of the war in June 1902. In a despatch dated 23 June 1902, Kitchener wrote how Henderson had "invariable done his best to cope with the great difficulties of his position." For his service in the war, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in the October 1902 South Africa Honours list. His subsequent 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. He formed part of the technical sub-committee of the Air Committee which helped to decide the organisation of the Royal Flying Corps, which was formed on 13 April 1912. In 1913 the control of military aviation was separated from the responsibilities of the Master-General of the Ordnance. A new Department of Military Aeronautics was established and Henderson was appointed the first director and, with the outbreak of the First World War, he took up command of the Royal Flying Corps in the Field. On 22 November 1914, Henderson was appointed General Officer Commanding the 1st Division and his chief of staff Frederick Sykes took up command in his stead. However, Henderson did not spend long commanding the 1st Infantry Division. The decision to post Henderson and replace him with Sykes was not to Lord Kitchener's liking, and he ordered a reversal of the appointments. On 20 December 1914, Henderson resumed command of the Royal Flying Corps in the Field and Sykes was once again his chief of staff. In 1915 Henderson returned to London to resume his London-based duties as director-general of military aeronautics, which Sefton Brancker had been performing in his absence. This meant that when, in 1917, General Jan Smuts was writing his review of the British Air Services, Henderson was well placed to assist. While 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. Trenchard himself believed that Henderson deserved the accolade. He sat on the government's "Advisory Committee for Aeronautics", located at the National Physical Laboratory, under the chairmanship of Richard Glazebrook and presidency of John Strutt, Lord Rayleigh. In January 1918, Henderson