Page 37 - Australian Defence Magazine November 2021

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ALTHOUGH officially formed in 31 March 1921 as the Aus- tralian Air Force – the ‘Royal’ prefix was approved by King George V the following August – this auspicious occasion did not mark the beginning of military flying in Australia.
That was in March 1914 when a Bristol Boxkite and Deper- dussin were test flown at Point Cook on the shores of Victoria’s Port Phillip Bay. These flights were the first conducted by the recently established Australian Flying Corps
Later incorporated into the Royal Flying Corps, the Half Flight was followed by a number of AFC squadrons in Egypt, Palestine, France and Britain. Australians who flew with RFC units included some who would later become household names in aviation including Charles Kingsford Smith, Bert Hinkler, Hudson Fysh, Lawrence Wackett, Ross Smith and P G Taylor.
(AFC), which like its British counterpart (the Royal Flying Corps) was part of the Army and its personnel carried Army ranks.
Investigations into the establishment of an Australian aviation corps had begun as early as 1910 and in early 1911 a Bris- tol Boxkite was demonstrated to Army of- ficials. In December of the same year an advertisement was placed in the Common- wealth Gazette calling for “the appointment of two competent mechanists and aviators.”
“INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN AUSTRALIAN AVIATION CORPS HAD BEGUN AS EARLY AS 1910 AND IN EARLY 1911 A BRISTOL BOXKITE WAS DEMONSTRATED TO ARMY OFFICIALS”
A total of 460 officers and 2,234 other ranks served with the AFC in World War I, along with another 200 pilots and observ- ers who flew with other flying services.
DECLINE AND REBUILDING
After WWI, the AFC was disbanded and replaced with the temporary Australian Air Corps, still controlled by the Army. This period witnessed a virtual end to military flying in Australia apart from the activities of the Central Flying School at Point Cook.
Two BE.2A biplanes and two Deperdus-
sin monoplanes were ordered in mid-1912
and in August Lt H A Petrie was appointed Australia’s first military aviator. In September 1912 the formation of the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) and Central Flying School (CFS) was approved and in December a Bristol Boxkite was ordered.
Point Cook was then selected as the site for the CFS and the first four students – all Army officers – began train- ing in August 1914, just two weeks after the start of World War I. Lt Richard Williams was the first to qualify for his wings the following November and he went on to become the RAAF’s first Chief of Air Staff, a post he held on three separate occasions during his long and illustrious career.
INTO BATTLE
The AFC was the only Commonwealth air arm to see active service during World War I, beginning in 1915 with the estab- lishment of the Half Flight in Mesopotamia (Iraq) in response to a request from the Indian Government for assistance.
Plans to establish a permanent air force continued and in September 1920 Prime Minister Billy Hughes announced that an independent air arm would be established as part of Australia’s armed forces. A sum of £500,000 ($1,000,000) was granted and the Australian Air
Force formally came into being on 31 March 1921.
At that point the AAF was in the remarkable situation of having more aeroplanes than personnel! Manpower strength comprised 21 officers and 130 other ranks whilst the number of aircraft on strength was 157. Most of these were 128 ‘Imperial Gift’ aircraft from Britain – DH.9A bombers, DH.9 army co-operation aircraft, SE.5A fighters and Avro 504K trainers. Point Cook remained the RAAF’s
only flying base in those very early days.
ABOVE: The RAAF entered the new world of modern, high technology, multi-role fighters in 1985 with the arrival of the F/A-18 Hornet, the service’s
first computer-driven ‘electric jet’.
NIGEL PITTAWAY