From The President Well it's not really because John and Cheryl have started an extended holiday exploring the "Centre" and all parts North. Last heard they were in Pt Augusta and enjoying it. So you have to put up with me until he returns!!! Since assuming the President's role, John has overseen quite a few changes here at "Headquarters" with more to come. First, after an extensive review of operations the position of State Secretary was abolished. This resulted in Gordon Caley leaving the Association along with our appreciation of his efforts and best wishes for the future. Barbara remains as Office Manager and is busy redirecting tasks etc to nominated Board members. The review has also included the management and associated procedures used by the Board. While it is still somewhat "works in progress" the various roles and tasks of the Association are now being delegated to individual Board members; who in turn will be primarily responsible for those areas. For example, the Presi- dent and the two Vice Presidents will assume, here in Victoria, the overseeing of the strategic plan of the Association. That is not to say that it will be only their input; far from it! They will simply assume responsibility for ensuring the tasks are identified, progressed until completion and communicated as appropriate. Similarly with the other activities. The allocation of responsibilities will be communicated once finalised so that Branches will know who to first direct their query to! One area identified as requiring more attention is the notification of significant events; including commemoration services. For example, the recent 50th Anniversary of the tragic loss of the "Red Sales" aerobatic team near RAAF East Sale on 18th August 1962 was commemorated at that base by formal commemoration service attended by the Chief of Air Force. Our representation was minimal yet we should have had a large presence! If the revised plan is effective, we will all have early notification of such pending events. Other plans include a revamp of "Contact" and the website to make both more current and informative. Stay tuned!!!!! Nick LeRay Nick LeRay Nick LeRay Nick LeRay-Meyer AM Meyer AM Meyer AM Meyer AM Vice President Vice President Vice President Vice President Inside this issue: Bendigo Branch 2 Ballarat Branch 2 WAAAF Branch 2 North Metropolitan Branch 3 Catalina Branch 3 Vales 3 The Inaugural ATVARA Commemoration of the 4 Air Force Association Care Packages 7 ATC Branch 7 RAAFVVA Branch 8 Spring, 2012 Volume 67, Issue 2 NEWSLETTER of the AIR FORCE ASSOCIATION VICTORIA ABN 96 091 342 304 RAAF ASSOCIATION VIC DIV, 24 Camberwell Road, East Hawthorn 3123 Tel: (03) 9813 4600 Facsimile: (03) 9813 4966 Email: [email protected]
Transcript
From The President
Well it's not really because John and Cheryl have started an extended holiday exploring the "Centre" and all parts North. Last heard they were in Pt Augusta and enjoying it. So you have to put up with me until he returns!!! Since assuming the President's role, John has overseen quite a few changes here at "Headquarters" with more to come. First, after an extensive review of operations the position of State Secretary was abolished. This resulted in Gordon Caley leaving the Association along with our appreciation of his efforts and best wishes for the future. Barbara remains as Office Manager and is busy redirecting tasks etc to nominated Board members. The review has also included the management and associated procedures used by the Board. While it is still somewhat "works in progress" the various roles and tasks of the Association are now being delegated to individual Board members; who in turn will be primarily responsible for those areas. For example, the Presi-dent and the two Vice Presidents will assume, here in Victoria, the overseeing of the strategic plan of the Association. That is not to say that it will be only their input; far from it! They will simply assume responsibility for ensuring the tasks are identified, progressed until completion and communicated as appropriate. Similarly with the other activities. The allocation of responsibilities will be communicated once finalised so that Branches will know who to first direct their query to! One area identified as requiring more attention is the notification of significant events; including commemoration services. For example, the recent 50th Anniversary of the tragic loss of the "Red Sales" aerobatic team near RAAF East Sale on 18th August 1962 was commemorated at that base by formal commemoration service attended by the Chief of Air Force. Our representation was minimal yet we should have had a large presence! If the revised plan is effective, we will all have early notification of such pending events. Other plans include a revamp of "Contact" and the website to make both more current and informative. Stay tuned!!!!!
Nick LeRayNick LeRayNick LeRayNick LeRay----Meyer AMMeyer AMMeyer AMMeyer AM Vice PresidentVice PresidentVice PresidentVice President
Inside this issue:
Bendigo Branch 2
Ballarat Branch 2
WAAAF Branch 2
North Metropolitan
Branch
3
Catalina Branch 3
Vales 3
The Inaugural ATVARA
Commemoration of the
4
Air Force Association
Care Packages
7
ATC Branch 7
RAAFVVA Branch 8
Spring, 2012
Volume 67, Issue 2
NEWSLETTER
of the
AIR FORCE
ASSOCIATION
VICTORIA
ABN 96 091 342 304
RAAF ASSOCIATION VIC DIV, 24 Camberwell Road, East Hawthorn 3123 Tel: (03) 9813 4600 Facsimile: (03) 9813 4966
attended ceremonies and laid wreaths VP Day, Sandakan, Malaya/Borneo
Day.
We are celebrating Battle for Australia Commemorations at Strathfieldsaye Primary School on 5th September so more about that next
Newsletter.
Until next time
Glenis Gordon, Secretary, Bendigo
Branch
BENDIGO BRANCH Hello everyone,
Sadly I have to report the passing of
long time member, Bill Young.
I am pleased to report that there
were 11 members at Bill's funeral
and were able to provide a guard of
honour for him.
We have been lucky enough to have
guest speakers at our meetings recently (Lynn Horsfall-Alzheimers
Australia, Joan Loverso-Carelink).
A bus load of members travelled to
Benalla, visiting the Art Gallery to
see the display "Love & War. This
was a collection of photos, letters
& stories from all areas of conflict. It was lovely to read the beautiful hand-
writing of the past.
Richard Henson travelled to RAAFA Vic. Branch to collect the Fred Cowell Trophy which Bendigo won this year
and at the August meeting he presented it to President
Jack Fay.
Several of our members have
UNWELL MEMBERS:
Beryl Coombs – Birchip is home after spending 6 weeks in hospital at
Birchip suffering Whooping Cough.
Edna Hammond has been re-admitted to hospital several times in recent
times.
Jean Glenister has returned home from hospital after being diagnosed with
advance Leukaemia.
GLORIA WELCH
WAAAF BRANCH
WAAAF BRANCH
WAAAF meetings are always held on
the last Tuesday of the moth.
Remember that we are preparing for our Christmas Luncheon which will be held at RAAFA Headquarters on Tuesday, 11th December 2012, there is no cost to a members or carer. You may have a half fare taxi. Contact June Muller 9859 2866 or
Gloria Welch 9727 3651.
Copies of the WAAAF book “WAAAF Stories from the Women that were there” have been sent to all
financial WAAAF members.
Box Hill RSL are paying tribute to widows and service women on 24th
November – 12 noon, please phone Gail Robertson 9898 5992 to make a
booking.
Gloria Welch attended the Battle for Australia service at the Shrine of Remembrance on Wednesday 5th
September.
DEATHS:
Muriel Stockdale passed away sud-denly in hospital on 30th March. Gloria Welch and Lois Dalziel at-tended the funeral service. Dorothy Wright, c/- Marigold Francis, 6 Woodhurst Avenue, Hyde Park S.A., passed away in Melbourne – funeral service was held in Glen Iris on 24th
August.
Around the Branches
Battle for Australia service. We have 34 booked for the trip and on the way home we are stopping over at Harcourt for a visit to a Cider orchard. The big event will be on the 16th September, our annual Battle of Britain com-memorations. Start with a Church service at 10 a.m., wreath laying at mid-day and finally our Dinner at 1.15 p.m. The Anglican Bishop will give the Homily at the Church, and Jack Bell, former RAAF member and P.O.W. in Germany will be our Dinner Speaker. Anticipate up to 80 will be
present.
We wish you all a great spring season, some warm days, which we will need
to recover from all our activities.
Over and out from Ballarat.
STAN WHITE
BALLARAT BRANCH
Hi to those who are not frozen by these
vicious winds that have been blowing in Ballarat all this Winter.
Damn Cold!
A few changes at Victorian Division with the installation of our new President, John McCrystal, and termination of the position of Executive Office, Gordon Caley
recently.
In June we had Scott Dellar, the Principal of Phoenix P12 College speak to us about the planned alterations to that college. Up to $30 million is involved with a com-plete new approach. July our speaker was Det. Snr. Sgt. Barry Jenks, who regularly treks the
Kokoda Track and could tell us all about the pitfalls of the walk. When not arresting people, his hobby is trek-
king.
August the Town Crier, Bryan Whykes, in his appropriate attire, related many historical and interesting tales of his task over the years. Bryan is a local person who ‘gravitated’ into
the position.
Our Branch participated in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day service, at-tending their ceremony and laying a
wreath. This year it was fine!
September is our busy month, at our meeting we will have two staff from the Ballarat Health service speak on ‘Falls and Prevention Thereof’ and the next day is our Bendigo trip for their
Page 2 CONTACT
CATALINA BRANCH
The Catalina Branch of RAAFA VIC wish to
advise Members of the recent deaths of-
* Sir Richard Kingsland AO, CBE, DFC
Patron in Chief
Catalina Branch
* Frank Warren
* Eric Black
* Ron Foskett
Our Condolences are expressed to the be-
reaved families and friends.
_____________________________________
A ‘Christmas Luncheon’ in November is in the planning stage- further details forthcom-ing.
Ron Kirk Secretary
Catalina Branch
VALES
Elva McDonald Ballarat
21/06/2012
Donald Charlwood
Headquarters 21/06/2012
Alan White Ballarat 9/07/2012
George Watson
Gippsland 9/07/2012
Jim Copelin
Sunderlands 15/07/2012
John Morris
Headquarters 18/07/2012
Elthel Margaret Walker
WAAAF 9/08/2012
James John Smith
Headquarters 9/08/2012
Dorothy Wright
WAAAF 21/08/2012
George Sanders,
Motor Transport 29/08/2012
Page 3 Volume 67, Issue 2
General Notice : Members of 77 and Friends. The next luncheon meeting of the group will be at RAAFA on December the 5th. The dates for 2013 meetings are as follows 13th of March; 12th of June; 11th of September and the Xmas meeting at RAAFA on 4th of December.
NORTH METROPOLITAN
BRANCH
The secretary of the North Metropolitan Branch apologises for her photo in the last edition of Contact and hopes that if any RAAFA Members grandchildren saw it they
were not too frightened.
I thank the RAAFA (Vic Div) for their recognition of the small things I
do for the North Metro Branch.
On August 9 there was Roulettes display at Point Cook and eleven of the NMB members attended. It was certainly a very cold, blustery windy day, but the jury is still out as to who made the most noise during the display - the 11 NMB members or the
two buses of children.
Our Guest Speaker for the October 18 meeting will be WGCMDR Kevin Murray who is the AFLO for the 4WG Cadets and if any other Branch member wishes to attend they would
be made most welcome.
Once again NMB members will be
RAAF ASSOCIATION VICTORIAN DIVISION
PATRON
Wing Commander P. S. Isaacson AM DFC AFC DFM
BOARD OF MANAGEMENT
J.F. McCrystal (John): State President
P.W. Colliver( Peter) Immediate Past President/National Vice President
N. (Nick) Leray-Meyer AM: Vice-President
R.A.K (Ron) Ledingham Vice-President
R. T. (Richard) Orr: State Treasurer
Directors: R.J (Bob) Brackin, T. A. (Tony) Pilli; A.R. (Alan) White;
P. (Peter) Finkelstein: Honorary Solicitor
W. J. (Bill) Belton AM: Chairman RAAFA Foundation
BRANCH SECRETARIES
Catalina Ronald Kirk (98193527); Air Training Corps Hugh Tank (9877 3424); Ballarat Stan
White (5339 2003) Bendigo Glenis Gordon (54369293); Fighter Squadrons John Gauntlett
(9878 1541); Geelong Jim Heyward (5278 1296), Gippsland John Power (5174 3231);
Melbourne WAAAF Gloria Welch (9727 3651); North Metropolitan Elayne Whatman
(93021048); RAAF Vietnam & Associated Veterans Rick Holmes (9317 7304;
Sunderland Squadrons Ricky Hattam (5241 3431); Williams Ted Ruddle (97482271)
attending the Drill Competition and Annual Parade at Point Cook on September 23. To see the Cadets on Parade that day is truly something wonderful and make a heart skip a beat. It is hoped the day is fine and warm and NMB Members extend their very best wishes to all Cadets for a
very successful day.
Our "Junior" Member, Keith Watts, is off to Sydney for September 23 to attend the 21st Birthday of his Great
Grandson.
We also welcome our newest Member, Peter Pagidas. Peter's 3-year-old son wanted to know if this meant "his Daddy would fly an
airplane". Not this time, George!
Hoping everyone in the Victorian Division of RAAFA are keeping well and not trying to do the 12 minute
mile too often.
Elayne Whatman
Tucked away in the inconspicuous Bedfordshire countryside in England during WWII was a highly secret airfield
known officially as “RAF Tempsford”, but disguised completely as an innocuous farm, “Gibraltar Farm”.
From this airfield there flew two equally secret RAF “Special Duties” (SD) Squadrons, No. 138 (SD) Sqn. and No.
161 (SD) Sqn. Their task was to fly Special Operations Executive (SOE) trained Agents and supplies of all kinds to
the awaiting resistance Forces all over enemy occupied Europe of that time.
So tightly was this wartime secrecy sustained (1940 and 1945), that not even the rest of Bomber Command knew of
the existence of these SD Squadrons! This iron-clad secrecy was sustained for over 3 decades post war, resulting in
this aspect of the history of the air war of WWII being completely omitted. No mention of these Squadrons’ signifi-
cant contribution to the war effort, nor of their service, gallantry and considerable sacrifice appeared in Common-
wealth records.1 To this day most military archives still record nothing about these courageous crews, despite the
Agents themselves being appropriately recognised.
Correcting an injustice
In 1956 the lone voice of Jerrard Tickell spoke of these two Squadrons and their achievements in his publication
Moon Squadron. 2 However more recently some authorative and revealing publications have at last started to
emerge, some written by actual RAF Tempsford veteran airmen. 3-6
Since about 200, an organisation in the UK, “Tempsford Veterans and Relatives Association” (TVARA) com-
menced reunions on the old disused airfield at Tempsford. TVARA now has over 200 active members and surviving
crew members of the SD Squadrons are meeting each other and even some of the Agents they delivered for the first
time since the war.
The inaugural Australian “ATVARA” Commemoration
This happened at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance on 14th July 2012*. Some 60 persons attended, including
family descendants of lost RAAF and RAF airmen from the two SD Squadrons, and also two actual veteran RAAF
airmen (with their respective wives) from No 138 (SD) Squadron, FLTLT Lloyd Trotter, Pilot and ex POW in Ger-
many, and W/O Fred Bowman, Wireless Operator (Air). Both these remarkable men addressed the attendees during
the Service.
The Inaugural ATVARA Commemoration of the secret “Special Duties” (SD) Squadrons of WWII,
No. 138 (SD) Sqn. and No 161 (SD) Sqn.
Page 4 CONTACT
(Left) W/O Fred Bowman with an original French Resistance arm band of WWII.
(Right) FLTLT Lloyd Trotter laying a wreath in memory of his lost Halifax bomber comrades.
The RAAF was officially represented by WGCDR Jim Pattel, SOLTC-AFTG and the attendees were welcomed
on behalf of the Shrine of Remembrance by Shrine Governor, SQNLDR Ron Ledingham RAAF Reserve.
*This date is the annual “Bastille Day”, France’s National Day. This association with ATVARA commemorations and with
the RAF Tempsford “Special Duties” Squadrons is appropriate, for these crews provided vital and direct support particularly
of French Resistance Forces throughout WWII.
Page 5 Volume 67, Issue 2
(Left) WGCDR Jim Pattel laying the official RAAF Memorial Wreath.
(Right) SQNLDR Ron Ledingham welcoming all attendees on behalf of the Shrine of Remembrance.
Memorial wreaths were also laid by the President of the RAAFA Victoria, John McCrystal, with other Board
Members present; and by a past President of the RAFA Melbourne, Mr Michael Tucker, with other senior Members
present.
Then during a period of particular poignancy, the six interstate family descendants respectively of lost SD Squadron
RAAF and RAF airmen each laid a memorial wreath. It is a sad fact that during and following the years of WWII,
many parents and wives of the lost SD Squadron airmen were unable to find out any details of their loss due to the
iron-clad secrecy under which the crews flew. Some of these older family members died believing their lost loved
one was still alive somewhere!7
(Left) The Witham family commemorating their lost Uncle, FLTLT Reginald Ronald Witham DFC, RAAF Pilot No 138 (SD)
Sqn. KIA 27-11-44.
(Right) The splendid Shrine Guard in full ceremonial dress of the Australian Light Horse, who acknowledged and saluted the
proceedings throughout the Service.
The ATVARA Service concluded with the “Ode’, the “Last Post”, a short period of Silence and the Air Force version
of the “Rouse”. The Australian National Anthem closed the proceedings.
An informal gathering afterwards
Most of the attendees gathered informally at the nearby Observatory cafe following the Service. There wonderful
camaraderie, cross connections and the uncovering of old memories and common grounds all happened.
At this gathering two international messages were read out.
One was from F/O Dr Jack Galbraith DFC, PhD, RCAF
(Ret.), a former No. 161 (SD) Sqn. Navigator, sent from
Ottawa, Canada, saluting all the attendees for enhancing
the memory of RAF Tempsford and its wartime
achievements.
The second was from Bob Body, the Co-Convenor of the
UK TVARA Reunions that happen each year on the old
Tempsford Airfield with its recently renovated “Special
Duties” Squadrons Museum.
There was unanimous support for Annual ATVARA
Reunions at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance and
discussions are proceeding.
Some attending Representatives (names?) of the
RAAF & RAAFA, with the two No. 138 (SD) Sqn. Veterans
References Merrick KA. Flights of the Forgotten: Special Duties Operations in World War Two. London, U.K. Arms and Armour Press. Artillery House, Artillery Row. SW1P 1RT. 1989.
Clark, Freddie. Agents by Moonlight: The Secret History of RAF Tempsford During World War II. Stroud, Gloucestershire. Tempus Publishing Ltd. The
Mill, Brimscombe Port. 1999. 338pp.
Body RB. Taking the Wings of the Morning. London. Serendipity, Suite 530, 37 Store Street, Bloomsbury. 2003. 128pp.
O’Connor, Bernard. Women of RAF Tempsford: Churchill’s Agents of Wartime Resistance. Stroud, Gloucestershire. Amberley Publishing. The Hill. GL5
4EP. 2011. 287pp.
Williamson J. A Delayed Salute: To the memory of a World War II Air Crew No. 138 “Special Duties” Squadron, RAF Tempsford: Killed in Action over
the North Sea, Europe. A tribute by their relatives. Henley Beach, South Australia 5002. Seaview Press, PO Box 234. 2002. 183pp.
Page 6 CONTACT
Air Force Association Care Packages
ATC BRANCH
We are pleased to be able to report that with the assistance of our Victorian State President, John McCrystal, we have been able to locate several display cabinets for the Benalla Air Museum’s National Air
Training Corps Collection.
Still required are some mannequin cabinets and we hope that another source which we are pursuing might result in our filling this requirement
in the near future.
In 1990, during the carrying out of some research into the earlier ATC Squadrons which evolved from the discontinuance of the Empire Air Training Scheme, some documents came to light in the form of five letters dating back to 1941 which dealt with a request from a Squadron Leader of No.1 Squadron, No.1 Wing, Air Training Corps for the use of Prahran Technical School’s
classrooms for two nights per week.
These letters were found in the Deakin University Archives which holds the archives of the Prahran
Technical School.
Further to this historic find and with the past knowledge of our research which we had been investigating, in July of this year we were notified by the Prahran Mechanics’ Institute that
Annette Holian in her civilian employment is a trauma surgeon currently working out of Darwin but she is also an RAAF Reserve Officer as well as a current Governor of the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance; a remarkable and very committed
individual.
Currently Annette is serving in Afghanistan as part of her Reserve duties
working as a trauma surgeon; and this is not her first trip !
Recently the Air Force Association Victoria (RAAFA Vic) sent a number of care packages for RAAF members serving in combat zones
with WGCDR Annette Holian being one recipient.
What came back was a photo of her receiving one of the care packages
and the following interesting text:
“The RAAFA boxes arrived last night- in time for my birthday
today - great work!
Please extend my thanks to RAAFA. I should be home by the Catalina
weekend, my first at home- but no breath holding.
Thanks for the presents. Best wishes from the sandpit Annette”
another item of historic interest had surfaced and they thought that we
might be interested in having it.
The item is a solid, cast plaque in the form of a scroll, and is mounted on a heavy, triangular wooden block. It is surmounted by a set of wings with the RAAF badge between them, and the inscription reads: Greater love hath no man. A tribute to our fallen comrades. Erected by ex cadets No.1
ATC RAAF.
The plaque was given to the Prahran Mechanics’ Institute by Swinburne University who apparently didn’t know what to do with it. How lucky
can you be? If it hadn’t been for the fact of our previous contact in 2009, this jewel might have ended up on a
scrap heap
The plaque and letters were
presented to Doug Williams RFD, of our Branch at our General Meeting on the 18th August. Doug is the Vice President of the Benalla Air Museum and this precious find has gone to join
the other items in the ATC collection.
Supporting the RAAF National Servicemen’s Memorial Service this year is 404 Squadron, AAFC and we take this opportunity to thank the Staff and cadets for their willingness to
assist on this occasion.
In response to a request for assistance, the Branch has been able to arrange for the acquisition of a wall display of Australian Medals and Awards for 401
Squadron, Surrey Hills.
The intended purpose of this display is for training in the recognition of the various decorations and we thank the Box Hill RSL for their kind donation to the Squadron and
making this possible.
The Wing has established 413 Squadron, AAFC at Warrnambool and we believe that the interest shown by the number of applications has
been outstanding.
Laurie Bell President ATC Branch
Page 7 CONTACT
RAAFVVA
As always a busy few months during a particularly cold winter. The RAAFVVA has formalised its transfer as a Branch to the AFA with an overwhelming majority of members voting in the affirmative. AGM in February 2013 will be the last bastion of our transfer. President Lee Scully has been overseas all winter recovering from a major ankle reconstruction but will be back on board late September. In the meantime Vice President Gareth Davis has assumed the reins and kept us
all on track. A2-110 Iroquois has arrived at the NVVM with restoration to Air Force livery proceeding. Members attended the 18th of August VV Day at the Shrine of Remembrance once again in atrocious weather. Thank-fully parade was cut short by State President Bob Elworthy. Lunch was at the Orient East (formerly CITRO) Restaurant on St Kilda Road, some 45 members attended both the service and lunch.
Finally on the 8th of September the Victorian Vietnamese community held their 50th Anniversary Commemoration ceremony remembering and paying respects to Australia’s
commitment and involvement in the Vietnam conflict. A moving ceremony with wreath’s laid and Memorial Plaques/Mementos provided to Army, Navy and RAAF units who served. Individual awards were made to a member of the Army, Navy and the Air Force honouring acts of heroism above and beyond the call of duty. I am proud to say that John (Snow) Coughlan CGM received the Air Force award.
John (Snow) Coughlan CGM and No 9 Squadron Vice President Victoria, Ron McMullen lay the 9 Squadron wreath at the Eternal Flame.
A2-110 Iroquois has arrived at the NVVM with restoration to Air Force livery proceeding.
Wreath’s laid!
Rick Holmes Secretary RAAFVVA
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