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10the formation of the RAAF on 31 March 1921 the service had 151 aircraft on charge, the vast majority, 124, being Imperial Gift aircraft.9 The gift was indeed a generous recompense for Australia%u2019s wartime loyalty. It was also, of course, a shrewd and self8interested attempt to achieve exactly the purpose it did achieve, ie the establishment of a dominion8based air force able to take on some responsibility for defence in a distant part of the British Empire. Without it, it must be legitimate to doubt that there would have been an independent RAAF at all. There were, however, some downsides to the gift. The first, and most obvious, was that it was limited to certain types of aircraft, some already obsolescent. Australia was given the opportunity to bid for seven types, but these were all essentially bomber, fighter or trainer aircraft and given Australia%u2019s geo8strategic position, it also needed maritime aircraft. Through the gift%u2019s imposition of limitations on the types of aircraft it acquired the infant RAAF was unbalanced from the start, and this retarding influence on maritime aviation undermined Maguire%u2019s rationale for creating a separate service and played its part in fostering the RAN%u2019s increasingly hostile attitude in the early years. The second limitation of the gift stemmed from its very generosity. By providing in essence a ready8made small scale air force, it allowed the Australian government to indulge in a modicum of benign neglect and budgetary frugality. The relatively small RAAF did not have a sufficiently powerful voice to bring pressure to bear on the government, and was, like its sister service on the other side of the globe, frequently too busy defending its very existence. All in all, however, there can be little doubt that the Imperial Gift gave the RAAF a fair wind at a time when economic storms might have capsized it at the start of its voyage. Let us now turn to another problem for the RAAF in its early years, namely its ability to provide a senior staff to run the service. Richard Williams, at the time a 28 year old lieutenant colonel, was soon to become the Director Air Services and subsequently first air member of the Air Board. His appointment owed much to Trenchard, who in response to enquiries from the Australian Defence Minister recommended that Australia keep a separate air service and proposed Williams as a suitable Director.10 Williams initially held the rank of wing commander but had no direct access to ministers and was