With Greg’s training now over, he is deemed ready for active service. His diary begins today with the receipt of orders to report to the Air Board in London.
Wednesday May 29th. Winchester. Received orders to report to Air Board on following morning before 12. Left Winchester by 8.30 train. Stayed at Officers YMCA.
Air Board
Greg refers to the ‘Air Board’, which in different incarnations in 1916 and 1917 had striven to co-ordinate the flying activities of the Army (the Royal Flying Corps) and the Royal Navy (the RNAS), with varying degrees of success.
But in January 1918 the duties of the Air Board had in fact been taken over by the newly formed Air Ministry, which directed the affairs of the nascent Royal Air Force:
The Air Ministry was created in January 1918 to oversee the birth in April 1918 of the Royal Air Force from the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service. The organisation was broadly similar to that of the Admiralty and the War Office, with a Secretary of State chairing the Air Council and the senior RAF member holding the post of Chief of the Air Staff.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/49053/history_of_mod.pdf
But whatever the formal position, no doubt it was still referred to as the ‘Air Board’ by those summoned to appear before them.
Officers YMCA
It may seem odd that the YMCA makes this appearance in Greg’s diary, but as Emma Hanna of the University of Kent explains:
The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was established in London in 1844 as a prayer and bible study group. At the outbreak of war the YMCA turned its pastoral experience to providing support for servicemen. By October 1914, 400 large marquees had been erected in Britain, and public appeals were launched to fund the building of large wooden huts to provide rest and recreational facilities.
…by 1918 over 1,117,000 officers and men could be accommodated in YMCA hostels in London.
Hanna, Emma: Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, et al., issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2015-01-29. DOI: 10.15463/ie1418.10544.
Quite possibly the YMCA that Greg stayed in was the hut in Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1:
