This is number 8 in a series I am not familiar with, entitled ‘Studies in Air Power’ and having read it, it is long overdue.

In fact Sykes was someone of whom I had barely heard, which, considering that, after a distinguished career, he was Chief of Air Staff from 1 April 1918, is rather shameful.

Undoubtedly, part of the fault lies with the character of the man himself – he comes across as pretty nasty, a bit of a whinger and no diplomat. On the other hand, I don’t suppose that Trenchard and Dowding (his constant enemies) were exactly angelic either. What he was, was an outstanding administrator and organiser who played a fundamental part in leading British aviation from 1912 to 1919, for which he has not been given due credit. The fact that he was usually right probably didn’t endear him to many people either. And of course as an administrator, he never shot anyone down. But he did his best to sort out a shambles at Gallipoli although his efforts to supplant the existing RNAS presence with the RFC made him the usual number of enemies. What a shame he saw fit to retire in April 1919, and how he must have fretted at the state the RAF got into thereafter. This is another American written book that deserves reading by any serious student of World War I aviation.