Early air power could not replace cross-Channel sea control

If a state controlled the sea, could early air power remove the need for a large army to resist an invasion?

No. Early aircraft lacked the payload, range, and survivability to move an army across the Channel, and simple landing-field defences could defeat the concept.

Air power changed this problem later, rather than at the beginning of the aviation era. Early aircraft had very limited range, payload, and carrying capacity, so moving an army across the Channel would require thousands of vulnerable flights. Poles and wires across likely landing fields could deny the few suitable arrival points. Air power therefore did not immediately erase the Royal Navy's strategic role in stopping a cross-Channel invasion.