Royal Australian Air Force Research Articles

Women in World War II RAAF Bands: An Untold Story

Existing research into Australian defence force bands, including that published by the Australian Defence Force itself, assumes that women were not eligible to join mainstream military bands until the 1980s. Prior to this, it was thought women’s involvement in music in the Australia defence forces was limited to concert parties and membership of women’s auxiliary ensembles. This article will show that, on the contrary, a small group of women played in Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) bands during World War II. These women, members of the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), were invited to join their local RAAF bands when overseas deployments limited the availability of male musicians. This study uses archival research, contemporary media reports and interviews with WAAAF veterans to explore the lives and duties of this previously unacknowledged group of defence force musicians. Despite being paid less than their male counterparts, this small group of women proudly played and marched on equal terms with the men when their country needed them, only to be excluded for another forty years once peace reigned.

The Continuing Inspirational Social Legacy of Dr Geoffrey J. Cornish MBBS, OAM (1921-2005)

This year marks several anniversary milestones of an eminent Australian and Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) recipient, Dr Geoffrey James Cornish MBBS, abbreviated as GC throughout this letter. GC is especially renowned for a long and esteemed career in medicine, and for playing an integral, real-life role as a prisoner-of-war (POW) in World War II’s tragic "Great Escape", upon which the popular 1963 movie is based. Several journalistic and literary works (cited later) that celebrate and underscore GC’s remarkable life/professional career have previously been published through or in association with: the Aircrew Association, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australian ex-POW Associations, the Australians at war film archive, an authorised biography, a community radio interview of a Cornish Family member, a historiographer’s (class) treatise, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), various newspapers, and 60 Minutes Australia. The esteemed medical career of GC includes, but is certainly not limited to, innovations in cardiac rehabilitation and anaesthetics, as well the establishment of vital Red Cross blood banks throughout regional Australia, all having significant community impact. Indeed, GC’s life of service, that extended into his eighties, contains many other dimensions and achievements of distinction which this letter briefly summarises. Additionally, original to this letter are ten short audio messages of inspiration from GC that the first Author recorded almost 20 years ago and which to best knowledge have until now never been publically released. While other more formal audio recordings of GC are available online (e.g., award acceptance speech, interview), the audio recordings of this letter are unique in their manner of personal articulation, especially towards those within his famed walking program, and the manner in which they exude the optimism and warmth that were synonymous with GC. Along with the aforementioned life summary and audio recordings, the letter also contains memoirs and photographs donated by the Cornish Family (via the second Author, daughter of GC), and subtly explores the spirituality of the quietly determined and modest man that was GC. The primary GC milestone falling in 2021 is the 100th year birthday (June) anniversary, but this year also coincides with 80th and 75th year anniversaries of respective capture as a POW whilst a Captain in the Royal Air Force (RAF), and returning to Australia to commence medical studies. Perhaps fittingly, the 100th year birthday anniversary is shared with the 2021 service centenary of the RAAF which in 1939 processed GC’s service application on behalf of the RAF. However, this socially significant letter in no way aims to glorify its unavoidable war aspect, but instead glorifies faith and humanity, as well as the strength of a man constituted by caring and generosity towards others, found within the confines of such conflict and other adversities. In a perfectly succinct narrative, journalist Tara Brown of 60 Minutes Australia describes in [1] GC’s life as a touching and inspirational story of humble heroism and enduring spirit resembling an adventure novel, but being far more fascinating than any work of fiction.

The Relationship of Risk to Rules, Values, Virtues, and Moral Complexity: What We can Learn from the Moral Struggles of Military Leaders.

Leaders are faced with ethical and moral dilemmas daily, like those within the military who must span from large-scale combat operations to security cooperation and deterrence. For businesses, these dilemmas can include social and environmental impact such as those in mining; and for governments, the social and economic impact of their decision-making in their response to COVID-19. The move by Western defence forces to align their foundational principles, policies, and “soldier” dispositions with the changing values of the countries they serve are starkly illustrative of challenges faced by all leaders. While admirable, such changes face the apparent contradiction of enhancing individual moral agency within a hierarchical organization that maintain enforceable codes of conduct. Ethical leadership theory provides aspirational goals, but lacks empirically based guidance on how to implement policies that facilitate values-based behavior. Using a discourse theory analysis of a moral dilemma vignette with Royal Australian Air Force personnel, this research identifies important aspects of agency and subject position that must be addressed if such policies are to succeed. These findings show that the potential contradiction can be addressed by acknowledging the contrasting tendency to bureaucratic process by leaders at upper levels, while lower-level leaders address moral issues by incorporating their subjectivity and making a conscious deontological choice between humanity and comrade loyalty.

한국공군의 첨단 항공기 도입에 따른 안전관리방안 연구

The purpose of this study is to ensure safety by proactively identifying hazards that could be derived from changes in mission form and environment as the advanced aircraft such as F-35A stealth fighter, KC-330 Multi-role transport and tanker, RQ-4B high altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, etc are introduced that the Republic of Korea Air Force(ROKAF) has never been operated so far. To this end, the safety management methods based on proactive and predictive approaches used in advanced countries(US Air Force, UK Royal Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force) operating aircraft types same or similar things being newly powered by the ROKAF were reviewed. In addition, the direction for improvement of the safety management methods operating in the ROKAF and the measures necessary for establishment of the new safety management techniques to be applied were suggested.

Allied air intelligence in the South West Pacific Area, 1942-1945

ABSTRACT This article provides the first account of air intelligence in the South West Pacific Area during the Second World War. Centring on the organisational aspects of intelligence-gathering, analysis, and dissemination, it brings the Directorate of Intelligence within the combined Royal Australian Air Force-US Army Air Force Allied Air Forces into sharp focus. This article argues that Australian-American cooperation in air intelligence was shaped by strategic circumstances, the balance of Allied air forces in the theatre, and personal relations between intelligence personnel. Though cooperation in air intelligence largely ended on a sour note in late 1944 when the Australians were largely excluded from the US-led second Philippines campaign and the Directorate of Intelligence was essentially dissolved, this article demonstrates that the Directorate became a sophisticated, if under-appreciated, intelligence organisation by mid-1943.

Climate change impacts on potential water savings through household rainwater tanks in Adelaide (Australia)

This paper presents impacts of climate change on future water savings through rainwater tanks for the city of Adelaide in South Australia. Four rainfall stations within Adelaide metropolitan were selected for the current study. The projected rainfall data was generated by the Australian government applying Statistical Downscaling Modelling (SDSM) technique using observed data for the period of 1986-2005. Projected data was downloaded from the Australian government’s climate portal for three future years (2040, 2065 and 2090) and for two climate change scenarios. Projected daily rainfall data was applied to an earlier developed daily water balance model, eTank, which was widely used for the analysis of rainwater tank outcomes. Analyses were conducted for a single demand of rainwater (300 L/day) for two roof sizes (150 m2 and 300 m2) and two tank volumes (5 kL and 10 kL). It is found that potential future water savings for all the selected future years for the three selected stations are expected to reduce; considering all the variables, ranges of potential reductions for “Adelaide Airport” is 1%∼53%, for “Kent Town” is 4%∼29% and for “Happy Valley Reservoir” is 1%∼27%. For the fourth station, Edinburgh Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), water savings are expected to increase under all the scenarios with a roof size of 150 m2. Whereas, with a roof size of 300 m2, for the same station water savings are expected to decrease under all the scenarios. The maximum potential increase in water savings is expected to be 16% (with a roof of 150 m2), while the maximum potential decrease in water savings is expected to be 23% (with a roof of 300 m2).

Australia’s Asian Garrisons: Decolonisation and the Colonial Dynamics of Expatriate Military Communities in Cold War Asia

Focused on Australia’s Royal Australian Air Force and Army garrison communities in Malaysia from the late 1950s, this article probes the creation and management of a complex power dynamic between the hosts in a postcolonial nation and an expatriate community modelled along colonial lines. These overseas military communities comprised Australian service personnel, their family members and schoolteachers. Thousands of locally employed civilians worked on Australian military bases, or for Australian families as amahs, cooks and gardeners, and Malaysian businesspeople capitalised on the Australian presence. The article tracks the political, social and cultural implications of the cross-cultural encounters enabled by Australia’s Asian garrisons, taking into account the perspective of both Australians and Malaysians, to argue that these communities had a marked impact on regional engagement. Negotiations of military, political, economic and personal power were constant and ongoing; Malaysian demands, far from being subordinated, were often both articulated and met.

Fatigue crack growth lessons from thirty-five years of the Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 A/B Hornet Aircraft Structural Integrity Program

As the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) retires its fleet of F/A-18 A and B model Hornets, it is opportune to reflect upon some of the in-service fatigue crack growth lessons accrued from 35 years of the aircrafts Aircraft Structural Integrity Program (ASIP). In this paper, the authors have selected a small number of the key lessons and observations arising from real-world fatigue problems in the RAAF Hornet fleet that have contributed to advances in the state of the art of fatigue crack growth measurement and prediction. The importance of the lead crack concept, quantitative fractography, fatigue testing, nucleating discontinuities, the physically short crack regime, as well as individual aircraft tracking are given prominence. It is hoped that this review of the metal fatigue challenges for a highly stressed lightweight structure that have driven research into fatigue crack growth will be valuable to those aspiring to make impactful contributions to the field and the sustainment of aircraft fleets worldwide.

Accident Conscious: Accounting for Flying Accidents in the Royal Australian Air Force during the Second World War

During the Second World War the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) systematically categorized every operational and non-operational flying accident. Despite a broader service focus on ‘pilot error’, our comprehensive database of 601 RAAF Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk accident reports suggests that non-human factors were perceived as more determinative than human failings. Incorporating wartime Royal Air Force and US Army Air Force analyses, this article compares RAAF interpretations of accident statistics with our data and a detailed exploration of formal inquiries into ten fatal Kittyhawk crashes. Accounting for air force accidents negotiated a dynamic balance between heuristic integrity, operational effectiveness, and political prudence.

Designing for the Future Force: Informing the Debate on the Future Structure of the Royal Australian Air Force

Designing for the Future Force: Informing the Debate on the Future Structure of the Royal Australian Air Force

Jet fuel exposure and auditory outcomes in Australian air force personnel

BackgroundAnimal data suggest that jet fuels such as JP-8 are associated with hearing deficits when combined with noise and that the effect is more pronounced than with noise exposure alone. Some studies suggest peripheral dysfunction while others suggest central auditory dysfunction. Human data are limited in this regard. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible chronic adverse effects of JP-8 combined with noise exposure on the peripheral and central auditory systems in humans.MethodsFifty-seven participants who were current personnel from the Royal Australian Air Force were selected. Based on their levels of exposure to jet fuels, participants were divided into three exposure groups (low, moderate, high). Groups were also categorised based on their noise exposure levels (low, moderate, high). All participants were evaluated by tympanometry, pure-tone audiometry (1–12 kHz), distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs), auditory brainstem response (ABR), words-in-noise, compressed speech, dichotic digit test, pitch pattern sequence test, duration pattern sequence test and adaptive test of temporal resolution. All auditory tests were carried out after the participants were away from the Air Force base for a minimum of two weeks, thus two weeks without jet fuel and noise exposure.ResultsJet fuel exposure was significantly associated with hearing thresholds at 4 and 8 kHz; average hearing thresholds across frequencies in the better ear; DPOAEs at 2.8, 4 and 6 kHz; ABR wave V latency in the right ear; compressed speech and words-in-noise. Further analyses revealed that participants with low exposure level to jet fuels showed significantly better results for the aforementioned procedures than participants with moderate and high exposure levels. All results were controlled for the covariates of age and noise exposure levels.ConclusionsThe results suggest that jet fuel exposure, when combined with noise exposure, has an adverse effect on audibility in humans. Taking all the test results into consideration, jet fuel exposure combined with noise exposure specifically seems to affect the peripheral hearing system in humans.

Nagy Britannia és Ausztrália közös atomprogramja 1945-1960

Australia was determined to obtain a nuclear weapon after the Second World War. The most obvious solution seemed to collaborate with Britain doing nuclear research in the so-called “joint project”. The British defence planners had been aware of the fact that Great Britain would not survive a forthcoming nuclear attack at the dawn of the cold war and thus, they were in need of their own nuclear weapon. When the MacMahon Act came into force the Government of United States of America rejected the British to continue the joint research in the Manhattan Project and they wanted to retain their sole atom monopoly. They provided the British neither with raw material nor with nuclear technology, furthermore, they were not allowed to participate in the test blasts. Hence, the role of Australia was revalued by the British Government. Several productive intitiatives such as the establishment of the Australian National University, launching the Snowy Mountains project, deployment of the Royal Australian Air Force in Southeast Asia coincided with the joint project. The culmination of the Australian–British cooperation was the atomic blast in 1952 and the decision of the British to contribute to the construction of an Australian nuclear reactor. Nevertheless, the nuclear achievements of the Soviet Union put an end to the so far successful joint project.

The militarisation of aerial theatre: air displays and airmindedness in Britain and Australia between the world wars

ABSTRACT Aerial theatre, the use of aviation spectacle to project images of future warfare, national power and technological prowess, was a key method for creating an airminded public in the early twentieth century. The most significant and influential form of aerial theatre in interwar Britain was the Royal Air Force Display at Hendon, in which military aircraft put on impressive flying performances before large crowds, including an elaborate set-piece acting out a battle scenario with an imaginary enemy. Hendon was emulated by other air displays in Britain and in Australia, even civilian ones. Indeed, the inability of the much smaller Royal Australian Air Force to regularly project spectacle on the scale of Hendon across a much larger nation created a gap which civilian aviation organisations then tried to fill. Hendon thus helped to propagate a militarised civilian aerial theatre, and hence airmindedness, in both Britain and Australia.

Australian Involvement in the Malayan Emergency

Australian defence and foreign policy experienced a great shift in 1942. From that year on, the nation began to think of itself as an independent entity, and a key player in Southeast Asia. The first armed conflict that Australian units participated in after the end of the Second World War was the Malayan Emergency, where all service branches contributed forces to the successful counterinsurgency war. The aim of this article is, firstly to look at the events and factors that initiated this shift in Australian policy, and secondly to analyse the forces the nation committed to fighting the Emergency. This analysis includes the fighting forces of the Royal Australian Air Force, the Army as well as the Navy.

Inference in the Wild: A Framework for Human Situation Assessment and a Case Study of Air Combat.

Situation awareness is a key construct in human factors and arises from a process of situation assessment (SA). SA comprises the perception of information, its integration with existing knowledge, the search for new information, and the prediction of the future state of the world, including the consequences of planned actions. Causal models implemented as Bayesian networks (BNs) are attractive for modeling all of these processes within a single, unified framework. We elicited declarative knowledge from two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fighter pilots about the information sources used in the identification (ID) of airborne entities and the causal relationships between these sources. This knowledge was represented in a BN (the declarative model) that was evaluated against the performance of 19 RAAF fighter pilots in a low-fidelity simulation. Pilot behavior was well predicted by a simple associative model (the behavioral model) with only three attributes of ID. Search for information by pilots was largely compensatory and was near-optimal with respect to the behavioral model. The average revision of beliefs in response to evidence was close to Bayesian, but there was substantial variability. Together, these results demonstrate the value of BNs for modeling human SA.

The Development of Retrogression and Re-aging to Manage Environmental Degradation in Australian Defence Force Aircraft

Abstract This article describes a project in which the Retrogression and Re-aging (RRA) heat treatment was demonstrated to be a viable means of improving the corrosion resistance of 7075-T651 components of the Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C and C-130J-30 aircraft while maintaining the mechanical properties above the material’s A-Basis and preserving component functionality. This was achieved by a phased development process starting with the determination of the mechanical properties of the RRA-treated material and culminating in technology demonstrators on thick-section C-130J-30 lower ring segment components and a thin-section AP-3C component. This article describes the results obtained and the lessons learned during the process.

Outcomes from the fatigue testing of seventeen centre fuselage structures

This paper summarises some of the significant outcomes of a fatigue test program for ex-service aircraft structure. Seventeen F/A-18 Hornet aircraft aluminium alloy 7050-T7451 centre fuselages (referred to as centre barrels (CBs)) were tested, torn down and inspected in this program. Significant results of the test program included the demonstration of the repeatability of service fatigue cracking locations, the collection of data to characterise the types of defects that typically nucleate fatigue cracks in aircraft components and a more accurate assessment of the safe operating life of this structure. The results of the program also enhanced the existing understanding of fatigue cracking in aluminium alloy 7050-T7451. Furthermore, the improved understanding of the fatigue cracking that occurred in service F/A-18 CBs and the damage tolerance of this structure allowed increased aircraft availability and reduced maintenance costs in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F/A-18 fleet.

The development of a test for a strength-based criterion Royal Australian Air Force tent lift task

Introduction: Muscular strength is a critical physical attribute in many physically demanding occupations. This investigation determined the validity of a physical test that could be used to assess the performance of a common and essential team muscular strength task performed within the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF); a tent lift.

A comparison of the metabolic demands of Royal Australian Navy criterion tasks to other physically demanding occupations

Purpose: To quantify the metabolic demand of critical physically demanding tasks within the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The metabolic demands of these tasks were then compared to criterion tasks performed by other occupational groups including Australian Army soldiers, NSW firefighters, and Royal Australian Air Force security.

Criterion task work rates in Royal Australian Air Force personnel do not align with the acceptable work rate determined using the Bookmark method

Introduction: Contemporary employment standards literature has advocated an item-mapping approach termed the Bookmark method to establish cut-scores for critical and physically demanding tasks. This investigation explored the application of the Bookmark method as it relates to (i) the determination of an acceptable work rate versus actual work rate during a task, and (ii) the influence of the order in which videoed work samples are presented on the selection of an acceptable work rate.