British Army Manoeuvres and the Development of Military Aviation,1910—1913

Abstract

Historians have generally considered that the British army dismissed the potential value of aircraft prior to the First World War, only realizing the implications of military aviation after its outbreak. Before 1914, however, many senior British army officers had begun to understand that air power would soon change the nature of warfare. They had reached this understanding as a result of demonstrations by aircraft during many of the manoeuvres and other training exercises carried out in the years 1910—13.