Ian Dougald McLachlan

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Ian Dougald McLachlan
North-Eastern Area Command (1951–53)
Training Command
(1957–59)
Supply & Equipment Branch (1964–68)
Battles/warsWorld War II
Awards
Mentioned in Despatches
Other workConsultant, Northrop

CBE, DFC (23 July 1911 – 14 July 1991) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Born in Melbourne, he was a cadet at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, before joining the Air Force in December 1930. After serving in instructional and general flying roles, he took command of No. 3 Squadron in December 1939, leading it into action in the Middle East less than a year later. Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, he returned to Australia in 1942 to command air bases in Canberra and Melbourne. The following year he was posted to the South West Pacific, where he led successively Nos. 71 and 73 Wings. Having been promoted to group captain, he took charge of Southern Area Command in 1944, and No. 81 Wing in the Dutch East Indies
the following year.

Raised to acting

Darling Point
, Sydney, until his death in 1991.

Early career

The son of Dugald and Bertha McLachlan, Ian McLachlan was born in the

South Yarra, Victoria, on 23 July 1911.[1][2] Following education at Melbourne High School, he entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1928.[3] He 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 by the Great Depression necessitated the transfer of these cadets out of Duntroon midway through their four-year course.[4][5] 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, apparently "delighted" at the prospect of entering their chosen service early.[4]

Enlisting in the Air Force on 10 December 1930, McLachlan completed his flight training the following year.

Hawker Demon fighters out of RAAF Station Richmond, New South Wales, on 4 December 1939.[7][8] He was promoted to squadron leader on 1 February 1940, and led his unit to the Middle East on 15 July.[7][8]

Combat service

Middle East

Half a dozen or so men looking at a map on the tail unit of a military biplane
Squadron Leader McLachlan (second from right) confers with No. 3 Squadron pilots beside a Gloster Gladiator in Egypt, c. January 1941

Sailing via

North African Campaign, the squadron was equipped with obsolescent Gloster Gladiator biplane fighters and Westland Lysander observation aircraft.[9] As part of his unit's work-up for operations, McLachlan organised training exercises with the 6th Division, as well as written exams to test his men's knowledge of army jargon and air-to-ground communications.[11]

Described by historian Alan Stephens as "acerbic but capable", McLachlan led No. 3 Squadron through the

Fiat CR.42 on 10 December 1940, the same action in which fellow squadron member and future ace Gordon Steege claimed his first "kill".[12] Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Middle East, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore, praised McLachlan and his squadron for their "high morale and adaptability to desert conditions".[13]

McLachlan was awarded the

wing commander, he took charge of the newly established RAF Benina, Benghazi, on 13 February, handing over No. 3 Squadron to Squadron Leader Peter Jeffrey.[18] By May 1941, McLachlan was acting as RAAF Liaison Officer for the new Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, RAF Middle East, Air Marshal Arthur Tedder. The Air Board in Melbourne, chaired by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett, was not consulted over this change of role and took exception to the RAF's "unilateral action" in appointing McLachlan, but eventually acquiesced and permitted him to remain at the post to coordinate facilities for RAAF personnel in the region until July, when he was recalled to Australia.[19][20]

South West Pacific

In 1942 McLachlan took command of

P-40 Kittyhawks), No. 77 Squadron (Kittyhawks), and No. 100 Squadron (Bristol Beauforts). It came under the control of No. 9 Operational Group, the RAAF's "premier fighting unit" in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA), whose purpose was to act as a mobile strike force in support of advancing Allied troops.[22][23] In March the Beauforts took part in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, "the decisive aerial engagement" in the SWPA according to General Douglas MacArthur, though they were unable to score any hits against Japanese ships.[24][25]

Two men in military uniforms conversing at a desk in a wooden hut
Group Captain McLachlan (left) with Group Captain Bill Garing at Port Moresby, New Guinea, c. 1943

By June 1943, McLachlan had been promoted group captain and given command of No. 73 Wing. He established his headquarters at Goodenough Island, where he was responsible for organising the wing into a fighter formation consisting of No. 76 Squadron (Kittyhawks), No. 77 Squadron (Kittyhawks) and No. 79 Squadron (Spitfires). As well as providing local air defence, and fighter escort for Australian bombers, the Kittyhawks were armed with incendiary and general-purpose bombs so that they could engage in ground attack missions, a practice that had already been employed by Commonwealth forces in the Middle Eastern theatre.[26] In August, the wing transferred to Kiriwina, and No. 9 Group's other combat formation, No. 71 Wing, took over responsibility for Goodenough.[27][28] Appointed senior air staff officer (SASO) at No. 9 Group, McLachlan handed over command of No. 73 Wing to Wing Commander Gordon Steege in October 1943.[3][29] Towards the end of his posting to No. 9 Group, McLachlan told its former commander, Air Commodore Joe Hewitt, that the USAAF was "leaping ahead" of the RAAF, which was being left to "clean up the remnants" of Japanese resistance. He feared that Australian fighter pilots especially would be "increasingly restless if the Americans took all the fighting plums". Barely a year later, morale among senior RAAF fighter pilots had dropped to such an extent that eight of them tried to resign their commissions in the so-called "Morotai Mutiny".[30]

In March 1944, McLachlan took charge of

Mentioned in despatches on 9 March 1945 for his "gallant and distinguished service",[33][34] McLachlan returned to action in the South-West Pacific as commander of No. 81 Wing, which comprised Nos. 76, 77 and 82 Squadrons, operating Kittyhawks.[7][35] As part of the Australian First Tactical Air Force in the Dutch East Indies, the wing was slated to take part in Operation Oboe One, the Battle of Tarakan, in May but was unable to relocate from Noemfoor to its new base on Morotai in time. It fought in Operation Oboe Six, the invasion of Labuan, from June and was based on the island when the Pacific War ended in August 1945.[36][37]

Post-war career

Three-quarter informal portrait of four men in military uniforms with slouch hats in front of a military aircraft
McLachlan (second from left) with pilots of No. 81 Wing at Labuan, North Borneo, in September 1945

Following the end of hostilities, McLachlan volunteered to serve with the

Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1954 New Year's Honours,[44] McLachlan was posted to Britain for three years, first attending the Imperial Defence College, London, and then serving as RAF Director of Flying Training at the Air Ministry during 1955–56. Raised to air vice-marshal, he returned to Australia in 1957 to become Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Training Command in Melbourne.[3]

As AOC Training Command, McLachlan undertook two reviews that would have, according to the official history of the post-war RAAF, "a significant effect on the Air Force of the 1960s".

Operational Command.[45]

Camouflaged variable-geometry aircraft in flight
F-111C swing-wing bomber, twenty-four of which were ordered while Air Vice Marshal McLachlan was attaché in Washington, DC. From the start he harboured doubts that the aircraft would be delivered on time and within budget.

McLachlan was appointed

Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1966 New Year's Honours, the citation noting particularly his chairmanship of the two "historic" committees that reorganised RAAF College and the Air Force's command structure in the late 1950s.[50][51] The use of electronic data processing became more widespread during McLachlan's tenure as AMSE, and by 1968 the RAAF's supply system had been computerised.[52]

Later life

McLachlan completed his term as Air Member for Supply and Equipment on 23 July 1968 and retired from the RAAF; he was divorced from his wife the same year.

Darling Point, Ian McLachlan died on 14 July 1991.[3][54]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Howie, Who's Who in Australia 1992, p. 793
  2. ^ Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force, p. 110
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Air Vice-Marshals (L–Z)". Royal Australian Air Force. Archived from the original on 1 June 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  4. ^ a b c Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, pp. 196–197
  5. ^ Moore, Duntroon, pp. 64–65
  6. ^ a b "McLachlan, Ian Dougald". World War 2 Nominal Roll. Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Air Vice Marshal Ian Dougald McLachlan". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  8. ^ a b Roylance, Air Base Richmond, p.123
  9. ^ a b c Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p. 80
  10. ^ Herington, Air War Against Germany and Italy, p. 57
  11. ^ Herington, Air War Against Germany and Italy, p. 100
  12. ^ Thomas, Gloster Gladiator Aces, pp. 44–46
  13. ^ "Fighter Operations – North Africa and the Middle East". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  14. ^ "Recommendation: Distinguished Flying Cross". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  15. ^ "No. 35073". The London Gazette. 11 February 1941. p. 831.
  16. ^ "Duntroon". RAAF News. Vol. 10, no. 8. September 1968. p. 2.
  17. ^ "Tribute to RAAF". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 21 August 1941. p. 4. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  18. ^ Herington, Air War Against Germany and Italy, p. 70
  19. ^ Herington, Air War Against Germany and Italy, p. 98
  20. ^ Herington, Air War Against Germany and Italy, pp. 112–113, 120
  21. ^ No. 71 Wing, "Operations Record Book", p. 1
  22. ^ a b Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 23–24, 35
  23. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 122–123
  24. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 160–165
  25. ^ Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 690–692
  26. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 33–36
  27. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, p. 69
  28. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, p. 124
  29. ^ "Air Commodore Gordon Henry Steege". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  30. ^ Stephens, Power Plus Attitude, p. 71
  31. ^ Ashworth, How Not to Run an Air Force, pp. 301–304
  32. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 140–141
  33. ^ "Recommendation: Mentioned in Despatches". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  34. ^ "No. 36975". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 March 1945. p. 1326.
  35. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, p. 249
  36. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, p. 299
  37. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 466–473
  38. ^ "Item OG3467". Australian War Memorial. Archived from the original on 23 September 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  39. ^ Legge, Who's Who in Australia 1968, p. 573
  40. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p. 213
  41. ^ Stephens, Power Plus Attitude, p. 108
  42. ^ "Canberra". RAAF Museum. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  43. ^ "New postings in RAAF". The Canberra Times. Canberra: National Library of Australia. 8 September 1951. p. 6. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  44. ^ "No. 40054". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1954. p. 40.
  45. ^ a b Stephens, Going Solo, p. 78
  46. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p. 188
  47. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, p. 376
  48. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, p. 500
  49. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp. 66, 76, 140
  50. ^ "No. 43855". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1966. p. 37.
  51. ^ "Queen honours 20". RAAF News. Vol. 8, no. 1. January–February 1966. p. 4.
  52. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp. 185–186
  53. ^ Stephens, Power Plus Attitude, p. 149
  54. ^ Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p. 523

References

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