Packed with stories of the great men he knew and served under, the former R.F.C and R.A.F. flying officer gives us insights into the army’s and navy’s flying services and the wider aeronautical community before and during the First World War. Sir Philip then turns to how these men considered the arguments of forming a joint service and how they went onto create the Royal Air Force in 1918.

The lecture was delivered to the Royal Aeronautical Society's Historical Group on 25 February 1963. The podcast was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and it was digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.