Henderson, David (British Army officer)

David Y. Henderson (b. Aug. 11, 1862, Glasgow, Scotland-d. Aug. 17, 1921, Geneva, Switzerland), Lieutenant General in the British Army, Royal Air Force, was the first commander of the Royal Flying Corps in the field and instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force as an independent service. He was commissioned into the British Army in 1882, was a member of the Nile Expedition of 1898, and was wounded during the Boer War. In 1901 he was appointed Director of Military Intelligence. At the age of 49, General Henderson learned to fly and was appointed the first director of a new Department of Military Aeronautics. With the outbreak of World War I, he took up command of the Royal Flying Corps. After the armistice, he served as a military counselor during the Paris Peace Conference, and then became Director-General of the League of Red Cross Societies in Geneva.