Aviation in Peace and War

From balloon ascents to aircraft serving alongside ships, Frederick Hugh Sykes traces how flying became a practical force in public and military life. Published in 1922 and based on lectures delivered at Cambridge in 1921, this account moves through aviation before the First World War, its wartime development, and its prospects in peace. The early sections introduce experimental gliders, powered machines, the Wright brothers, and the beginnings of British air services.

Sykes connects changes in equipment with changes in organization and tactics. His discussion of coastal defence describes seaplanes, flying boats, and airships protecting shipping, while a personal recollection places him above the Dardanelles in a kite-balloon observer's basket. Later topics include civil air routes, weather, night flying, and commercial costs. Readers interested in transport history will find an early assessment of how flight might become part of everyday national life.