his stead. However, Henderson did not spend long commanding the 1st Infantry Division. The decision to post Henderson and replace him with Sykes was not to Lord Kitchener's liking, and he ordered a reversal of the appointments. On 20 December 1914, Henderson resumed command of the Royal Flying Corps in the Field and Sykes
290-656: The Independent Force in France, the armistice came before it was deployed and the XI Brigade was disbanded on or about 15 November 1918. Its commander was: Sir David Henderson Lieutenant General Sir David Henderson , KCB , KCVO , DSO (11 August 1862 – 17 August 1921) was the senior leader of British military aviation during the First World War , having previously established himself as
319-451: The Royal Air Force maintained the rank of lieutenant general. It was superseded by the rank of air marshal on the following day. Although Sir David Henderson was an RAF lieutenant general, the then RAF Chief-of-Staff Sir Hugh Trenchard never held this rank. Additionally, the retired Royal Navy admiral John de Mestre Hutchison held an honorary RAF commission in the rank of lieutenant general. The RAF lieutenant general rank insignia
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#1733086125030348-585: The Smuts Report . It has been argued that he had a better claim to the informal title "father of the Royal Air Force " than Sir Hugh Trenchard . Trenchard himself believed that Henderson deserved the accolade. He sat on the government's " Advisory Committee for Aeronautics ", located at the National Physical Laboratory , under the chairmanship of Richard Glazebrook and presidency of John Strutt, Lord Rayleigh . In January 1918, Henderson, who
377-538: The Tudor Crown , commonly known as the King's Crown, has been used. Ordinarily, lieutenant general is the rank held by the officer in command of an entire battlefield corps . The General Officer Commanding NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps is a British lieutenant general. Historically, I Corps and II Corps were commanded by British lieutenant generals. Additionally, three lieutenant general appointments also exist within
406-528: The Army's authority on tactical intelligence. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in January 1907. In 1911, at the age of 49, Henderson learned to fly, making him the world's oldest pilot at that time. He formed part of the technical sub-committee of the Air Committee which helped to decide the organisation of the Royal Flying Corps, which was formed on 13 April 1912. In 1913 the control of military aviation
435-541: The Royal Flying Corps's Training Division, it ceased to exist as a brigade on 1 April 1918 when it was re-designated as No. 7 Group . The Southern Training Brigade's only brigadier-general commanding was: Established as part of the Royal Air Force on 18 June 1918 at Basse Boulogne. It was disbanded on 1 March 1919. The brigadier-general commanding was: Established as part of the Royal Air Force on 29 September 1918 at Hurst Park . Although intended for service as part of
464-681: The armistice, Henderson served as a military counsellor during the Paris Peace Conference until the signing of the Versailles Treaty in June 1919. Henderson then became Director-General of the League of Red Cross Societies in Geneva , where he died in 1921, aged 59. Henderson was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1902 for his work during the Second Boer War . In April 1914 he
493-722: The assets of the II Brigade. It ceased to exist on 20 July 1916 when its assets were re-designated as the Training Brigade. The Brigade was re-established on 12 October 1917 when the Home Defence Brigade was retitled as the VI (Home Defence) Brigade. It finally ceased to exist on 9 July 1919 when it was reduced to wing strength and re-designated as the Home Defence Wing. The brigadier-generals commanding were: The Middle East Brigade
522-885: The extant British Army 's Headquarters. They are the Commander Field Army , the Commander Home Command and the Chief of Materiel (Land) in Defence Equipment and Support (double-hatted as the Quartermaster-General to the Forces ). Although the senior appointment in the Royal Marines , the Commandant General , has since 1996 held the lower rank of major general , prior to this date the Commandant General
551-597: The leading authority on tactical intelligence in the British Army . He served as the commander of the Royal Flying Corps in the field during the first year of the First World War, and was instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force as an independent service. After the war Henderson was the first Director-General of the League of Red Cross Societies . David Henderson was born in Glasgow on 11 August 1862 into
580-470: The scheme was adopted. In the field, most brigades were assigned to the army. Initially a brigade consisted of an army wing and corps wing; beginning in November 1916 a balloon wing was added to control the observation balloon companies. Logistics support was provided by an army aircraft park, aircraft ammunition column and reserve lorry park. The following brigades were established (the date of establishment
609-589: The university to train for a military career at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst , instead of graduating from Glasgow. In 1895, Henderson married Henrietta Caroline Dundas, who was appointed as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1919. Their children included Ian Henry David Henderson , who also joined the Royal Flying Corps , but Ian Henderson predeceased his parents, dying in
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#1733086125030638-764: The year before had been made a substantive lieutenant general, was made a member of the Air Council , serving as its vice-president. However, having not been appointed as the RAF's Chief of the Air Staff , Henderson resigned from the Air Council in April, citing his desire to escape the atmosphere of intrigue at the Air Ministry. Following his departure from the Air Council, Henderson returned to France where he served until October 1918. After
667-538: Was a lieutenant general or full general . However, given that a few more senior positions in the British Armed Forces are open to officers from different services, Royal Marines officers can and do reach the rank of lieutenant general, being posted to Joint Forces or Ministry of Defence postings. Examples include Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Fry , Lieutenant-General Sir James Dutton and Lieutenant-General Sir David Capewell . From 1 April 1918 to 31 July 1919,
696-586: Was created Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB). In March 1918, Henderson accepted the honorary position of Colonel of the Highland Light Infantry . David Henderson Avenue, built on the former Joint Services School of Intelligence site in Ashford, Kent , is named after him. Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom) Lieutenant general ( Lt Gen ), formerly more commonly lieutenant-general ,
725-468: Was established in October 1917. It was disbanded on 26 March 1918. The brigadier-generals commanding were: Established at Heliopolis on 14 December 1917. On 18 March 1920, the brigade was redesignated the Egyptian Group. The brigadier-general commanding was: The VIII Brigade was established on 28 December 1917. It was disbanded on 5 March 1919. The brigadier-general commanding was: The IX Brigade
754-632: Was established on 1 July 1916 with its headquarters at Cairo . It ceased to exist on 5 October 1917 when it was upgraded to divisional status and retitled HQ RFC Middle East. The brigadier-general commanding was: Formed on 3 September 1917 at Hastings, it was re-designated the RAF Cadet Brigade on 1 April 1918. Succeeded by the RAF (Cadet) College at Cranwell on 1 November 1919. The RFC/RAF Cadet Brigade's commander was: Palestine Brigade (5 October 1917). The brigadier-general commanding was: The VII Brigade
783-645: Was established on 6 March 1918 and disbanded on 8 August 1919. The brigadier-general commanding was: The brigadier-general commanding was: The Home Defence Brigade was formed at Adastral House, London on 15 August 1917 by re-designating the Home Defence Group as a brigade. Less than two months later, the brigade received a "boilerplate" number and became the 6th (Home Defence) Brigade on 12 October 1917. The brigadier-general commanding was: The brigadier-generals commanding were: The brigadier-generals commanding were: Formed at Salisbury on 5 August 1917 within
812-501: Was once again his chief of staff. In 1915 Henderson returned to London to resume his London-based duties as director-general of military aeronautics, which Sefton Brancker had been performing in his absence. This meant that when, in 1917, General Jan Smuts was writing his review of the British Air Services, Henderson was well placed to assist. While seconded to General Smuts, Henderson wrote much of what came to be called
841-531: Was separated from the responsibilities of the Master-General of the Ordnance . A new Department of Military Aeronautics was established and Henderson was appointed the first director and, with the outbreak of the First World War , he took up command of the Royal Flying Corps in the Field. On 22 November 1914, Henderson, promoted to major general the month before, was appointed General Officer Commanding (GOC) of
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