Major Robert Smith-Barry revolutionised British flight training during World War One and has been honoured with a blue plaque at the Alverbank Hotel, Stokes Bay Road in Gosport, Hampshire, the hotel having served as the officers' mess for Gosport aerodrome. Gosport Aviation Society organised the commemoration on April 9. It was at Gosport that Smith-Barry devised a system of pilot training that is still in use today. He also invented the Gosport Tube, which enabled instructor and trainee to communicate via a rubber tube without having to shout. He had earned his wings on the first course held at the Central Flying School at Upavon, Wiltshire, in 1912.
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