David Henderson (general)

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David Henderson
1862 – 1921
General David Henderson
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army, Royal Air Force
Rank	Lieutenant General
Battles/wars	Boer War, World War I
Other work	Director-General of Red Cross Societies

Lieutenant General Sir David Henderson KCB KCVO DSO (1862 – 1921) was an officer in the British Army in the later part of the 19th century and early 20th century. Notably, he was the first commander of the Royal Flying Corps in the field and was instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force as an independent service.

Following officer training at the Royal Military College Sandhurst, Henderson was commissioned into the British Army on 25 August 1882. Henderson was a member of the Nile Expedition of 1898 and was wounded at the Siege of Ladysmith during the Boer War. In 1901 he was appointed Director of Military Intelligence and his works Field Intelligence: Its Principles and Practice (1904) and The Art of Reconnaissance (1907) did much to establish his reputation as the Army's authority on tactical intelligence.

In 1911, at the age of 49, Henderson learned to fly, making him the world’s oldest pilot at that time. In 1913 he was appointed Director of Military Aeronautics and, with the outbreak of World War I, he took up command of the Royal Flying Corps in the field. By 1915 Henderson returned to London to take up the post of Director-General of Military Aeronautics. This meant that when, in 1917, General Jan Smuts was writing his review of the British Air Services, Henderson was well placed to assist. Whilst seconded to General Smuts, Henderson wrote much of what came to be called the Smuts Report. It has been argued that he had a better claim to the informal title "father of the Royal Air Force" than Sir Hugh Trenchard.

After the end of the Great War, Henderson became Director-General of the League of Red Cross Societies in Geneva, where he died in 1921.

[edit] References

• Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation - Lt Gen Henderson
• Centre for First World War Studies, Birmingham University - Sir David Henderson

Military Offices
New Title Start of WW1	General Officer Commanding the Royal Flying Corps in the Field 5 August 1918 – 22 November 1914	Succeeded by F H Sykes
Preceded by F H Sykes	General Officer Commanding the Royal Flying Corps in the Field 20 December 1914 – 19 August 1915	Succeeded by H M Trenchard
Preceded by Unknown	Director-General of Military Aeronautics 19 August 1915 – 18 October 1917	Succeeded by J M Salmond