Winston on Wings
Churchill and Clemmie at Hendon Air Pageant, 1914. Winston Churchill had been interested in airplanes since the very beginning of their origins. Even in the infancy of a eronautics , Churchill realized how instrumental airplanes could be in warfare. His first proposal on this subject was in February, 1909 – only six years after the Wright brother's first brief but successful flight in Kitty Hawk, and three months after the first "sustained fight" in the UK. "The problem of the use of airplanes was a most important one," he propounded, "and we should place ourselves in communication with Mr. Wright himself, and avail ourselves of his knowledge." The same year, the United States bought the first airplane for its army. Churchill quickly promoted a British air force as well. In 1911 Churchill used his new position as First Lord of the Admiralty to promote what is now known as the Royal Naval Air Service, or RNAS. In a speech on air power in 1913 that he ga...