On 13 April 1912, less than two weeks after the creation of the Royal Flying Corps (which initially consisted of both a naval and a military wing), an Air Committee was established to act as an intermediary between the Admiralty and the War Office in matters relating to aviation.

The new Air Committee was composed of representatives of the two war ministries, and although it could make recommendations, it lacked executive authority.

Godfrey Paine, who served in the newly created post of Fifth Sea Lord and Director of Naval Aviation, sat on the board and this high level representation from the Navy helped to improve matters.

Additionally, as responsibility for the design of aircraft had been moved out of single service hands and given to the Ministry of Munitions, some of the problems of inter-service competition were avoided.

In addition, the growing number of German air raids against Great Britain led to public disquiet and increasing demands for something to be done.

Because of its potential for the 'devastation of enemy lands and the destruction of industrial and populous centres on a vast scale', he recommended a new air service be formed that would be on a level with the Army and Royal Navy.

[7] The creation of the Air Ministry resulted in the disestablishment of the Army Council's post of Director-General of Military Aeronautics.

[8] In 1919 the RAF and the Air Ministry came under immense political and inter service pressure for their very existence, particularly in a climate of significantly reduced military expenditure.

However, Churchill re-iterated that the continued "integrity, the unity, the independence of the Royal Air Force will be sedulously and carefully maintained".

During 1919 it was also decided that civil aviation was to be brought into the Air Ministry rather than being dealt with by either the Board of Trade or the Foreign Office.

He presented the White Paper, largely written by Sir Hugh Trenchard, on the future of the RAF on 12 December 1919.

[13] More importantly in the long term he was also responsible for the appointment of Sir Sefton Brancker to develop civil aviation.

With the fall of Lloyd George Sir Samuel Hoare became the Secretary of State for Air in October 1922 under Bonar Law.

On Law's death Stanley Baldwin became Prime Minister and gave the position Cabinet status in May 1923,[14] and Hoare remained in the post until January 1924, when a Labour government took power.

He was interested in developing air links to the Empire and Dominion countries, particularly India and South Africa.

Hoare, with his wife Lady Maud, flew on the inaugural 13-day flight to Delhi, leaving Croydon on 26 December 1926 and arriving on 8 January 1927.

The foundation stone of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell was laid in 1929 and formally opened in 1934.

[16] Trenchard had conceived the idea of a university air officer training corps, a sort of Territorial Army for the R.A.F.

As a result of the need for weather information for aviation, the Meteorological Office located many of its observation and data collection points on RAF stations.

In the 1930s, the Air Ministry commissioned a scientific study of propagating electromagnetic energy which concluded that a death ray was impractical but detection of aircraft appeared feasible.