Page:Admirals of the British Navy.djvu/52

 XI COMMODORE GODFREY M. PAINE, C.B., M.V.O. C OMMODORE GODFREY MARSHALL PAINE, C.B., M.V.O., was born in 1871 and entered the Navy in 1885, becoming a Lieutenant on August 23rd, 1893, after service in the Royal Yacht. On December 3ist, 1903, he became a Commander, and was in the " Renown " during the voyage of the Prince and Princess of Wales to India, October, 1905, to May, 1906. On June 3Oth, 1907, he became a Captain. From June, 1909, to June, 1911, he commanded the Third Torpedo Boat Destroyer Flotilla. From August, 1911, to May, 1912, he was Captain of H.M.S. ' Actaeon," the Torpedo School Ship at Sheerness, then the Head- quarters of the infant Naval Air Service. He gained the pilot's certificate of the Royal Aero Club in May, 1912, flying a Short biplane, and before the end of the month became first Commandant of the Central Flying School, Salisbury Plain. This School, inaugurated in 1912, was open to both Naval and Military aviators, and was, in consequence, an institution demanding special qualifications from the Officer in command. The new experiment proved a complete success under Captain Paine. In 1915 Captain Paine became a Commodore (First Class), and in 1917 he was appointed Director of Naval Air Service and Fifth Sea Lord. The skill, versatility and usefulness of the Naval Air Service have rivalled those of the military airmen. The naval airmen have had to discover their true role and make their traditions. When their