By the Editor: Elsewhere in this edition is a compelling article promoting innovation. The author here reflects on innovation a century ago that was allowed to wither on the vine. Just over a century ago, on April Fool’s Day 1918, the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps were amalgamated under a new Air Ministry because “it must have seemed a good idea at the time.” This is my simplification of the facts which are so well detailed by Professor Eric Grove in Chapter 8 entitled The Naval Aviation Controversy – 1919-1939 of The Naval Review’s book Dreadnought to Daring (Seaforth Pub…
