Since July of 1918, three men have been continually on duty in New York City, under the direction of an officer of the Royal Air Force, to supervise the discipline of airmen when on leave in that city.
In the above connection it will be seen that considering the many thousands of men on the strength of the brigade, the staff of the A.P.M. was extremely small. No better evidence could be given of the excellent discipline and behavior of the Force.
[ROYAL ENGINEERS’ SECTION.]
Early in 1917 two engineer officers were appointed to the staff of the Officer Commanding, R.F.C., Canada, for technical duty in the selection of aerodrome sites and construction work generally. The former occupied the initial period of their service, but with the enlargement of the Corps came the necessity of a Royal Engineers section to deal with affairs of maintenance and repair. It was considered that the best results would be secured by posting detachments of this unit to various stations, etc., to which, under an R.E. non-commissioned officer, they were attached for discipline, pay, rations, etc.
Under these arrangements, the R.E. section carried out its obligations until the end of August, 1918, when on account of the shortage of men who were both of military age and of required trades, it was decided that the maintenance work performed up to this time by the various subdivisions of the R.E. section, should be taken over by the construction section of the Aviation Department of the Imperial Munitions Board.
The method of carrying out maintenance work was thus changed, but the responsibility for inspection and general supervision still devolved upon the headquarters branch of the R.E. section. The strength of the latter was reduced from an authorized establishment of 135 to a staff of four officers, four or five draughtsmen and a sufficient number of clerks. The duty performed by the unit still covered, as before, the general design of all buildings whether technical, instructional or barracks, coöperation with the construction section of the Munitions Board in the securing of service of water, power, light, etc., and, in general, such responsibilities as fall upon a firm of consulting engineers. To these must be added the fact that this section was responsible to the General Officer Commanding, and acted as technical go-between and adviser between him and the Munitions Board in all constructional and in many technical matters.
