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RAAF College & Academy 1947-86 R.E.Frost

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RAAF College & Academy 1947-86 R.E.Frost RAAF College & Academy 1947-86 R.E.Frost ©Commonwealth of Australia (Royal Australian Air Force) 1991 The emblem of the College is an Australian bird, the Swift, and the motto one English word: TRUE. These are enclosed in the standard frame for R.A.A.F. badges. Set on an azure ground with cloud-effect, the Swift is a simple and artistic symbol implying the purpose of the College and the qualities sought in its members. Thus, the Australian Swift is one of the fastest high-altitude birds in the world; it flies in all weathers’, it is tireless on the wing: its flight is steadier and faster than that of the smaller swallow. In autumn in Australia, the Swifts, distributed widely over the continent, forsake their summer hunting-grounds and. having made in their millions_ an accurately-timed rendezvous, navigate a course of about 5.000 miles, truly and powerfully and speedily, and in few apparenr stages. When not in the air. the Swift climbs difficult obstacles by using its whole body: beak, claws and barbed tail. Finally, the tapering, swept-back wings find “their counterpart in the design of many modern aircraft. The economical motto TRUE not only recalls the flight of the Swift, but serves to point the personal qualities and Service ideais of loyalty, steadfastness and accuracy which the College seeks to confirm in its graduates. ii Contents Forewords Air Marshal Sir V.E. Hancock ..................................................................v Air Commodore P.G. Heffernan................................................................vi Author’s Note . vii Prologue . viii Early consideration of how vacancies for permanent commissions in the RAAF should be filled. The Duntroon connection. Cranwell influence. Chapter 1: Prelude . 1 Immediate post Second World War deliberations. The rationale for the College; the nature of its syllabus;and its location. Chapter 2: Debut . 9 Formation and staffing. Early criticism from Scherger and Pearce. Comparison with FTS output. Chapter 3: Routine . 17 The day-to-day life of the College - sport, leave, cultural activities. Commonwealth cadets. The University line. The cadet corps. Chapter 4: Reception . 27 Korean and Malayan hostilities. Reception of graduates by RAAF contemporaries. The exchange scheme; Scherger discontinues it. Value of College system again questioned. Chapter 5: Redirection . 35 The McLachlan review, possibly instituted to dispense with the College, but culminating in the establishment of the Academy. Some discussion of a tri-Service institution. Flying Training Squadron of the College disbanded. Chapter 6: Academe . 45 The inauguration of the Academy. The transition. Building and staffing. Motivation queried. The syllabus and its acceptance. Changed life-style. Academic dominance. Air Board has its doubts. Chapter 7: Academism . 53 Military versus academic needs. Loss of morale, staff and students. Relaxation of standards of behaviour and discipline. Disillusionment claims by Read. Syllabus content in question. Graduate performance criticised. Some statistics. Graduates in Vietnam. Chapter 8: Decline . 59 The appointment of the Tertiary Education (Services’ Cadet College) Committee (the Martin Report). Declining academic standards and the 51 per cent syndrome. Course attitudes and group identity. Disciplinary problems. Engineer training and the University of Sydney. Exercise Fledgling and other flying. Graduate performance. iii Chapter 9: Reversion . 67 Attempts to re-introduce old College attitudes. Student-staff relationship. Reintroduction of the Journal. Announcement of intent to proceed with ADFA. Graduate Diploma in Military Aviation. Chapter 10: Relevance . 71 Concern of staff over ADFA proposal. Discussion on course length. Staff and student morale low. Delay on ADFA and its effect. Relevance of the Science degree argued. The three-year course. Routine activities. Chapter 11: Condemnation . 81 Transition to ADFA. Non-degree studies reduced. Gradua tion status. Homosexuality, heavy drinking and behaviour generally. Attempts to tighten up discipline. HQSC investigation critical of all aspects. Conflict between military and academic objectives. Chapter 12: Transition . 93 Run-down of the Academy. The routine. Syllabus still not right. Some comparisons between College and Academy. Final graduation parade. Postscript . 101 Some observations on the merits of education versus voca tional training in the military field; appropriateness of university staffing; research achievements at the Academy; RAAF interest in its product; graduate performance; and the value of internal tertiary education systems. The New Direction (by Group Captain PW. Growder) . 107 Appendixes List of Senior Staff ...........................................................................111 Charter for the Royal Australian Air Force College ...........................................113 The Academy Aim ..........................................................................115 Statute of Affiliation with the University of Melbourne ........................................117 Winners of Major Awards....................................................................119 Graduates of the RAAF College/Academy ....................................................121 File References . 130 iv Foreword by Air Marshal Sir Valston Hancock, KBE, CB, DFC The RAAF Air Power Manual (p.35) points out that air power ‘has evolved with the realisation that it is a different form of combat power in a unique environment and is at its most flexible when regarded as a single entity rather than “penny packeted” out’. The early leaders of the RAAF chose to develop the institution for training the officers of this new force as a separate college rather than an annexe to either of the existing Service colleges. In particular they sought by this means to produce an esprit de corps in welding the components of the new force into a single entity. This history records the beginning of that College and the subsequent problems and assessments which accomp anied its progress. There is perhaps a tendency to see the air service as a band of gladiators concerned solely with hurling their machines around the skies in search of national enemies to destroy in the air or on the land and sea. This of course is the ultimate aim of an aircrew career, but it must be seen in its right perspective. The capacity to operate a weapons platform and its accessories can be likened to the surgeon with his scalpel and supporting services. Without that equivalent skill the RAAF General Duties officer has little professional competence. A great deal of debate surrounded the importance of aircrew training in the College syllabus, which at times obscured other qualifications and qualities sought of graduates. The College charter was not only to develop a knowledge of the new force, its power and its application, but to inculcate in each graduate the qualities of integrity, initiative, energy, determination and a know ledge of the humanities to make him a well- rounded member of the Australian community. And who will argue against the need today of these qualities, when we experience around us so much social damage for the lack of them? The history of the College reveals the friction which developed between the older leaders of the Service with their ‘hands on’ methods and the new generation fresh from graduation with a deeper academic background. Young Duntroon graduates also had to run the gauntlet of tests applied by their Army elders. The same reception greeted the Duntroon trained officer when he was seconded by the Army to the RAAF. It appears that the RAAF College graduates were also treated with some suspicion by their elders and reduced to the status of xcadet’ until they had proved their worth. A college training seemed to inflict a contemporaneous form of discrimination on its graduates as their competence in staff work resulted in their selection for mundane ground duties while their peers, less well trained in administrative duties, continued to enjoy flying duties. A limited analysis of this tendency seems to reveal that, notwithstanding, this handicap in flying experience, the College graduates held their own in meeting the acid test of operational flying. It is within the experience of this writer that some General Duties officers during the World War were shocked to learn, somewhat dramatically, that they might have occasion to place their own lives at risk if posted to active service on operational flying. It would be interesting to learn if the Australian Defence Force Academy and the newly re-established RAAF College makes a positive effort to imbue graduates with the dedication to accept such risks as a natural occupational hazard. It is clear from the contents of this history that the College had its growing pains in trying to meet the changing national defence environment. Had it been other wise it might have justified a suspicion that all was not well with the institution. It is worth remarking, however, that the College has avoided the public attention and derogatory image associated at times with Duntroon from unnecessary harassment of its junior class of students. The introduction of the Australian Defence Force Academy nullifies any attempt to draw conclusions about the relative merits of the first RAAF College system of training for General Duties versus the Flying Training School stream, as it is doubtful if sufficient time has elapsed since the introduction of the College in 1947. v However, it is pertinent to speculate
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