Sir Sefton Brancker
Sir Sefton Braneker, who was fifty-three, was a practical enthusiast in every branch of aeronautics. He was never weary of speaking and writing about the conquest of the air, and he gave practical proofs of his faith by making all possible journeys by air and being always ready " to take part in a new experiment. In his earlier years he served in the Royal Artillery, but at the beginning of the War he became Deputy Director of Military Aeronautics. He did as much as most men to determine the lines along which the extraordinary development of aeronautics should be made during the War. After the War his knowledge was enlisted by the Air Ministry for the extension of civil aviation. In 1919 he left the Air Ministry and joined a private firm, as he believed that civil aviation must work out its own salvation. in - 1922 he returned to the Air Ministry, being appointed Director of Civil Aviation. He justified this change of policy on'the ground that the Air Ministry had at last become a distinct Department of State, being no longer attached to the War Office. Probably he was right. The Air Ministry had, at least, larger opportunities than the unofficial Air League of the British Empire.
