Alister Murdoch

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Sir Alister Murdoch
North-Western Area Command (1944–1945)
First Tactical Air Force (1945)
Commands heldNo. 1 AOS (1940–1941)
No. 221 Squadron RAF (1941–1942)
RAAF College (1952–1953)
Training Command (1953–1956)
Operational Command (1962–1965)
Chief of the Air Staff (1965–1969)
Battles/warsWorld War II
Mentioned in Despatches

Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Training Command from 1953 to 1955, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff from 1958 to 1959, and AOC Operational Command
from 1962 to 1965.

As AOC Training Command in 1954, Murdoch headed a program to determine aircraft purchases for the RAAF; his recommendations included the

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966, Murdoch was the fourth in a series of CASs who had been cadets at the Royal Military College, Duntroon
. He retired from the Air Force in December 1969 and died in 1984.

Early career

Portrait of eleven men in military uniforms with peaked caps, seven standing and four seated
Cadet Murdoch (far right) with other former students of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, transferred to the RAAF in December 1930

Alister Murray Murdoch was born on 9 December 1912 in

major general).[3][4] Alister was one of four cadets sponsored that year by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), which did not at that stage have its own officer training college. Budgetary constraints imposed during the Great Depression necessitated the transfer of these cadets out of Duntroon midway through their four-year course.[5][6] Although offered positions in the Australian Public Service or nominations for short-term commissions with the Royal Air Force, all were determined to serve with the RAAF and were more than pleased with the prospect of entering their chosen service early.[5]

Murdoch enlisted in the Air Force on 10 December 1930, and completed his pilot training the following year.

Flying Officer Murdoch was selected to join an RAAF rescue mission for explorer Lincoln Ellsworth and his pilot, Herbert Hollick-Kenyon, who were presumed lost while journeying across the Antarctic. Flying a de Havilland Gipsy Moth, Murdoch located Hollick-Kenyon near the Bay of Whales.[8] Hollick-Kenyon led the search party to Ellsworth, who protested that he was not lost and did not need rescuing.[9] Murdoch was posted to England in 1936–37 to undertake a course in long navigation at RAF Manston and serve on attachment with No. 114 Squadron.[4][10] Returning to Australia, he married Florence Miller on 27 December 1937; the couple had a daughter.[7][11] Murdoch spent the next two years on the staff of the Directorate of Operations and Intelligence at Air Force Headquarters, Melbourne.[4][10] In June 1938, he helped inaugurate RAAF instruction in long navigation with a nine-month course in the discipline.[12]

World War II

Informal half portrait of man in dark military uniform with forage cap
Murdoch preparing to embark overseas, June 1941

Ranked

Middle East, where it carried out anti-submarine and maritime strike operations.[3][13] He also served as staff officer operations with No. 235 Wing RAF. Back in London in July 1942, Murdoch was assigned to Combined Operations Headquarters, where he assisted in planning the Dieppe Raid before returning to Australia in 1943.[3]

Promoted to

mentioned in despatches for his "distinguished service" in the role.[15][16] He was posted as SASO to the Australian First Tactical Air Force (No. 1 TAF) in April 1945, replacing Group Captain William Gibson after the latter's dismissal in the wake of the "Morotai Mutiny", when the threatened resignations of eight of the RAAF's leading fighter aces caused a crisis in the formation's leadership.[17][18] Delegated operational responsibility by No. 1 TAF's new commander, Air Commodore Frederick Scherger, Murdoch received much of the credit for the planning of the RAAF's role in Operation Oboe Six, the invasion of Labuan.[4][19] He accompanied Scherger ashore on the afternoon of the landings on 10 June 1945.[20] Murdoch was also praised for his staff work during Operation Oboe Two, the Battle of Balikpapan, in July.[3][4]

Post-war career

Rise to Chief of the Air Staff

Murdoch was appointed a

Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Training Command.[3][10]

Side view of a single-engined, twin-boomed military jet parked in front of a building
Australian-built Vampire T35; sixty-nine were delivered to the RAAF following Murdoch's recommendation for a jet trainer in 1954

In 1954, Murdoch led a mission to examine potential new fighter, bomber, transport, and training aircraft for the RAAF, following a shift in defence funding towards the Air Force.

Bankstown, New South Wales.[26]

Murdoch was seconded to the

Queen's Birthday Honours.[31]

Chief of the Air Staff and Vietnam

Air Marshal Murdoch led the RAAF through the build-up of Australia's commitment to the

Sir John Wilton, over the latter's recommendation in mid-1965 to deploy two UH-1 Iroquois helicopters to Vietnam. Wilton believed that both services would benefit from gaining familiarisation with air/ground operations in the region before the large-scale commitment of Australian forces. Murdoch dismissed the idea on resourcing grounds, despite the fact that two thirds of the RAAF's UH-1 complement had been purchased for the express purpose of army cooperation.[32]
He further contended that helicopter operations in Malaysia had afforded the RAAF sufficient experience in the type of conditions they might face in Vietnam, though Australia's senior UH-1 pilot at the time considered that the former theatre offered "little if any hostile opposition, and there was none of the insertion and extraction of
SAS patrols which was to become such an important part of the RAAF's Vietnam operations".[33] Air Commodore Brian Eaton, as Director-General of Operational Requirements, advised Murdoch that if the Air Force did not more fully satisfy the ground support requirements of the Army, then the Army itself would seek to take control of this sphere of operations, undermining the RAAF's position as the main provider of Australia's air power.[34] Murdoch's reluctance to deploy the helicopters was eventually overridden by the Australian government, and No. 9 Squadron's UH-1s were in action in Vietnam less than a year later. When Murdoch visited the combat zone himself in August 1966, he was informed by Brigadier David Jackson that the squadron was not performing the role the Army expected of it.[32]

As early as 1965 the Army had signalled its thoughts on the desirability of helicopter support for 1RAR in Vietnam and received a cold rebuff from the RAAF. The Chief of Air Staff at the time, Air Marshal Murdoch, may have been justified in terms of resource allocation for the stance he took, but the terms in which he rejected the Army's suggestion were tactless at best.

Chris Coulthard-Clark, military historian[35]

Wilton's successor as CGS, Lieutenant General

V/STOL fixed-wing aircraft like the Harrier jump jet, which he thought would open a "new era in close support aircraft".[36] In the event, the Federal government earmarked eleven AH-1G HueyCobras for purchase in 1971, though the deal never went ahead due to Australia's withdrawal from South East Asia.[37][38] Murdoch's failure to appreciate the need for cooperation with land forces has been blamed for fostering long-running enmity between the services, which twenty years later would contribute to the government's decision to transfer the RAAF's battlefield helicopters to the Army.[4][32] Air Force historian Alan Stephens contended that despite Murdoch's "competence" and "good mind", his "comprehension of air power in its fullest sense and handling of inter-service politics were respectively inadequate and disastrous ... A generation of lieutenant-colonels and majors had come to believe that the RAAF did not care about army support, and they were to carry that belief into the 1970s and beyond".[39] Murdoch also opposed sending Canberra jet bombers to Vietnam on what were later described in the official post-war history of the RAAF as "misleading" grounds that the type was unsuitable for a low-level strike and close support; their deployment went ahead in April 1967.[40]

In 1963, Australia had selected the F-111 swing-wing bomber as a replacement for the Canberra.[41] Murdoch attended the much-anticipated official hand-over ceremony for the aircraft on 4 September 1968 at Fort Worth, Texas, with Defence Minister Sir Allen Fairhall, US dignitaries, and RAAF F-111 crews. Within eight days a US Navy F-111B crashed, followed by a USAF F-111A twelve days later, creating a "public relations disaster",[42] and contributing to the type's entry into RAAF service being delayed until 1973. In late 1969, Murdoch accompanied Secretary of Defence Sir Henry Bland to the United States to gain assurance of an adequate "safe life" for the F-111's swing-wing mechanism, amid the Australian government giving serious consideration to abandoning the program.[43]

Later life

Murdoch retired from the military on 31 December 1969 after completing his term as CAS, which the government had extended for a further twelve months beyond its original three years.

oilseed-crushing firm that was chaired by World War II fighter ace Nicky Barr.[11][46] Murdoch continued to exercise his interest in Australia's defence after he left the Air Force, joining in 1975 a group of pundits, including retired Air Vice Marshal Ian McLachlan, who promoted augmenting the country's arsenal with nuclear weaponry. He also followed sport, including horse racing.[3] Sir Alister Murdoch died in Mona Vale, New South Wales, on 24 October 1984, and was cremated.[47]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Herington, Air War Against Germany and Italy, p. 152
  2. ISSN 1833-7538
    . Retrieved 8 November 2008.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Dennis et al., The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History, p. 412
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Stephens; Isaacs, High Fliers, pp. 143–146
  5. ^ a b c Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, pp. 196–197
  6. ^ Moore, Duntroon, pp. 64–65
  7. ^ a b c Murdoch, Alister Murray Archived 1 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine at World War 2 Nominal Roll Archived 5 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  8. ^ Wilson, The Brotherhood of Airmen, p. 44
  9. ^ Air Power Development Centre, "The RAAF in Antarctica"
  10. ^ a b c Coulthard-Clark, Air Marshals of the RAAF, p. 7
  11. ^ a b c Draper, Who's Who in Australia 1983, p. 631
  12. ^ Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p. 207
  13. ^ 221 Squadron Archived 6 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine at Royal Air Force. Retrieved 8 November 2008.
  14. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 215–216
  15. ^ Recommendation: Mention in Dispatches at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  16. ^ "No. 37064". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 May 1945. p. 2352.
  17. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 444–450 Archived 18 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, p. 459
  19. ^ Waters, Oboe, p. 199
  20. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 470–471
  21. ^ "No. 37625". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 June 1946. p. 3217.
  22. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp. 202–203
  23. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp. 38–39
  24. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, p. 354
  25. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp. 416–18
  26. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp. 160–161
  27. ^ "No. 41910". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1959. p. 37.
  28. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 259–260
  29. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, p. 278
  30. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp. 320–321
  31. ^ "No. 44005". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 1966. p. 6566.
  32. ^ a b c Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 264–268
  33. ^ Stephens, Power Plus Attitude, p. 131
  34. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp. 317–318
  35. ^ Coulthard-Clark, "The Australian Experience of Land/Air Operations: Vietnam"
  36. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, p. 299
  37. ^ Coulthard-Clark, The RAAF in Vietnam, pp. 182–183
  38. ^ Parnell; Lynch, Australia Air Force Since 1911, p. 176
  39. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp. 321–322
  40. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp. 300–301
  41. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 285–288
  42. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp. 380–381
  43. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp. 381–389
  44. ^ "New Chief of Naval Staff named". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney. 27 October 1967. p. 1. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  45. ^ Coulthard-Clark, The RAAF in Vietnam, pp. 79–80
  46. ^ Dornan, Nicky Barr, pp. 273–274
  47. ^ Thomson, D. S. "Sir Alister Murray Murdoch (1912–1984)". Murdoch, Sir Alister Murray (1912–1984). National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)

References

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Military offices
Preceded by Air Officer Commanding HQ Operational Command
1962–1965 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chief of the Air Staff
1965–1969
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