Writing History in the Royal Australian Air Force

Alan Stephens'

Writing history in the Royal Australian Air Force is, in relative terms, currently thriving. That is not to suggest that previously the RAAF has ignored its past. On the contrary, the admirable official histories by F. M. Cutlack, Douglas Gillison, John Herington, George Odgers and Robert ONeill demonstrate that the Air Force has paid due attention to recording its wartime activities.2 It is a measure of the support the RAAF gave to those authors and the Australian War Memorial that, decades later, the official histories remain highly authoritative. It is difficult to imagine writing on the RAAF without using those references.

In general, though, until the late 1980s the great majority of other works on the RAAF were the result of individual and unofficial efforts. The notable exception is the contribution of George Odgers, whose long association with the Air Force has been primarily on an official basis as a member of the War History Section and in public relations. Harry Raper's biography of Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Scherger was also facilitated by his service in the RAAF and Defence public relations.3 While Odgers' books in particular represent a major contribution, the official works still amount to only a small proportion of the total output.

Three events occurred between 1986 and 1989 which significantly increased the official support given by the Air Force to examining and recording its history, and which in turn should encourage even greater private activity. First, in 1986, the then Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal J. W. Newham, approved the introduction of the RAWS Annual Heritage Awards. Prizes are awarded in three categories: Literature, Art, and Photography, with up to $5,000 being given to winners in the first two categories and $2,000 for the latter. The subject matter in each category must relate to an RAAF unit, aircraft, person, event or era. Entries have to be submitted by 31 January in the year the awards are decided, with the results being announced to coincide with the RAAF anniversary of 31 March.

Manuscripts for the literature category are required to be between 45,000 and 55,000 words. The winning book is published by the RAAF Museum. Five literary awards have been made to date, covering a variety of subjects. The first winner in 1988 was about No. 305 Radar Station during the Pacific war, while others have addressed the RAAF Mirage story, operations in the Antarctic, the career of Group Captain Gerald Packer, and Beaufighters over New Guinea.

The second event was the decision taken by the Chief of the Air Staff Advisory Committee in late 1987 to commission an author to write a history of the RAAF between the wars, a period about which very little had been recorded. A permanent position for an historian was established within the Office of the Chief of the Air Staff, to which Dr Chris Coulthard-Clark was appointed. At least three benefits can be identified from that process. First, the book which resulted, entitled The Third Brother, and which was launched on the RAWS 70th anniversary in 1991, was a major contribution to Air Force history.4 Second,

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by appointing one of Australia’s leading military historians to its staff, the RAM: clearly signalled its support for the study of its past. The end result was always likely to have bolh scholarly and popular appeal. Finally, it was inevitable that the decision formally to support the study of history through one specific activity would generate participation in other activities, such as lectures, journal articles, conferences, and so on. That is precisely what has happened.

The process of systematically and formally recording the RAMS history will be continued. In 1996 the Air Force will celebrate its 75th anniversary. As a contribution to that event, I have been commissioned to write the history of the RAAF from 1946 to 1972. That book will continue the sequence established by The Third Brother (1921- 1938) and the official histories of World War I1 (1939-1945). The new book will emphasise organisational, force structure, planning and personnel issues, as the main operations - the Korean, Malayan and second Indo-China Wars - either have been or are being addressed by the official history unit of the Australian War Memorial. The cut- off date of 1972 coincides with the withdrawal of the RAAF from Vietnam. While falling within the thirty-year archival rule, 1972 is sufficiently distant to ease some of the access problems for closed documents.

The third and final significant event was the establishment in September 1989 of the Air Power Studies Centre at Canberra at the direction of the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal R. G. Funnell. While the Centre’s prime responsibility is to develop, analyse and coordinate RAM air power studies and doctrine5 - a role which emphasises current issues and strategic studies much more than past events - the promotion of Air Force history is an important secondary function. As the present Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal I. B. Gration, noted at a conference in October 1992, history is the basic currency of suategic studies and doctrine.

In the three years of its existence, the Air Power Studies Centre has been directly associated with the production and publication of five books and numerous articles and working papers on RAAF history. The Centre’s staff have also assisted authors with projects, such as unit histories. Support there comes primarily from the two civilian historians, Dr Coulthard-Clark and myself, with some assistance from the three permanent uniformed members.

For example, two significant projects with which the Centre is currently associatcd are histories of Nos 1 and 2 Squadrons, each of which is being prepared by a serving offiiccr. The Centre has also permitted the secondment of Dr Coulthard-Clark to the official history team of the Australian War Memorial, to write the volume on the R A M S involvement in Vietnam.

Another important initiative taken by the Air Power Studies Centre was to arrange the inaugural RAAF History Conference in October 1992. Held in the theatre of the National Library of Australia, the conference examined the topic of “The Office of the Chief of the Air Staff”, and was attended by over 200 people. A feature was the papers presented by three former chiefs, Air Marshals S. D. Evans, J. W. Newham and R. G. Funnell. The proceedings were published early in 1993. In my opinion they add a great deal to the understanding of Australian defence planning from 1982 to 1992.

The date and topic for the 1993 conference was 14 October, “The RAAF in the Southwest Pacific Area”. The conference was held at the theatre of the Australian War Memorial.

My focus on the Air Power Studies Centre should not be at the expense of other, longer-established organisations. I imagine that anyone who has researched Air Force activities ha.. at some stage found his or her way to the RAAF Historical Section in “A” Block at Russell Offices. That Section is an invaluable repository of unit histories,

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commanding officers' reports, Air Board records, aircraft accident reports and the like. Because of limited space and resources, prior contact with the Section is necessary before using its records.

Let me conclude with a brief outline of the other main sources of archival records for anyone wishing to write on the RAAF. In addition to the RAAF Historical Section, the other major repositories in Canberra are the Australian Archives at Mitchell, the Australian War Memorial, and the National Library. The RAAF Museum at Point Cook, near Melbourne, also holds some valuable written and photographic material. Researchers into unit and operational histories should get sufficient good information from those four organisations to do a sound job, especially if they complement their documents with oral history.

Research into policy and higher strategy is, however, a more expensive proposition. Because of the subordination of RAAF commanders and policy to the Royal Air Force in Europe and Malaya, to the United States Army Air Force in the Southwest Pacific Area,6 and to the United States Air Force in Korea and Vietnam, it is necessary to travel to either or both the UK and the USA if strategy and policy is one's interest. In the UK, the key centres are the Public Record Office, the Royal Air Force Museum, the Royal Air Force Staff College and the Imperial War Museum, all in the London area. The best source in the USA is the Centre for Air Force History at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington. The National Archives and the Library of Congress can also be useful. Most of the material at Bolling is available on microfilm at the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, which has in addition an excellent air power library.

To summarise, the R A M today is paying more attention to studying, writing and promoting its history than ever before. It is achieving that with limited but well-placed resources. If the existing commitment is maintained, the outlook for discussing and recording Air Force history is encouraging.

Notes

Dr Alan Stephens is a senior research fellow at the RAAF Air Power Studies Centre in Canberra. His most recent book is Power Plus Attitude: Ideas, Strategy and Doctrine in the Royal Australian Air Force, 1921-1991 (Canberra: AGPS, 1992). He is a former RAAF pilot. See F. M. Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1984); Douglas Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939-1942 (Canberra: AWM, 1962); John Herington, Air Power Over Europe 1944-1945 (Canberra: AWM, 1963); John Ilerington, Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943 (Canberra: AWM, 1954); George Odgers, Air War Against Japan 1943-1945 (Canberra: AWM, 1957); and Robert O'Neill, Australia in the Korean War 1950-1953, Vols I and II (Canberra: AWM, 1981 and 1985). Harry Rayner, Scherger (Canberra: AWM, 1984). In addition to his official volume on the second world war, George Odgers has published on the RAAF in Korea and Vietnam, as well as producing a number of general histories. C. D. Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1991). See RAAF, AAP 1000, The Air Power Manual (Canbema: Air Power Studies Centre, 1990). The United States Air Force (USAF) was not formed as a separate service until 1947. During World War JI, the majority of US air power was exercised by the Unit%- States A m y Air Force (USAAF), which, as its name indicates, was a component of the army.