Founder of the RAF?
 

Basically correct, though the Smutts Committee was basically Smutts and General David Henderson.

Interesting fact!
I'd heard of Jan Smuts, and been to the RAF Officers Club and seen his statue, but never knew he actually formed the RAF....nor, I confess, even gave him a second thought.

As a Halton Apprentice (brat 1952-1955) I was impressed that Lord Trenchard was the "Father of the Royal Air Force".....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_T...ount_Trenchard

In a private communication a Smuts grand-daughter writes:
"...my mother used to tell us how he had insisted the Air Force be separate from the land and sea forces, but he has not been mentioned in any of the news items I've heard about the "founding" today, so I had wondered if it was her imagination!"

Hence his portrait at the Towers

To be fair the contributions of Smuts ,Henderson and also Sykes should be weighed in to the equation.

Yes, should be Sykes whom I understand that Churchill disliked intensely. Sykes was a bit odd to some and unable to handle himself politically, so Trenchard took a lot of his ideas and credit. Henderson is a close second.

There are so many more than Trenchard - Smuts, Henderson, Sykes, Maitland, Groves, Paine and even Churchill with his insistence on the formation of the Air Ministry. It should really be “Fathers of the Royal Air Force” in my humble opinion.

Trenchard is often referred to as the Father of the RAF, but reportedly said that Henderson deserved the title.

The War Cabinet set up the Smuts Committee on 11 July 1917. By the 19th Henderson had written two papers, the first setting out the background to the problem and the second detailing how "a complete department and a complete united service dealing with all operations in the air, and with all the necessary services which that expression implies" might be set up.

Is that the same Sykes who with Picot carved up the Middle East and with whose legacy we live with today

Nope. Different bloke. The Sykes who did the deal with the French died of Spanish Flu in 1919.

The Smuts Report was in part a response to the Gotha raids on Britain. It led to the formalisation of the Home Defence airfield network. I researched Hainault and Suttons Farm when at school and remember reading some details...

From Wiki:

'AVM Sir Frederick Hugh Sykes, GCSI, GCIE, GBE, KCB, CMG (23 July 1877 – 30 September 1954) was a British military officer and politician.
Sykes was a junior officer in the 15th Hussars before becoming interested in military aviation. He was the first Officer Commanding the Military Wing of the RFC before the First World War and later served as the Flying Corps' Chief of Staff in France during the 1914 and 1915. Later in the war, he served in the RNAS in the Eastern Mediterranean before returning to Great Britain where he worked to organise the Machine Gun Corps and manpower planning. In late 1917 and early 1918, Sykes was the deputy to General Wilson on the Supreme War Council and from April 1918 to early 1919 he served as the second Chief of the Air Staff.'


So not a bad tally - RFC, RNAS and RAF!

Mainjafad - thanks, I am glad. Sykes and Picot have much to answer for, IMHO of course

As an aside but possibly worth mentioning. Smuts had been heavily influenced by the capabilities of aircraft for reconnaissance during his campaign to capture German South-West Africa from the Germans in 1915. The aircraft and men involved were all volunteers and were a very mixed bag of flying nuts. They were known as the South African Flying Unit.

Following the campaign Smuts arranged for the pilots and men involved to be sent to the UK to train as a formal unit. This became No. 26 (AC) Squadron formed at Netheravon on 8th October 1915 and finally disbanded (largely for political reasons) at Wyton on 1st April 1975.