and devised a plan to keep the colony's farms running. On 30 September 1939 he relinquished the governorship and returned to Britain. Second World War Commonwealth Air Training Plan Brooke-Popham rejoined the RAF shortly after his return to Great Britain and only weeks after the outbreak of the Second World War. He was first appointed as head of the RAF's training mission to Canada where he worked on the establishment of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan. In 1940 Brooke-Popham was made head of the training mission to South Africa where he continued work on the Plan. Commander-in-Chief Far East Command Command arrangements On 18 November 1940, at the age of 62, Brooke-Popham was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Far East Command making him responsible for defence matters in Singapore, Malaya, Burma and Hong Kong. This was a considerably more demanding undertaking than any of Brooke-Popham's many previous appointments. The Command was new and Brooke-Popham was the first RAF officer to be appointed Commander-in-Chief of a joint command during a world war. There was a significant gap between the Commander-in-Chief's responsibility and his authority, as Brooke-Popham was nominally responsible for all defence matters in the British Far East colonies but the Royal Navy units in these waters did not come under his command; rather they reported to their own naval commander-in-chief in London. The civil servants in the Far East also did not report to the Commander-in-Chief, working instead for ministers in London. Insufficient defences With the Japanese threatening south-east Asia, Brooke-Popham knew he had to build up the defences of the region. Those defences which already existed were primarily directed towards an attack from the sea and everywhere sufficient forces were lacking. The Command's aerial defences were particularly deficient and the priority attached to operations in the Middle East meant that British resources were directed elsewhere. During the following year, Brooke-Popham struggled without much success to build up defences, get the much-needed reinforcements and rectify the unsound command arrangements. Operation Matador In August 1941 Brooke-Popham submitted a plan for the defence of Malaya to London for approval. This plan, code-named Matador, worked on the basis that the Japanese would land on the east coast of Thailand and then advance south. The essence of Operation Matador was that Allied forces would advance into Thailand and fight the Japanese there. The plan relied upon force levels not available to Brooke-Popham and involved