Richard Williams (RAAF officer)
Sir Richard Williams | |
---|---|
Air Marshal | |
Commands held | No. 1 Squadron AFC (1917–18) 40th Wing RAF (1918–19) Chief of the Air Staff (1922, 1925–32, 1934–39) RAAF Overseas HQ (1941–42) |
Battles/wars | World War I
World War II
|
Awards | Mentioned in Despatches (2) Order of the Nahda (Hejaz) |
Other work | Director-General Civil Aviation (1946–55) |
Williams came from a working-class background in South Australia. He was a lieutenant in the Army when he learned to fly at Point Cook, Victoria, in 1914. As a pilot with the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) in World War I, Williams rose to command No. 1 Squadron AFC, and later 40th Wing RAF. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and finished the war a lieutenant colonel. Afterwards he campaigned for an Australian Air Force run separately to the Army and Navy, which came into being on 31 March 1921.
The fledgling RAAF faced several challenges to its continued existence in the 1920s and early 1930s, and Williams received much of the credit for maintaining its independence, but an adverse report on flying safety standards saw him dismissed from the position of CAS and seconded to the RAF prior to World War II. Despite some support for his reinstatement as Air Force chief, and promotion to air marshal in 1940, he never again led the RAAF. After the war he was forcibly retired along with other World War I veteran officers. He took up the position of Director-General of Civil Aviation in Australia, and was knighted the year before his retirement in 1955.
Early life and career
Williams was born on 3 August 1890 into a working-class family in
In August 1914, Lieutenant Williams took part in Australia's inaugural military flying course at Central Flying School, run by Lieutenants Henry Petre and Eric Harrison. After soloing in a Bristol Boxkite around the airfield at Point Cook, Victoria, Williams became the first student to graduate as a pilot, on 12 November 1914.[5][6] He recalled the school as a "ragtime show" consisting of a paddock, tents, and one large structure: a shed for the Boxkite.[7] Following an administrative and instructional posting, Williams underwent advanced flying training at Point Cook in July 1915. The next month he married Constance Esther Griffiths, who was thirteen years his senior. The couple had no children.[1]
World War I
Williams was promoted
On 5 March 1917, shortly after commencing operations with No. 1 Squadron, Williams narrowly avoided crash-landing when his engine stopped while he was bombing the railway terminus at Tel el Sheria. At first believing that he had been struck by enemy fire, he found that the engine switch outside his cockpit had turned off. Within 500 feet of the ground he was able to switch the engine back on and return to base.[12] On 21 April, Williams landed behind enemy lines to rescue downed comrade Lieutenant Adrian Cole, having the day before pressed home an attack on Turkish cavalry while under "intense anti-aircraft fire"; these two actions earned him the Distinguished Service Order, the citation for which reads:
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. Flying at a low altitude under intense anti-aircraft fire, he attacked and dispersed enemy troops who were concentrating on our flank. On another occasion, whilst on a reconnaissance, he landed in the enemy's lines, and rescued a pilot of a machine which had been brought down by hostile fire.[13][14]
He was promoted major in May and given command of No. 1 Squadron, which was re-equipped with Bristol Fighters later that year.[15][16] "Now for the first time," wrote Williams, "after 17 months in the field we had aircraft with which we could deal with our enemy in the air."[16] His men knew him as a teetotaller and non-smoker, whose idea of swearing was an occasional "Darn me!".[17]
In June 1918, Williams was made a
Inter-war years
Birth of the Royal Australian Air Force
Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1919 New Year Honours,[24] Williams served as Staff Officer, Aviation, at Australian Imperial Force (AIF) headquarters in London, before returning to Australia and taking up the position of Director of Air Services at Army Headquarters, Melbourne. The Australian Flying Corps had meanwhile been disbanded and replaced by the Australian Air Corps (AAC) which was, like the AFC, a branch of the Army.[10][25]
Upon establishment of the
As the senior officer of the Air Board, Williams held the title of First Air Member, the nascent Air Force initially not being deemed suitable for a "Chief of Staff" appointment equivalent to the Army and Navy.[30] He moved to consolidate the new service's position by expanding its assets and training. Shortly after the AAF's establishment, land was purchased for an air base at Laverton, eight kilometres (five miles) inland of Point Cook, and in July 1921 Williams made the initial proposal to develop a base at Richmond, New South Wales, the first outside Victoria.[30][31] He also started a program to second students from the Army and Navy, including graduates of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, to bolster officer numbers; candidates reaped by this scheme included future Air Force chiefs John McCauley, Frederick Scherger, Valston Hancock and Alister Murdoch, along with other senior identities such as Joe Hewitt and Frank Bladin.[30] As a leader, Williams would gain a reputation for strong will, absorption in administrative minutiae and, in Alan Stephens' words, a "somewhat puritanical" nature.[25] He became known throughout the service as "Dicky".[1][32][33]
Chief of the Air Staff
The position of First Air Member was replaced by Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) in October 1922. Williams would serve as CAS three times over seventeen years in the 1920s and '30s, alternating with Wing Commander (later Air Vice Marshal) Stanley Goble. One motive suggested for the rotation was a ploy by Army and Navy interests to "curb Williams' independence".[34] Instead the arrangement "almost inevitably fostered an unproductive rivalry" between the two officers.[25] Although in a legal sense the Air Board was responsible for the RAAF rather than the Chief of Staff alone, Williams dominated the board to such an extent that Goble would later complain that his colleague appeared to consider the Air Force his personal command.[35]
Williams spent much of 1923 in England, attending the British Army Staff College in Camberley and RAF Staff College, Andover, followed by further study in Canada and the United States the following year. Goble served as Chief of the Air Staff in his absence. Shortly after his return in February 1925, Williams scuppered a plan by Goble to establish a small seaplane base at Rushcutters Bay in Sydney, instead organising purchase of Supermarine Seagulls, the RAAF's first amphibious aircraft, to be based at Richmond.[36][37] He was promoted to group captain in July and later that year drafted a major air warfare study, "Memorandum Regarding the Air Defence of Australia". Considered prescient in many ways, it treated World War I ally Japan as Australia's main military threat,[36] and advocated inter-service co-operation while maintaining that none of the armed forces was "purely auxiliary to another".[29] Its concepts continue to influence RAAF strategy.[36]
In 1926, Williams mandated the use of
The young Air Force was a small organisation with the atmosphere of a
As CAS, Williams had to contend with serious challenges to the RAAF's continued existence from the Army and Navy in 1929 and 1932, arising from the competing demands for defence funding during the
Williams encouraged the local aircraft industry as a means to further the self-sufficiency of the Air Force and Australian aviation in general. He played a personal part in the creation of the
A series of mishaps with
World War II
When war broke out in September 1939, Williams was
Williams returned to England in October 1941 to set up RAAF Overseas Headquarters, co-ordinating services for the many Australians posted there.[1] He maintained that Australian airmen in Europe and the Mediterranean should serve in RAAF units to preserve their national identity, as per Article XV of the Empire Air Training Scheme, rather than be integrated into RAF squadrons, but in practice most served in British units.[56] Even nominally "RAAF" squadrons formed under the Scheme were rarely composed primarily of Australians, and Williams' efforts to establish a distinct RAAF Group within Bomber Command, similar to the Royal Canadian Air Force's No. 6 Group, did not come to fruition.[57] He was able to negotiate improved conditions for RAAF personnel in Europe, including full Australian pay scales as opposed to the lower RAF rates that were offered initially.[58]
When Air Chief Marshal Burnett completed his term in 1942, Williams was once more considered for the role of CAS. This was vetoed by Prime Minister
Later career
In 1946, Williams was forced into retirement despite being four years below the mandatory age of 60. All other senior RAAF commanders who were veteran pilots of World War I, with the exception of the-then Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Jones, were also dismissed, ostensibly to make way for the advancement of younger officers. Williams regarded the grounds for his removal as "specious", calling it "the meanest piece of service administration in my experience".[34]
Following his completion of duty in the Air Force, Williams was appointed Australia's Director-General of Civil Aviation, serving in the position for almost 10 years. His department was responsible for the expansion of communications and infrastructure to support domestic and international aviation, establishing "an enviable safety record".[1] Williams' tenure coincided with the beginnings of the government carrier Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) and introduction of the Two Airlines Policy,[61] as well as the construction of Adelaide Airport and redevelopment of Sydney Airport as an international facility.[62][63]
Williams' wife Constance died in 1948 and he married Lois Victoria Cross on 7 February 1950.[1] He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1954 New Year Honours,[64] the year before he retired from the Director-Generalship of Civil Aviation. He then took up a place on the board of Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL), forerunner of Air New Zealand.[1] In 1977, Williams published his memoirs, These Are Facts, described in 2001 as "immensely important if idiosyncratic ... the only substantial, worthwhile record of service ever written by an RAAF chief of staff".[25]
Sir Richard Williams died in Melbourne on 7 February 1980. He was accorded an Air Force funeral, with a flypast by seventeen aircraft.[1]
Legacy
The RAAF's greatest achievement in its first eighteen years was ... simply to survive as an independent service ... Many people contributed to that achievement, but none more than Dicky Williams.
Alan Stephens[65]
For his stewardship of the Air Force before World War II, as well as his part in its establishment in 1921, Williams is considered the "father" of the RAAF.[10][25][66] The epithet had earlier been applied to Eric Harrison, who had sole charge of Central Flying School after Henry Petre was posted to the Middle East in 1915, and was also a founding member of the RAAF. By the 1970s, the mantle had settled on Williams.[6] Between the wars he had continually striven for his service's status as a separate branch of the Australian armed forces, seeing off several challenges to its independence from Army and Navy interests.[67] He remains the RAAF's longest-serving Chief, totalling thirteen years over three terms: October to December 1922; February 1925 to December 1932; and June 1934 to February 1939.[68]
In his 1925 paper "Memorandum Regarding the Air Defence of Australia", Williams defined "the fundamental nature of Australia's defence challenge" and "the enduring characteristics of the RAAF's strategic thinking". Ignored by the government of the day, the study's operational precepts became the basis for Australia's defence strategy in the 1980s, which remains in place in the 21st century.[29][36] His input to debate in the 1930s around the "Singapore strategy" of dependence on the Royal Navy for the defence of the Pacific region has been criticised as limited, and as having "failed to demonstrate the validity of his claims for the central role of air power".[66]
Williams' legacy extends to the very look of the RAAF. He personally chose the colour of the Air Force's winter uniform, a shade "somewhere between royal and navy blue", designed to distinguish it from the lighter Royal Air Force shade.[69] Unique at the time among Commonwealth forces, the uniform was changed to an all-purpose middle blue suit in 1972 but following many complaints in the ensuing years reverted to Williams' original colour and style in 2000.[70][71]
Memorials to Williams include Sir Richard Williams Avenue at Adelaide Airport,[62] and RAAF Williams in Victoria, established in 1989 after the merger of Point Cook and Laverton bases.[72] The Sir Richard Williams Trophy, inaugurated in 1974, is presented to the RAAF's "Fighter Pilot of the Year".[73] In 2005, Williams' Australian Flying Corps wings, usually on display at the RAAF Museum in Point Cook, were carried into space and back on a shuttle flight by Australian-born astronaut Dr Andy Thomas.[74] The Williams Foundation, named in his honour, was launched in February 2009 "to broaden public debate on issues relating to Australian defence and security".[75]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Garrison, Australian Dictionary of Biography, pp. 502–505
- ^ Helson, Ten Years at the Top, p. 75
- ^ Odgers, The Royal Australian Air Force, p. 49
- ^ Department of Defence, AIF Personnel File, p. 7
- ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p. 1
- ^ a b "Who Was the 'Father of the RAAF'?". Pathfinder. No. 144. Canberra: Air Power Development Centre. October 2010.
- ^ Molkentin, Fire in the Sky, pp. 8–10
- ^ a b Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, pp. 32–33 Archived 25 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Odgers, The Royal Australian Air Force, p. 28
- ^ a b c Air Marshal Richard Williams Archived 8 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 10 September 2007.
- ^ a b Department of Defence, AIF Personnel File, p. 29
- ^ Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, pp. 56–57 Archived 21 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, p. 63 Archived 21 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "No. 30234". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 August 1917. p. 8353.
- ^ a b c Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p. 16
- ^ a b Mordike, RAF Air Power Review, p. 18
- ^ Molkentin, Fire in the Sky, p. 62
- ^ a b Lennon, Troy (31 March 2011). "Less than a flying start for our own air force". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. p. 66.
- ^ Mordike, RAF Air Power Review, p. 29
- ^ "No. 31380". The London Gazette. 3 June 1919. p. 7070.
- ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 13–14
- ^ Mordike, RAF Air Power Review, pp. 33–35
- ^ Odgers, 100 Years of Australia at War, pp. 84–85
- ^ "No. 31098". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1918. p. 92.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 26–31
- ^ Grey, A Military History of Australia, p. 132
- ^ Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p. 31
- ^ Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, pp. 15–16 Archived 7 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Air Power Development Centre, The Australian Experience of Air Power, pp. 32–35
- ^ a b c Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 33–34
- ^ Roylance, Air Base Richmond, p. 15
- ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 16, 340
- ^ The spelling "Dickie" is occasionally used, for example in Roylance, Air Base Richmond, p. 31, though Roylance also employs "Dicky" on p. 36
- ^ a b c Stephens, Going Solo, pp. 20–23
- ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 52–53
- ^ a b c d Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 42–45
- ^ Roylance, Air Base Richmond, p. 19
- ^ Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, pp. 336–337
- ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 36–37
- ^ Roberts, Aerogram, p. 4
- ^ a b Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 39–41
- ^ a b Wilson, The Brotherhood of Airmen, pp. 34–35
- ^ Wilson, The Eagle and the Albatross, pp. 24–25
- ^ "No. 33280". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 May 1927. p. 3611.
- ^ a b Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 50–52
- ^ a b Timeline: Air Marshal Richard Williams Archived 26 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 10 September 2007.
- JSTOR 1985937.
- ^ a b Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 55–57
- ^ Odgers, The Royal Australian Air Force, p. 53
- ^ Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, pp. 114–115
- ^ Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, p. 53
- ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 113–116
- ^ McKernan, The Strength of a Nation, pp. 41–42
- ^ Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, p. 77 Archived 3 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, pp. 92–93 Archived 13 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 63–64
- ^ Herington, Air War Against Germany and Italy, pp. 452–455[permanent dead link]
- ^ Herington, Air War Against Germany and Italy, pp. 543–544 Archived 19 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Helson, Ten Years at the Top, pp. 64–68
- ^ Helson, Ten Years at the Top, p. 59
- ^ Ansett Chronology Archived 7 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine at Australian Parliamentary Library. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
- ^ a b Facts and History Archived 19 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at Adelaide Airport. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
- ^ Fact Sheet Archived 1 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine at Sydney Airport. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
- ^ "No. 40054". The London Gazette. 29 December 1953. p. 40.
- ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p. 57
- ^ a b Dennis et al., The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History, pp. 670–671
- ^ Odgers, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 47–51
- ^ Royal Australian Air Force leaders: Former Chiefs of the Air Force at RAAF Official Site. Retrieved 8 September 2007.
- ^ Stephens, Going Solo, p. 453
- ^ MacDougall, Australians at War, p. 91
- ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p. 305
- ^ Royal Victorian Aero Club (2006). Club History Archived 18 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
- ^ Smith, Skye (7 July 2011). "Double the accolades for 2010's ace pilot". Air Force News. Vol. 53, no. 12. p. 15. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
- ^ Elkington, Jo (15 December 2005). "Wings Journey into Space". Air Force News. Vol. 47, no. 23. Archived from the original on 30 October 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
- ^ Launch of The Williams Foundation at Parliament House Archived 14 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine at The Williams Foundation Archived 14 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
References
- Air Power Development Centre (2007). The Australian Experience of Air Power (PDF). Tuggeranong, Australian Capital Territory: Air Power Development Centre. ISBN 978-1-920800-14-7.
- Coulthard-Clark, Chris (1991). The Third Brother. North Sydney: ISBN 0-04-442307-1.
- Cutlack, F. M. (1941) [1923]. The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 (11th edition): Volume VIII – The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War, 1914–1918. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012.
- Dennis, Peter; Grey, Jeffrey; Morris, Ewan; Prior, Robin (1995). The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History. South Melbourne, Victoria: ISBN 0-19-553227-9.
- Department of Defence. "Williams, Richard – AIF Personnel File". Canberra: National Archives of Australia. Archived from the original on 5 March 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2007.
- Garrisson, A. D. (1990). "Williams, Sir Richard". Australian Dictionary of Biography: Volume 12. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
- Gillison, Douglas (1962). Australia in the War of 1939–1945: Series Three (Air) Volume I – Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011.
- Grey, Jeffrey (2008). A Military History of Australia. Cambridge: ISBN 978-0-521-87523-3.
- Helson, Peter (2006). Ten Years at the Top (PhD thesis). Sydney: OCLC 225531223.
- Herington, John (1954). Australia in the War of 1939–1945: Series Three (Air) Volume III – Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939–1943. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012.
- MacDougall, A. K. (2005). Australians at War: A Pictorial History. Rowville, Victoria: Five Mile Press. ISBN 1-86503-865-2.
- McKernan, Michael (2006). The Strength of a Nation. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-74114-714-X.
- Molkentin, Michael (2010). Fire in the Sky: The Australian Flying Corps in the First World War. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-74237-072-9.
- Mordike, John (2002). "General Sir Edmund Allenby's joint operations in Palestine, 1917–1918" (PDF). The Royal Air Force Air Power Review, Volume 5, Number 4. Swindon, Wiltshire: Director of Defence Studies (RAF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2009.
- ISBN 1-86302-669-X.
- Odgers, George (1984). The Royal Australian Air Force: An Illustrated History. Brookvale, New South Wales: Child & Henry. ISBN 0-86777-368-5.
- Roberts, Peter, ed. (January 1994). "Point Cook: Birth-place of the Royal Australian Air Force". Aerogram. Vol. 1, no. 1. Point Cook, Victoria: RAAF Museum.
- Roylance, Derek (1991). Air Base Richmond. RAAF Base Richmond, New South Wales: Royal Australian Air Force. ISBN 0-646-05212-8.
- Stephens, Alan (1995). Going Solo: The Royal Australian Air Force 1946–1971. Canberra: ISBN 0-644-42803-1.
- Stephens, Alan (2006) [2001]. The Royal Australian Air Force: A History. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-555541-4.
- Wilson, David (2005). The Brotherhood of Airmen. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-74114-333-0.
- Wilson, David (2003). The Eagle and the Albatross: Australian Aerial Maritime Operations 1921–1971 (PhD thesis). Sydney: University of New South Wales.
Further reading
- Williams, Sir Richard (1977). These Are Facts. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. ISBN 0-642-99399-8.