The Empire Air Training Scheme: Identity, Empire and Memory
Suzanne Jillian Evans
Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
November 2010
Department of Historical Studies The University of Melbourne
Produced on Archival Quality Paper
Abstract
This thesis charts the change in images surrounding the institution of the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) in both the Australian national narrative and individual accounts. Formed in response to the demands of aerial warfare in 1939, EATS was embedded in a cultural environment of Australian Empire relationships, masculinity and the technology of flight. In the collective narrative of the early war years EATS was proclaimed as the greatest sign of unity and Empire loyalty, yet in the decades following the end of the war it is difficult to discover any mention of the Scheme, and in the twenty-first century it no longer holds a place in Australian collective memory.
The purpose of this thesis is twofold. The first purpose is to provide reasons for the marginalization of EATS in the national narrative. While numerous negative aspects emerged to diminish recognition of the Scheme, I argue, two major influences worked to delete EATS from the Australian story namely, the decline of the position of Empire within the Australian context where EATS became an uncomfortable reminder of previous subservience to Britain, and, the redefining of the Anzac myth, as a central theme in Australian nationalism, which would not allow inclusion of the image of the elite airman
Entwined with the collective image is the second purpose of this thesis. This is to consider the response of individuals to their experiences in EATS and the ongoing change in the surrounding cultural influences as the individual aviator negotiates shattered lines of identity. Individual stories, I maintain, evoke responses not only to the national narrative but also, to the emotional challenges faced in initial combat as their trust in the concepts of Empire, masculinity and the romance of flight, was questioned. The testaments of veterans reveal individual solutions as they negotiate the challenges and in a tormented journey achieving a new identity that offers explanation for their experience in a rapidly changing world.
I propose, while it is important to study the institution of EATS and the lives of the aviators in their own right, in following the reshaping of images of EATS a variety of perspectives emerge, adding to the understanding and importance of the selective
iii nature of the national and individual identities we create, and the stories we choose to tell and when we choose to tell them.
iv
Declaration
This is to certify that:
this thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD except where indicated in the Preface,
due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used,
this thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, [92,517] exclusive of the bibliography.
Signed: ______
Suzanne Jillian Evans
Date: ______
v
Preface
My interest in the Empire Air Training Scheme arose when I was given a book, Survival of the Fortunate, written by John McCredie, who trained under the Scheme. The gift of the book came with the comments that the content highlighted the need for much work to be done to place EATS in a perspective of Australian experiences. As I read, I slowly realized that it was possible my own father had been involved in training with EATS and part of the combined allied air force. He, like so many others, had never talked about it and this increased my determination to explore the history of EATS and the reasons for its exclusion from the Australian public knowledge.
Deciding to formalize the investigation in an academic context, the University of Melbourne required I complete first a Graduate Diploma in History, and then a Post Graduate Diploma in History. During this time I continued to focus on areas related to EATS. In one subject, Oral History and Life Stories, I conducted interviews that related to Australia’s attitude to Britain in 1939, and when possible, I interviewed veterans of EATS. The material from some of these interviews has been used in this thesis. In 2008 work on the structure of this thesis began as a Master of Arts in History and in 2009 it became confirmed PhD Research.
vi Acknowledgements
My first expression of gratitude must be to the many individuals who so willingly agreed to be interviewed and answer the questions I directed around their experiences in EATS. Their answers were perceptive and articulate and they were unstinting in the time they contributed. Many offered personal papers that provided insight into the research. The bibliography has named each contributor but it is impossible to express the admiration and respect I hold for the modest and unassuming testimony of each one who was interviewed and whose words appear in this thesis.
There are many who have provided, help with extra information and contacts that were vital in advancing the research and I thank each for their generous assistance. Members of the Catalina Club, Odd Bods Association and the Royal Australian Air Force Association have offered access to materials, introductions and expressed interest in contributing to this research.
Without the dynamic, perceptive and yet gentle guidance of my two supervisors, Dr Mary Tomsic and Professor Joy Damousi, of the Department of Historical Studies, the thesis would not have found its final shape, and I thank both for their generous enthusiasm, encouragement and constructive advice. They both have my enduring admiration.
My final thanks must go to my family, Kate, John, Suzie, Joss, William, Alexandra, Georgie, Freddy, and Lily for their endless distractions and help in maintaining a sense of reality.
vii
Table of contents
Abstract ...... iii
Declaration ...... v
Preface ...... vi
Acknowledgements ...... vii
List of Abbreviations ...... ix
List of Illustrations ...... xi
Introduction: Evolution of the Image ...... 1
CHAPTER 1 Aerial War Comes of Age ...... 25
CHAPTER 2 This is a Man’s Job: Seduction and Production of the Image ...... 43
CHAPTER 3 This is Really It. The Image Under Fire ...... 74
CHAPTER 4 A Diminishing Image ...... 103
CHAPTER 5 Reconstruction of the Image ...... 129
CHAPTER 6 Reconciling Contradictory Images ...... 165
CHAPTER 7 The Masculine Image Challenged ...... 187
CHAPTER 8 Reinventing The Image ...... 217
CONCLUSION The ‘I’ now and the ‘I’ then ...... 245
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 251
viii List of Abbreviations
ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation
AIF Australian Imperial Forces
BCATP British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
CBC Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
CO Commanding Officer
DFC Distinguished Flying Cross
DFM Distinguished Flying Medal
DSO Distinguished Service Medal
EATS Empire Air Training Scheme
LMF Lack of Moral Fibre
PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
RAF Royal Air Force
RAAF Royal Australian Air Force
RSL Returned and Services League of Australia
SLV State Library of Victoria
SWPA South West Pacific Area
WAAF Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
VD Volunteer Decoration
ix
x List of Illustrations
Figure 1 Postcard Kingsford Smith and Ulm...... 49 Figure 2 This is a man’s job...... 51 Figure 3 Publicity image for recruits...... 53 Figure 4 Men embarking for further Training with EATS...... 54 Figure 5 Charles Kingsford Smith ...... 55 Figure 6 Leonard Waters ...... 57 Figure 7 Wings over Europe ...... 58 Figure 8 Poster for the Recruitment Campaign ...... 65 Figure 9 Bomber Crew ...... 84 Figure 10 At The Churchill Club: large and small worlds...... 86 Figure 11 Argus Publicity Photograph for the Empire Air Training Scheme...... 87 Figure 12 Halifax Crew...... 88 Figure 13 Wounded Gunner ...... 95 Figure 14 Rear Gunner in a Halifax Bomber ...... 99 Figure 15 'Grey Nurse' by Donald Friend...... 100 Figure 16 RAAF Victory Parade...... 105 Figure 17 Commemorative Plaque, Shrine of Remembrance Melbourne...... 137 Figure 18 Commemorative Plaque, Griffith, N.S.W...... 138 Figure 19 Memorial Plaque at Somers...... 139 Figure 20 Memorial to Eight English Airmen ...... 141 Figure 21 BCATP Memorial Gates at 8 Wing Trenton, Ontario...... 142 Figure 22 Photograph from ‘Valuing our Veterans.’ ...... 159 Figure 23 Commemorative Ceremony Somers...... 245
xi Introduction: Evolution of the Image
I did not imagine that all my life I would look back on experiences, questioning myself about it, reading critics’ opinions of it. Nor would I have believed the Empire Air Training Scheme would close its doors forever, much less believed that Australian generations would arise who would scorn our loyalty to the Empire.1
In 2008 I listened to these words as I interviewed Don Charlwood expressing the intense emotional impact he felt on his own identity of the experiences in the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS). The image he presented was one of a sense of discontinuity, a rupture between past and present, represented in the division and tensions between the collective and individual memories of EATS. In his narrative, Charlwood also confronted the challenges met in such contradictions, searching for continuity in linking past experiences with his present identity. The certainty of beliefs of the young recruits to EATS had been shattered, first in their own experiences in combat, then through the changing Australian cultural framework that pushed the past from the present, and was further compromised by individual emotional responses and a sense of alienation.
The purpose of this thesis is to explore and chart the change in images surrounding EATS, evidenced in the national narrative and in individual accounts. In both public and private lives, involvement in EATS resulted in a series of disconnecting experiences. The institution of EATS was embedded in an environment that was to experience an upheaval in social and cultural values forcing the renegotiation of identities. Within this framework two central contexts for investigation emerge. First, an understanding of the changing position of EATS in the Australian narrative as it linked to the transformation of social and cultural values
1 Don Charlwood Interview conducted 18 July 2008. Similar sentiments were expressed in his book Journeys into Night, Melbourne: Hudson Publishing 1991, 268. Charlwood served as a navigator, in 103 Squadron, in Bomber Command, flying over 30 operations over Europe.
1 from the 1930s, to post war decades. The fundamental change in these values provides an explanation for the marginalization of EATS. In the second context, the focus of investigation falls on individual veterans, such as Charlwood, caught in the upheaval, and their reaction as their expectations were brought under scrutiny, unsettling their place in society causing them to renegotiate an identity. In the process of reworking identities, undermined by the challenges of change, both the collective and the individual exercised the inclusion and exclusion of certain events within the public and private realms of history. Such changes in values and identities are given a narrative record in memories. Thus to understand the shaping of images I position the representation of EATS in the broader framework of memory construction and identity formation.
It is the peripheral position of EATS that I wish to address in writing this thesis. Little has been written about the air training scheme and it has not featured in the mainstream of Australian historiography.2 Historians such as Joan Beaumont, Hank Nelson and John McCarthy have noted that the area surrounding the Empire Scheme has been neglected and the Scheme has become a forgotten institution in Australian history.3 Mention has been confined to the work of military historians who have concentrated on the tactics and campaigns of the aerial war 1939-1945. The focus has been on the events, strategies, battles and personalities that shaped the course of the war.4 While there has been an outpouring of squadron histories and individual
2 See for examples: G. Davison, J. Hirst, S. Macintyre, Oxford Companion to Australian History Melbourne: Oxford University Press 1998, S Macintyre A Concise History of Australia Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. 3 Joan Beaumont, Australia’s War 1939-1945 St. Leonards: Allen and Unwin, 1995. Hank Nelson, Chased by the Sun. The Australian Bomber Command in World War II Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, 2002. John McCarthy, The Last Call of Empire Australian Air Crew and the Empire Air Training Scheme Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1998. 4 See for example: Allan Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2001. Frank Johnson, ed. RAAF over Europe London Eyre& Spottiswoode, 1946, David Vincent, Catalina Chronicle: a history of RAAF operation Paradise South Australia: D.Vincent, 1978. Richard Reid, Victory in Europe 1939-1945: Australians at war in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe Canberra: Department of Veteran Affairs 2005. George Jones, From Private to Air Marshal Melbourne: Greenhouse Publications, 1986.Specific squadron histories: David Wilson. The decisive factor: 75&76 squadron Brunswick Victoria: Banner Books, 1991. David Horner, High Command: Australia and Allied Strategy 1939-45 Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1982.
2 memoirs in more recent years, these have chosen to ignore EATS and concentrate on the adventure of aerial combat, representing the pleasure culture of war.5
In the only complete volume devoted to EATS John McCarthy suggested, in Last Call of the Empire, the need for further work.6 The title of his study suggests the decline of the importance of Empire in Australia, but the application of his text remains on military organization outlining obvious problems with the structure needed for the large scale technology.7 Hank Nelson, in Chased by the Sun, focused on Bomber Crew using personal reminiscences from the Australian men in Bomber Command. While placing EATS within an individual context, and acknowledging the lack of recognition given to the institution, he has not positioned EATS within a broader cultural context of rupture and consequent discontinuity, which is one of the aims of this research. This thesis will argue that at the end of the 1930s Australia was on the cusp of transition embracing the past, of loyalty to Empire and traditions, and the new attraction of air technology, yet about to confront the future that would shatter the stability of values embodied by this loyalty. EATS was formed within this cultural context with set attitudes towards the world and the place Australia occupied. Such attitudes would be contested in the course of the aerial war that would end in the reworking of individual and collective images around EATS. To follow the position of EATS in the Australian cultural scene allows a survey of some of the themes that transformed the identity of both Australia and the veterans of EATS in the post war decades. In writing this thesis I hope to contribute to an understanding of these cultural changes that explain the marginalization of EATS in Australian history.
To contextualise the Scheme a brief outline of the background of EATS is necessary. The original idea of Empire co-operation to train a reserve of airmen surfaced in the imperial conference of 1926 but little was heard again of the suggestion until 1937.8 At this time, aware of the disparity of the power between the Luftwaffe
5 These texts will be examined later in the thesis. 6 John McCarthy, viii. 7 The need for airfield construction and maintenance crew, apart from flying crew was extensive and required technical skills and training. 8 J.L. Granatstein, Canada at War: The Politics of the Mackenzie King Government, 1939-1945 2nd edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press 1975 43. James S. Corum ‘The RAF in imperial defence,
3 and the RAF, two of the dominion high commissioners, Vincent Massey representing Canada and Stanley Bruce, representing Australia, advanced the idea of an Empire air training scheme but initial negotiations were plagued with trouble involving money, prestige and concepts of Imperial relations.9 The Scheme was finally instigated by Britain in September 1939, in the face of German aerial aggression and the successful Blitzkreig campaign against Poland.10 It was now essential for Britain to draw heavily on the Dominions in search of air power to provide both men and materials for the British war effort.11 Never before, it was acclaimed at its inception, had a single military enterprise of such magnitude been arranged between nations of the British Commonwealth in so short a time.12 Incorporated into the institution of EATS, the Royal Australian Air Force grew from modest beginnings of one hundred and forty three aircrew in 1939, to one hundred and eighty eight thousand men and women in uniform by 1945.13 They flew in every major theatre of war: Britain, the Middle East,
1919-1956’ in Greg Kennedy (ed.), Imperial Defence: The old world order 1856-1956. London: Routledge, 2008,160-163. 9 James Eayrs, In Defence of Canada, vol 2 Appeasement and Rearmament, Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1965, 104-105. Douglas Gillison, Australia in the War of 1939-1945 Series 3- Air, vol. 1, 79. J.L.Granatstein, Canada’s War: The Politics of the Mackenzie King Government, 1939-1945 43. 10 Lieutenant Colonel M.M.L Rafter, The NATO Aircrew Training Program in Canada. www.cfc.forces.gc/ca/papers/csc/csc34/mds 11 In Canada the Scheme was early named the Joint Plan, Joint Air Training Plan and Joint Air Training Scheme before being named the British Commonwealth Air Training Scheme. 12 Such sentiments were expressed in 1939 by Prime Minister Menzies Broadcast 11 October 1939, media coverage, and in later interviews. 13 Various estimates of the total number given vary according to the criteria used. Air Vice-Marshal George Jones, War Report of the Chief of the Air Staff, Royal Australian Air Force, 3rd September 1939 to 31 December 1945, To the Minister of Air, (Melbourne: February 1946). "In all, we had trained to the advanced stage in Australia during the currency of the scheme no fewer than 27,387 aircrew, of whom 10,882 were pilots, 6,071 were navigators, and 10,434 were wireless operator air gunners and air gunners. In addition we had sent 4,760 elementary trained pilots, 2,282 navigators and 3,309 wireless operator air gunners for further training in Canada - a total to Canada of 10.351. We also sent 674 trainees from initial training schools for pilot training in Rhodesia."21 Earlier in his report Jones discusses the difference between training personnel for EATS and those for RAAF squadrons for the defence of Australia even though it appears that common training facilities were used for both. He makes a clear distinction between the EATS training aircrew for service with the RAF in Europe - and the training of personnel to serve with the RAAF for the defence of Australia and in the South West Pacific. Dr Alan Stephens confirmed, ‘ the entire RAAF training system, regardless of where an individual eventually served, fell within the original concept of EATS. Email reply to my query, 6 February 2008 [email protected] Joan Beaumont ed. Australian History of Defence VI, Sources and Statistics, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2001. Gives figures of 215,628 Air Strength 1939-45, 218.
4 the Mediterranean, Burma, South East Asia and the South West Pacific area.14 It is maintained, where there was an aerial operation a member of the RAAF trained under EATS was sure to be a participant.15
The Scheme was announced on October 11, 1939 and by March 1940, 11,500 Australian young men responded to the challenge to join the ‘Empire Air Armada.’16 A belief in the unity of the Empire and Australian obligations echoes in the words of the Australian Minister for Air, Mr. J.V. Fairbairn, claiming ‘Australian youths respond to the German menace. They are typical of the British fighting men and determined to face the present situation for the sake of a decent future.’17 In announcing EATS Prime Minister Menzies also enthused about the allegiance:
I have no hesitation in saying that this great Empire air scheme is not only the most spectacular demonstration of Empire co-operation that the war has produced…It has further significance for us in that our interest in this war is not founded only upon our sentiment as British people; it is founded upon the cold fact that our own existence is at stake. If Great Britain is victorious, as we believe she will be, the security of Australia is preserved… The Australian Government is participating in this Empire air scheme in order to help to attain that air superiority which render the heart of the Empire more secure from air attack; to assist in the protection of Singapore and other vital centres overseas; to strengthen the air forces of the Allies, and to provide a powerful deterrent to aggression against Australia.18
In 1939, politicians reflected the belief of the centrality of Empire to the Australian identity and as members of the British Empire it was the duty of Australian men to serve, and also inspired by the opportunity to fly, they rushed to enlist.
14Air Vice Marshall Sir George Jones ‘When the war ended the total strength of the Royal Australian Air Force serving in the Pacific Theatre was 131.662, including 14,589 officers.’ War report of Chief of Air Staff, 13. 15 Odd Bods information sheet supplied by George Smith, Hon. Secretary Odd Bods, 19 August 2010. 16 The press and politicians used this term to describe the Empire Air Training Scheme forming links with the historical past of Britain and the new concept of air warfare see The Canberra Times, 27 December1939, 2. 17 The Canberra Times 18 May1940, 5. 18 Robert Menzies. Broadcast: Empire Air Training Scheme. Australia Plays Her Part, 11th October 1939.
5 Yet within several decades EATS had faded from public memory.19 It is rare that public mention is made of EATS, and Australian military historians have retrospectively denounced the organization of the Scheme claiming the men who enlisted in EATS were betrayed both by the Australian and British governments as the RAAF was reduced to cannon fodder.20 Denunciation was supported by statements that suggested the Scheme was managed with a disdain for national sensibilities, which bordered on contempt.21 Further criticism was that Britain had pursued a powerful self-interest, viewing the Dominions’ sensibilities as mere background noise.22 More scathing were claims by John McCarthy, that the memories of the South West Pacific air war ‘are best avoided. It was a backwater war lacking in purpose.’23 Such transformation of images related to EATS within several decades invites inquiry into why we choose to tell the stories we do and when we tell them.
The way images adapt to different situations meeting the needs of different people at different times provides the point of departure for this thesis to explore the changing images around the institution of EATS. This introduction covers four sections. The first section identifies the key cultural elements that provided the framework for the original concepts of EATS in 1939. Each of these concepts; Empire, masculinity and the fascination of flight, occupied a place in the identity of both the individual and collective and, through the following decades, each would be scrutinized and reworked, illustrating the modern notion of historical discontinuity. It is an exploration of these themes that will frame an understanding to the evolution of the images surrounding EATS. The second section outlines the key disciplinary literature associated with memory studies and identity theory. It is within these theories that explanations for the reconfiguration of images are found. In the third, I provide an overview of the sources from both the collective and individual spheres
19Joan Beaumont ed. Australia’s War 1939-45 19-20. Hank Nelson, Chased by the Sun Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2002, ix, 275-276. 20Alan Stephens, ‘The Royal Australian Air Force in 1941’ Paper given at the Australian War Memorial 2001 History Conference. www.awm.gov.au/events/conference/2001/stephens.htm accessed 2 January 2008. 21 Ibid. 22Alan Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force Melbourne: Oxford University Press. 2001.64. 23John McCarthy, ‘An Obscure War? The RAAF and the SWP Experience 1942-1945’, The proceedings of the 1993 RAAF History Conference held in Canberra 14 October, 1993, 139-40.
6 that are used to explore the changes that have occurred in images around EATS. The last section provides an outline of the chapters in this thesis.
Empire, Masculinity and Flight
In Australia the institution of EATS and its operation were constructed around three major concepts: Australian-Empire relationships, masculinity and the technology of flight. Each of these formed part of the Australian social and cultural collective identity of 1939 and as such impacted upon individual identity. Each contributed in different ways to the conception and initial success surrounding EATS and each, although for very different reasons, would be subjected to various influences, both in the aerial war of 1939-1945 and in the following decades, forming part of the continual restructuring of the past. Filtered and manipulated, adjusted to the demands of particular situations, these values of the late 1930s would, over the decades, produce the collective and individual memories that survive around EATS in the twenty first century.
Empire
The contribution of concepts of Empire to Australian cultural and political values has preoccupied an increasing place of prominent interest among Australian historians as they reflect on the changing nature of Australian identity. In the 1930s the centrality of Empire to Australian identity was expressed in the inspirational words scripted for Governor Phillip in a 1938 sequicentenary celebration in Sydney: ‘It is now fitting that we should turn our minds to the purpose underlying this enterprise which is to plant a fresh sprig of Empire in this new and vast land. It may be that this country will become the most valuable acquisition Britain has ever made.’24 In 1939, politicians were committed to Empire in the unquestioning embrace of EATS as recorded in an Argus graphic ‘The Cubs are with you, Dad.’25 In records of men enlisting and in later interviews all reminisced on the importance of Britain in their
24 Governor Phillip’s Speech typescript, NSWSA, 9/2444A.2, 1 cited in Julian Thomas, ‘1938: Past and present in an elaborate anniversary,’ Australian Historical Studies 23, 91, 1988 77-89. 25 Argus June 19, 1940, 4, saved in Keith Dunstan’s scrap book S.L.V. MS 10469
7 lives.26 Stuart Ward is one of many scholars to maintain that for much of the twentieth century Australian actions were influenced by the belief Australia was a ‘British country.’ ‘Sentimental assumptions about the worldwide community of British peoples underpinned the sense of an organic imperial community of mutual self-interest.’27 The events of World War II would bring ‘Britishness’ under scrutiny and following decades would find its centrality completely revised. Formed in complete subordination to Britain, the once highly praised institution of EATS would be one to suffer under the reworking of this identity. A wide academic and national interest in Empire–Australian relationships has documented changes and suggested reasons for the deletion of Empire from Australian identity.28 It is within this context that the institution of EATS must be positioned. From its inception in Australia, both the individual airmen and the nation were linked to the Empire, and as the Scheme was placed in operation, both nation and individual would encounter the direct impact of the subsequent experience on their identity. Once Japan entered the war, the focus of Australian participation was centered on the Pacific with diminishing recognition of the role of Australian airmen in the European theatres. As the influence of Empire declined and Australian loyalties to Britain were questioned in the following decades, the unity expressed in the institution of EATS would become an uncomfortable reminder of past imperial ideals that would emerge to haunt the government in later years and provide a major contribution to the erosion of the image of EATS.
Masculinity
The link between masculinity and war was firmly established with Australian involvement in World War I, and the importance of war entered into the national
26 for most recent views see James Curren, Stuart Ward, The Unknown Nation- Australia after Empire Melbourne University Press: Carlton Victoria, 2010, examines Australia’s search for identityand the receding ties of Britishness since the 1960s and 70s. 27 Stuart Ward, ‘Sentiment and Self Interest,’ Australian Historical Studies, 32, 116, 2001,91. 28 See for example Stuart Ward, Australia and the British Embrace: The Demise of the Imperial Ideal Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2001; British Culture and the End of Empire ed., Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001; Australia's Empire ed. with Deryck Schreuder, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2008. In 1939 Australia shared a dual loyalty both to the nation and to the Empire. This has been documented by historians, see, Joan Beaumont Australian citizenship and the Two World Wars.’ The Australian Journal of Politics and History, 2007, 171. Stuart Macintyre, ‘Australia and Empire’, Robin Winks ed. The Oxford History of the British Empire vol.v.
8 identity. Scholars have established that by 1939 the Australian cultural heritage had already developed the concepts of masculinity, hardihood, courage, and resourcefulness from the Australian bushman.29 In the broader context the links between masculinity and war have been well documented defining two areas of influence. First, the concept of masculinity was traditionally linked to the site of military action where manliness could be attained through the glory of war.30 Second was the heroic sense of responsibility linking the state and the individual in the duty to serve. Graham Dawson has defined the cultural link between masculinity and war in Soldier Heroes. Masculinities are lived out in the flesh but fashioned in the imagination, with the most durable form of idealized masculinity the soldier hero, is his theme.31 George Mosse provided further support in applying theories of masculine dominance directly to the emergence of the aviator hero.32 He was one to recognize, that while the warrior was the dominant male, the airman was seen as the elite.33
The duty to serve had long been embedded in concepts of masculinity, finding its origin in the code of chivalry.34 Duty to serve was part of the Australian cultural scene.35 Part of every child’s daily mantra in Australian schools included, ‘I honour the
29 Marilyn Lake, ‘Mission Impossible. How men gave birth to the Nation. Nationalism, Gender and other Seminal Acts.’ Gender and History 4. 1992. Marilyn Lake and Joy Damousi, eds. Gender and War: Australians at war in the twentieth Century Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1995, 11. 30 Graham Dawson, in Soldier Heroes: British Adventure, Empire and the imaginings of masculinities London: Routledge, 1994, has covered the construction of masculinity as it centres around the glory of war and the attainment of heroism as an ideal. 31 Graeme Dawson, Soldier Heroes, 2-3. 32 George Mosse, The Image of Man New York: Oxford University Press 1996. Mosse links masculinity to nationalism, and image of the masculine body. 33 See Michael Paris who has identified the elitism of the aviator warrior in, The Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation nationalism and popular cinema Manchester: Manchester University Press 1995. and ‘The Rise of Airmen: The origins of Air Force Elitism 1890-1918,’ Journal of Contemporary History, 28, 1, 1993, 123-141. 34 Allen Frantzen, Bloody Good: chivalry, sacrifice and the Great War Chicago: University of Chicago Press 2004, 121. Also books such as Kenelm Digby’s, The Broad Stone of Honour. The True Sense and Practice of Chivalry London: Booker published 1823 as a ‘book of rules for the gentlemen of England,’ traced the history of chivalric heroes who sacrificed for their country, outlining their sense of duty, loyalty, obedience, devotion and honour with a romantic longing for these values to be returned to the youth of England. He concluded, ‘chivalry reminds us why there is war: … because ideas and traditions can be worth dying for—and worth killing for.’ 35 One example was Baden Powel’s Scout movement, Young Knights of the Empire. With the motto Training scouts for manhood, it was established in Australia in 1908 and promoted the spirit of self discipline, self regulation sense of honour, helpfulness to others, loyalty and patriotism which go to making good character.
9 flag, serve the King, and cheerfully obey my parents, teachers and the law.’36 It is within such concepts of masculinity, and its evolving values, that the images of EATS must be viewed. It was the pleasure culture of war, linked to masculinity and the image of the chivalric knight of the air that would be severely tested by the aviators as they entered combat. Yet in charting the history of the images surrounding EATS, it became increasingly evident that certain values and core beliefs cannot easily be extracted from the sense of identity, and the power of the masculine image survived in later decades. While this thesis examines only the specialized military environment of the Australian airmen, it reflects on subjective experiences and the negotiation through the challenges to masculinity, and thus it may illustrate the much broader issues of gender, emotional life, and the creation of a national myth.
Romance of the air
The 1930s witnessed a love affair with flight that has been evocatively documented by Robert Wohl.37 Popular culture tapped into the realisation of this long held fascination with new technology and the development of new frontiers of flight. Although technically necessary, air power in the 1930s touched the romantic mind.38 The adventure of flying, the conquest of speed and space, the technology, the loneliness of the pilot and the conquest of the sky, where the gods lived, had the makings of a myth.39 It captured the imagination of many young Australian men. Yet the war in the air would take the image in a new and darker direction.40 It was the pace of technology that introduced many changes into the reality of war, creating an environment where those in combat would experience conditions hitherto unimagined.
36 Don Charlwood, interview in Wings of the Storm. 37 Robert Wohl A Passion for Wings: Aviation and the Western Imagination 1908-1919 New Haven, London: Yale University Press 1994, The Spectacle of Flight Aviation and the Western Imagination 1920-1950 Melbourne: University of Melbourne Press, 2005. 38 Donald Cowie, War for Britain. The Inner Story of Empire London: Chapman and Hall, 1941. 42. 39 George Mosse, Fallen Soldiers, Oxford: Oxford University Press 1990.120. 40 The history of the development of air power in war began with Walter Raleigh in The War in the Air Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1922, and was followed by air activists such as Sir Hugh Trenchard who constantly fought to have the air force power recognised. He was supported by a growing public voice including P.R.C. Groves, Our Future in the Air London: Hutchinson 1929, A.O. Pollard The Royal Air Force London: Hutchinson & Co. 1929, E.L. Gossage, The Royal Air Force, London: William Hodge, 1937, L.E.O. Charlton, War from the Air London: Thomas Nelson, 1935, and J.M. Spaight, Air Power and War Rights London: Harper Collins 1924.
10 In this area there is a paucity of literature surrounding the individual.41 While the public fascination with the power of flight continues, there is little articulated around the sense of disempowerment and alienation that were encountered by the individual in experiences of aerial warfare.
A further aspect becomes important in the development of the image of the airman in the Australian narrative. Embedded in the image of the pilot was an anti- egalitarianism that opposed the later projected Australian identity. The technical advancement of air power aligned itself with a belief that the ‘men who conquered the sky belonged to a special breed.’42 Manning Clark succinctly expressed the Australian view of the aviators when he claimed they ‘spoke and acted like followers of the Australian versions of Vitalism and Nietzschism.’43 One underlying premise of this thesis is the perception of elitism surrounding EATS as a reason for its erosion from the collective memory. In the Australian ethos surrounding the Anzac legend, there is little room for elitism, and as the image of national self-sacrifice and de- personification has developed around this myth, EATS has struggled to find a place in national interpretations.
The core values of Empire, masculinity, and the sophistication of flight combined in a complex relationship under the institution of EATS, and within their concepts and evolving values, a perspective on the scarcity of recognition for the institution may be found. To develop this inquiry and provide an answer, the first step is to establish an understanding of the theoretical analysis of memory and identity. It is in these broad contexts that images of EATS are filtered and formulated to be included or excluded in individual and collective narratives.
Memory and Identity
41 This has recently been recognised by several historians interested in cultural aspects of aviation including Martin Francis, The Flyer British Culture and the Royal Air Force 1939-1945 Oxford: Oxford University Press 2010. 42 Michael Paris, ‘The Rise of the Airmen: The Origins of Air Force Elitism, 1890-1918’, 124. 43Manning Clark, ‘ Heroes,’ Daedalus, 114, 1985, 67.
11 The concepts of Empire, masculinity and the power of flight provide the historical ingredients in images constructed around EATS. These initial concepts have been orchestrated to form public and private memories and identities. The evolving images illustrate the formative ways of an historical process, the continual production of the new as the individual and the nation place themselves in an historical position of legitimacy. The process of emerging memory and identity, finds explanation in the surrounding theoretical schools in these fields. The key disciplinary literature in both memory and identity construction is extensive and often the two inter-relate. Together they provide an insight of how images can be added to, or meanings and values subtracted, as they develop in both the individual and society. In my analysis I have used an eclectic approach selecting aspects from many different methods recognizing, as Ashplant, Dawson and Roper have, there is a variety of approaches, each influential but each tied to a particular historical context and responses to its characteristic political and cultural concerns.44 Thus they suggest drawing on elements from all approaches.45 I offer here only a brief overview of the extensive literature in both fields.
First outlined are concepts of identity and memory surrounding the collective image. It is in the Australian national identity that EATS has been marginalized and to follow the reasons for its obscurity forms a central part of my thesis. The development of Australian identity has attracted extensive academic literature but my purpose was to explore how and why certain events are written out of national narratives. Thus an examination of identity theory emerged. Theories of national or collective identity span disciplines of sociology, social psychology, anthropology and history. A general definition of collective identity is of a group that shares common interests, experiences, values and beliefs. Eric Hobsbawm argued that tradition is invented as a set of practices normally governed by overtly or tacitly accepted rules and of a ritual or symbolic nature, which seek to inculcate certain values and norms of behavior by repetition, which automatically implies continuity with the past.46 His work is
44 T.G. Ashplant, Graham Dawson, Michael Roper, The politics of War Memory and Commemoration London: Routledge 2000,15. 45 Ibid. 15. 46 E. Hobsbawm and T Ranger, ed. Invention of Tradition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983, 3.
12 supported by a vast array of literature.47 It is central to this thesis to understand construction as a means of control, first in the application to the images of recruitment and then in the restructuring of the Australian national identity in later decades. Hobsbawn acknowledged such reconstruction in images. He argued that concepts of identity need not be static and rapid transformations in society weaken and destroy the social patterns for which traditions have been designed producing new traditions.48 Such a transformation, conforming to changes in culture and society, has governed the image of EATS.
Closely linked with identity construction is the current debate surrounding the complexity of memory. The two exist in a reciprocal relationship. The theory of the social construction of the memory for the collective, is best associated with Maurice Halbwachs claiming all memory depends, on the one hand, on the group in which one lives and, on the other, to the status one holds in that group.49 An alternative suggestion is that the collective does not possess a memory but only barren sites upon which individuals inscribe shared narratives.’50 While this debate will continue the disparate sources that collective memory draws upon and the multiplicity of cultural myths that are appropriated for various ideological or political purposes, interact to
47 See for example, Klaus Elder ‘A theory of collective identity,’ European Journal of Social Theory, 12, 4, 2009, 427. David Gross, The Past in Ruins. Tradition and the critique of modernity Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press 1992, 3. 48 Ibid. 4. 49 Maurice Halbwachs, On Collective Memory Translated Lewis A. Coser, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1992.As a result, Halbwachs concludes that there are no purely individual memories, i.e. memories that would belong only to the individual, and of which the individual would be the unique source. Joanna Bourke was one to counter this argument maintaining ‘The collective does not possess a memory, only barren sites upon which individuals inscribe shared narratives, infused with power relations.’ see Joanna Bourke, ‘Introduction. Remembering War.’ Journal of Contemporary History, 39. 4. 2004. 473. Also refer to Joan Beaumont, ‘Anzac Day to VP Day: arguments and interpretations.’ Journal of the Australian War Memorial 40, 2007, 3-12. Jay Winter’s work, Remembering war; the Great War between memory and history in the twentieth century, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006. Sites of memory, sites of mourning: the Great War in European Cultural History Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, Jay Winter and Emmanuel Sivens, ed. War and Remembrance in the twentieth century Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1999. Kate Darian Smith and Paula Hamilton, Memory and History in the Twentieth Century Melbourne: Oxford University Pres 1994.1 50 Joanna Bourke, ‘Introduction Remembering War,’ Journal of Contemporary History, 39, 4, 2004, 474.
13 form the stories we choose to tell at different times.51 This is examined in depth in this thesis.
The same reciprocal relationship exists with individual identity and memory. The individual narratives around the veterans of EATS are central to my examination. Aware of the rupture from original ideals faced by each individual in their personal experience surrounding EATS, it becomes essential to determine how identity was negotiated through these challenges. Interest in individual identity has been developed in areas of the social sciences and psychology. Erik Erikson first acknowledged the complexity of the construction of individual identity, its biological and psychological foundations and also of cultural contributions to which one both shapes and is shaped by the surrounding mileau.52 As the collective identity evolved the individual had to negotiate these changes. The process has been identified as one of constructing a life story.53 While the theories of identity appear as a social construct, recent appeals have been made by historians that internalized, psychological aspects be given greater recognition. Michael Roper is one to propose that the construction of memory as a psychological process be given more consideration, especially in the testimonies of war.54
Woven into identity were the memories in individual narratives. An understanding of the complexity of memory is needed to face the entanglements of the memories confronted in this thesis. Several tensions exist within the study of individual memory. Paul Ricoeur recognised memory has long been devalued as a
51 This is referred to by Lawrence Kritzman in ‘Remembrance of Things French’ in Pierre Nora, Realms of Memory: rethinking the French Past New York: Columbia University Press vol. 1, 1996- 1998, ix. 52 Jane Kroger, Identity Development. Adolescence Through Adulthood London: Sage Publications 2007, xi. 53 Life narratives are constructed to integrate diverse elements and create a ‘comfortable’ identity. Internalising the experiences, and coping with the emotional responses and interaction with the collective images was part of the psycho social construction of the memories and identities of veterans were formed. Also in this area research and the framework for interpretation is influenced by beliefs of Clifford Geertz, ‘that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance that he himself has spun.’ The Interpretation of Cultures London: Hutchinson, 1975. 54 Michael Roper, ‘Re- remembering the soldier hero: the Psychic and Social Construction of Memory in Personal Narrative of the Great War.’ History Workshop Journal, 50 2000, 183. Also see Michael Roper The Secret Battle. Emotional Survival in the Great War Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009.
14 source.55 Scholars have now gone beyond questioning the subjectivity of memory and recognise the subjectivity as part of its value.56 It is within this broad theoretical structure that the collective and individual images of EATS need to be placed. An understanding of the complexity of issues voiced around the theories of identity and memory development, provide a necessary structure to analyse the marginalization of the institution of EATS from the Australian dialogue and the way it is negotiated in individual stories.
Sources
The main focus for sources for this study has been built around images representing EATS and, through an exploration of these resources, I hope to map the changes to public representations of EATS, and how the individual aviator has navigated the challenges of the constant change over the decades. Images representing EATS came from numerous sources. First, contributing to the collective images were the early acclaims of the media and politicians whose initial applause for the Scheme as a symbol of Empire loyalty, were fast to fade, reflecting and contributing to the changing relationships as past ideals gave way to new visions. Newspapers of the period have been referenced as were air force publications 1939-1949, contributing to an overview of the attitudes of the time and their development.
Second, impacting on the changing image of EATS is the work of Australian historians and their contribution to the collective image. Historians’ presentations of the Scheme spanned from the late 1940s to the present day. In terms of historiography relating to EATS, operational history remained at the forefront of accounts of
55 Paul Ricoeur, Memory, History and Forgetting. Chicago: Chicago University Press, Paperback ed. 2006.6. 56 Scholars recognising the complexity of the individual memory are Alistair Thomson, Michael Frisch, Paula Hamilton, ‘The Memory in Historical Debates: Some International Debates,’ Oral History, 22 Autumn, 1994, 33-44. In this article they offer counter arguments to the criticisms that have been made of Oral History and Memory. Alessandro Portelli, The Death of Luigi Tratsulli and other stories: Form and Meaning in Oral History Albany: State University of New York, 1991, 46. Paul Thompson, The Voice of the Past: Oral History Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000,1 Paul Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory New York: Oxford University Press, 1975 In his writing Fussell, gives no analysis to the complexity that emotions may play in the distortion of memory.
15 Australian involvement in EATS.57 In this thesis they have been read not just as accounts of the Empire Air Training Scheme but also as cultural texts that reflect both the historiographical criteria of the time and a growing unease around Australia’s identity.58 As mentioned, the Scheme has not featured in the mainstream of Australian historiography.59 The area surrounding the Empire Scheme has been neglected and the Scheme has become a forgotten institution in Australian history.60 More recent articles of a military nature are harsh in their criticism of the institution and would not find easy acceptance in mainstream accounts.61
Additional sources are the letters and diaries of the men during their time of recruitment, training and combat, each recorded insight into their thoughts and reactions. Although diaries were forbidden for security reasons many have found their way into public archives.62 Other similar documents were provided by the men I interviewed, suggesting a longing for recognition of their experiences in EATS. Further sources reflecting reactions of men are found in poems and several reminiscences each expressing the tension between the actual experience and the initial expectations. Some were published while others I found among the papers of the men in collections held in the State Library of Victoria and the Australian War
57 See for example: Alan Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2001. Frank Johnson, RAAF over Europe, London Eyre& Spottiswoode, 1946, David Vincent, Catalina Chronicle: a history of RAAF operation Paradise South Australia: D.Vincent, 1978. Richard Reid, Victory in Europe 1939-1945: Australians at war in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, Canberra: Department of Veterans Affairs 2005. George Jones, From Private to Air Marshal, Melbourne: Greenhouse Publications, 1986.Specific squadron histories, The decisive factor: 75&76 squadron Brunswick Victoria: Banner Books, 1991. David Horner, High Command: Australia and Allied Strategy 1939-45 Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1982. 58 There are four official histories of the RAAF in World War II. Vol. I, Douglas Gillison, The Royal Australian Air Force, 1939-42 Canberra: AWM, 1962. Vol. II, George Odgers, Air War Against Japan Canberra: AWM, reprint 1968. Vol. III, John Herington, Air War Against Germany and Italy Canberra: AWM, 1954. Vol. IV, John Herington, Air Power over Europe 1944-45 Canberra: AWM, 1963. 59 See for examples: G. Davison, J. Hirst, S. Macintyre, Oxford Companion to Australian History Melbourne: Oxford University Press 1998, S Macintyre A Concise History of Australia Melbourne : Cambridge University Press, include no reference to EATS 60 Joan Beaumont, Australia’s War 1939-1945 Hank Nelson, Chased by the Sun. The Australian Bomber Command in World War II Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, 2002. John McCarthy The Last Call of Empire Australian Air Crew and the Empire Air Training Scheme Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1998. 61These are discussed in chapter V ‘Reconstructing the Image.’ 62 Frank Dimmick, mentioned this in an interview 29 October 2008. He said he was a ‘goody goody so didn’t keep one.’ It was feared by officials that diaries would contain secret information that would be dangerous if accessed by ‘the enemy.’
16 Memorial. The immediacy of such responses, written at the time, recording individual responses revealed the sense of discontinuity they experienced in the change between expectations and reality. Each of these sources revealed a developing rift between the officially represented identity and the individual image and this divergence hovered over each man as he struggled to make sense of his experience.
A watershed of memoirs, biographies and squadron histories, many self published, that appeared from the late 1980s provide an invaluable source. In their varying composition they present alternative ways that memories are composed and often they return to the original image of the aviator hero, conqueror of the sky.63 Analysing the self-reflection or lack of it becomes important in these images. Some have successfully romanticised the experiences of the airman. It is a comfortable way for men to compose their memories and these representations perpetuate the Edwardian myths of masculinity, the glory of war and the duty to serve all combined under the image of the aviator ace.
A series of interviews conducted by the Australian War Memorial between 1989 and 1990 of EATS veterans provide a specific representation of the Scheme.64 While this establishes a bridge to oral history the interviews need deconstruction. The interviewer often appears to ask questions that comply with a prescribed image and thus the responses offer a stereotyped image. The interviewees also play to a specific audience often recreating ‘the pleasure culture of war.’65 Emotions and silences in these interviews require interpretation. Similar interviews were conducted by the Canadian War Museum in the 1990s and these provide a valuable source of contrast.
63 Michael Paris is one to research the development of the aviator hero in Winged Warfare: the literature and theory of aerial warfare in Britain 1859-1917 Manchester: Manchester University Press 1992, From Wright Brothers to Top Gun: aviation nationalism and popular cinema Manchester: Manchester University Press 1995 64 Transcripts of these interviews are available on the AWM website, through the Rupert Murdoch sound library. They were recorded 1989-1991, but little information is available of the origins behind the project. 65 ‘Pleasure culture of war’ is a term used by Graham Dawson in Soldier Heroes: British adventure Empire and the imaginings of masculinity London: Routledge, 1990, and his analysis will be used later in this thesis.
17 The last source used is the interviews I have conducted with those survivors of EATS. The youngest would now, in 2010, be eighty-six. Not one had the same story and as I listened I developed the most unfathomable admiration for these men and their humility. I found this a most daunting part of my research. Although each of the interviews had been arranged through personal contact, I was unsure of how each interview would proceed. These interviews were used not as evidence but as examples of images to be analysed in search of individual responses to experiences of EATS. Although not agreeing with all his conclusions I modelled the interviews on those conducted by Alistair Thomson in Anzac memories.66 Thomson argued that over time the memories of veterans became interwoven with the public myth and changed overtime. What I ask in this thesis is how do the individuals who were involved in EATS, react when the collective image is negative, part of the ‘forgotten history.’ Aviators of EATS have not been given the support of a public myth so they have been forced to compose alternative ways of remembering to make sense of their past, renegotiating their memories and identities The interviews are a historical source, rich in interpretation of events often personal and subjective. I learned to listen as these elderly men related their recollections, often ignoring questions asked, intent to tell their stories.
Veterans revealed they were aware of the negative public image and fought to give an account of themselves, questioning what they thought were false claims. They developed what emerged as a counter image to the official version. This was represented in the words of Don Charlwood, included at the start of this chapter, and he was not alone in wanting to find public recognition for EATS. To listen to these men would counter any of the early criticisms of oral history being distorted by physical deterioration or nostalgia.67 Each was excited by the interest and they felt they were in some way contributing to the preservation of the image of the Empire Air Training Scheme.
66 Alistair Thomson, Anzac memories: living with the legend Melbourne: Oxford University Press 1994. 67 Such were early criticisms against oral history reported in Alistair Thomson, ‘Making The Most of Memories: the Empirical and Subjective Value of Oral History’. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 9, 1999, 291.
18
Chapter Outline
There are several themes in this thesis and I have tried to weave them through the chapters that advance chronologically. The first is the ongoing rapid change of society and culture that reshaped national and individual response to concepts surrounding EATS. Second and linked to change is the interaction between public and private responses to EATS and the reaction each had to surrounding cultural influences. The third, and also linked to change, is the selective nature of the identities we create, the stories we choose at particular times.
Chapter 1 places the concept of the Empire Air Training Scheme within the complex cultural fascination held in the 1930s with the concept of flight. The miracle of the conquest of the air appeared to guarantee the coming of a New Age.68 Yet the experience endured by the aviators during World War II illustrated the gulf between hopes and realizations as dreams were shattered. The institution of EATS was supported by the Australian visions and values of Empire and masculinity and each, in its own way, would be challenged by the rapid changes confronted during this period. The advances in aerial technology established important influences in three crucial areas that would have a subsequent impact on future images of EATS. First, was the development of new aerial power accompanied by strategies designed to maximize effectiveness that revolutionized the nature of combat in World War II. Second, the failure of Britain to upgrade airpower necessitated urgent action when war began and the result was the establishment of EATS. Third, the use of technology in aerial power led directly to unique and horrific experiences for the individual aviator for which there had been no previous concept directly questioning the glory of war by adding a new perspective to the destructive power of war. For both the Australian nation and the individual airman the impact of these experiences would create deep anxieties and contradictions that would manipulate future images.
68 Robert Wohl, A Passion for Wings: Aviation and the Western Imagination 1908-1919 New Haven, London: Yale University Press 1994, 1.
19 The focus of Chapter 2 is the initial presentation and response to the formation of EATS, and the illusion of opportunities the image presented. This is presented in two sections. First, the military and media institutions in constructing their recruitment campaign, concentrated on appealing to the love affair of the public with flight and the glamour of the dashing aviator. This was interwoven with masculine ideals of duty to serve, the glory of war, patriotic duties and loyalty to country and the Empire. It would prove to be an effective seduction campaign. The second part of the chapter turns to the individuals and examines their conformity to the illusion presented in the public image. Responses of recruits came from reviewing letters and diaries of the men. Central to all was the dominant image of flight reflected in their excited accounts of their initial experiences. They were able to enact their boyhood dreams of the intrepid flyer that had featured in the surrounding culture. They were doing ‘a man’s job,’ as the illusion suggested. Private papers indicated little awareness of the realities of air war they would encounter or how their values would be challenged.
The third chapter advances to the alarming disintegration of the imagined expectations as the aviator was confronted with aerial combat. Caught in a universe of events that they did not understand, the security of the trust they had placed in the social and cultural values was brought under question. The immediate reaction to the upheaval of previous beliefs reflected intense emotional shock; shock not in the medical sense but as a response to the collision between reality and illusion. Personal responses of the airmen were recorded first in their diaries where they expressed the unexpected violence of air war, and a sense of disbelief as the glory of war and the masculine role were unmasked and a loss of control encompassed responses. Experiences were a direct challenge to the promises, which had seduced them and undermined their own self-image. Such discrepancies introduced a further challenge in the arousal of new emotions and the need to discover a dialogue through which they could be articulated. Diaries, poems, and novels created by the airmen as well as commissioned artists provide the voice of ‘witness’ and illustrate the various responses and attempts to find immediate answers to their experiences. These varied between continuing to mythologise the poetic dream of the aviator warrior, and
20 expressions of despair and disillusionment, ‘forced to face with sober senses the real condition of their lives’.69
The principal subject of Chapter 4 is found in the decades immediately following the end of World War II examining the reaction of the airmen and the nation to the institution of EATS. The images upon which the Empire Scheme was founded had been questioned during the war and in the following years the acceptance of these values became more intermittent and then more blurred. The diminishing image was linked to the changing of Australian cultural values and political alignments that would place Britain and the Empire as ‘increasingly marginal.’ Such change would render the enthusiasm for an ‘Empire Scheme’ untenable, and unmentionable in the Australian identity. In this aspect it becomes an example of ‘which’ history is chosen to be told and identified as relevant to the present.70 The actuality of the destructiveness of air technology had also been witnessed compromising the promise of a new age. Responses to the dislocation included the denial of the image of EATS from a place in Australian history exposing the illusions of the past.
Chapter 5 covers the reconstruction of the collective image of EATS from the 1980s to the present day and this includes recognising the absence of the institution from the public discourse. In the post imperial age, Australia seemed intent to present a new identity to the world and such self-renewal would carefully select images that represented the ‘interests of the moment.’ This chapter also pursues the theme of the selection of which stories nations choose to tell and why they are chosen at the particular time. The construction of national identities, which in this case meant the exclusion of EATS from the Australian national narrative, becomes even more obvious by developing a comparison with representations in other Commonwealth nations who joined the Scheme. I have suggested that different relationships between Commonwealth countries and the Empire emerge, highlighting the formation of national identities, and collective memories are dependent on the selection of what becomes meaningful in the recreation of national identities, reconciling the
69 Karl Marx, The Manifesto, cited in Marshall Berman, All that is Solid Melts into Air 95. 70 Questions around these issues have been raised by recent historians see for example Joy Damousi ‘History Matters: The Politics of Grief and Injury in Australian History,’ Australian Historical Studies 118, 2002, 100.
21 contradictions between illusion and tradition, as images lost in the upheaval of the aerial war are retrieved.
The remaining three chapters, reflect the deep ambivalence and anxieties encoded in the experience of the aviators and their visions of the future, as decades later they continued to struggle to make themselves at home in a constantly changing world.71 Responses of the individuals are not monolithic and reflect the changing public responses towards Empire, masculinity and the glamour of flight. The memories that veterans built around their recollections to EATS involved negotiating a passage through the various elements that questioned their original values and beliefs.
In Chapter 6, the responses of the individual to the questioning of the place of Empire within the collective narrative are examined. Australian veterans were aware of the change in national allegiance and struggled to explain their original commitment. To emphasise the temporal contradictions experienced in the accounts of the Australian veterans, I reviewed recorded interviews with Canadians where the institution is awarded a venerable position in the national narrative. While certain aspects of their memories related a sense of disillusionment, there was no attempt to offer justification for their unity with Empire. Following the Canadian national narrative they perceived themselves as part of a united Allied Air Force and did not suffer the marginalization experienced by Australian airmen. While, in other ways, all airmen faced a comprehensive process of destruction not all were forced to experience the sense of dispossession.
Not only were Empire loyalties challenged but also the concepts of masculinity and Chapter 7 follows the confrontation to masculine images that were encountered in aerial warfare. These had been unforeseen and involved in the following decades negotiating emotional responses of fear and guilt as veterans reconstructed their identities around a comfortable narrative. To further understand the memories of veterans, this chapter places response to emotions within an historical context of
71Marshall Berman follows the ideas of the continual flux of modern living and adaption to this as necessary for survival.
22 changing cultural values. Once again in understanding the evolving images of EATS, veterans were forced to grapple with the ever-changing nature of the world.
Chapter 8 details a return to the individual recognition of the destruction of dreams of aerial warfare. Several veterans confronted the uncomfortable reality of the destruction and darkness encountered in aerial war. Others returned to creating new dreams in their narratives, mythologizing aerial warfare and selecting details that romanticize the image of the aviator; thus constructing a comfortable identity and the individual ways of coping with experiences surrounding EATS, is considered central in the interpretation of images of the individual veterans. The narratives of the veterans negotiate the complexities and contradictions to recreate themselves in the midst of constant change.
The images surrounding EATS expose a sense of discontinuity, a rupture between past and present represented in the division and tensions between the collective and individual memories of EATS. The purpose of this thesis is to chart the change generated as Australian culture and society constantly redefined itself, and to investigate how the individual aviator has negotiated such shattered lines of identity. It is through an exploration of these themes that an explanation for the deletion of events from history may be explained including the marginalization of EATS.
23
CHAPTER 1
Aerial War Comes of Age
Within the advancing technology of the twentieth century were visions that promised paradoxically both hope of an inspiring new future yet the possibility of ruin and destruction for the world. While aviation was seen as the symbol of a new age it also contained a dark uncertain side of the impact it would have in war. Aerial warfare began in World War I, but World War II saw the concept attain devastating maturity.1 It is within the context of this age of technological transformation and the accompanying modern aspirations and anxieties that the origins of the institution of EATS must be first viewed. The creation of EATS was a response to the age, and within the origins and organization of the institution can be found the tensions of creation and destruction fixed in the modern age technology.
An understanding of the technology of air warfare provides a necessary context before exploring the evolution of images attached to EATS. While the key purpose of this chapter is to provide an explanation of the role of technology on the institution and the combat action of the aviators, it is important to recognize how technical advances also linked to the mentality of the age. The celebrated side of aviation was as the ‘vanguard of the new conquering armies of the new age.’2 Technology had cultural and psychological dimensions, as Robert Wohl reminds us, in that our century has been ‘a voracious consumer of ideals and a relentless shatterer.’3 The spectacle of flight was a cultural inspiration encouraging a set of attitudes that in the dynamics of war would open to transformation and contribute to changing attitudes towards EATS. The interwar period was one where flying was seen as a sacred and
1 Jon Guttman, ‘Strategic Bombing Comes of Age’ World War II, 1998, 12, 7, 30. 2Le Corbusier, Air Craft New York: Universe 1985 6. Cited in Robert Wohl, The Spectacle of Flight Aviation and the Western Imagination 1920-1950 Melbourne: University of Melbourne Press, 2005, 277. 3 Robert Wohl, ‘Republic of the Air’ The Wilson Quarterly, 17, 2,1993, 107.
25 transcendent calling.4 In the age that embraced the potential of modernity Wohl’s stated, ‘No other machine seemed to represent as fully, human kind’s determination to escape from age-old limitations, to defy the power of gravity, and to obliterate the tyranny of time and space.’5 The universal cultural response celebrating the technology of flight was well established in Australia, as it offered solutions to communications in the vast interiors and the position of isolation in the world. While the world celebrated the achievements of Charles Lindbergh, Australia produced its own aviator heroes, Ross and Keith Smith, Bert Hinkler, Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm. The media portrayed each of these men and their aerial accomplishments as the embodiment of the idealised hero flourishing in the 1930s as Australia marched to nationhood. The spirit of flight, representing adventure, freedom and escape, was epitomized by the MacRobertson Air Race, from England to Melbourne in 1934. When interviewing Boz Pasons he recalled how, with his school friends, they plotted every step of the race and followed all other air expeditions.6 Such representations would give inspiration to young Australian men as they volunteered for EATS grasping their chance to become knights of the air. While embracing the concepts of flight, society and the individual were unprepared for all the advances it brought to aerial war. The reality of using technology in war was far from the idealized images of the aviator warrior that young recruits held. As the far darker side of aerial war and its potential became recognized this would end the romantic dream that flourished around flight.7
The technological transformation created a new form of combat heralding the importance of air power of World War II. It was the need for the co-ordination of technology on a vast scale that led to the creation of EATS. The new aerial technology also shaped the unique physical environment of combat that each aviator would experience. The aura surrounding the belief in the dominance of airpower and as the symbol of a new age, a means of liberation, would be shattered as the reality of the
4 Robert Wohl, The Spectacle of Flight Aviation and the Western Imagination 1920-1950, 2 5 Robert Wohl, The Spectacle of Flight Aviation and the Western Imagination 1920-1950, 2. 6 Interview Boz Parsons. Parsons remembered how he and his school friends plotted every part of the race, and followed all other air expeditions. He was to be a pilot with Bomber Command and was awarded a D.F.C. 7 Robert Wohl, The Spectacle of Flight Aviation and the Western Imagination 1920-1950, 213.
26 destruction of aerial combat was witnessed. The experiences of the individual aviator and the nation embedded in EATS would result in a loss of certainty, a new consciousness of uncontrollable change, that would destroy the image of the 1930s establishing the airplane as the foremost symbol of the twentieth century. The result of such conflict would create enduring tensions that would impact on the images formed around EATS in the Australian narrative and in the stories of the individual aviators. The technology of air combat, as organized in EATS and the subsequent operational experiences, was woven to the concepts of Empire and masculinity and would influence these concepts directly and indirectly.
Aerial warfare comes of age. Machines and strategy
World War I brought the recognition of the importance of air superiority but not all powers acted with the same enthusiasm to encompass air power. David Edgerton in his essay on England and the aeroplane, despite arguing for the overall militancy of the nation claimed, ‘in the interwar years the liberal internationalism of the electorate and the politicians, the stinginess of the treasury and the technological conservatism of the Air Ministry ensured that by the 1930s England was peculiarly weak in the air.’8 However, the development of air power was embraced by the fascist states.9 Using the images of flight as man dominating nature representing a new era was seen as remarkably close to fascist ideals.10 These countries were to use air power as a weapon of terror and intimidation.11 Peter Fritzsche noted of Germany, ‘national survival in the twentieth century seemed to be a matter of accepting the novel terms of the ‘air future’. This meant preparing for air war and fashioning an air minded generation.’ 12
8 David Edgerton, England and the aeroplane: an essay on a militant and technological nation Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press in association with the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Manchester, 1992, xiii 9 Colin Cook, ‘The Myth of the Aviator and the Flight to Fascism’ History Today, 53, 12, 2003, 36. Peter Fritzsche, ‘Machine Dreams: Air mindedness and the Reinvention of Germany,’ The American Historical Review 98, 3 1993, 685. 10 Colin Cook, 89. 11 Robert Wohl, The Spectacle of Flight Aviation and the Western Imagination 1920-1950, 228. 12 Peter Fritzsche, ‘Machine Dreams,’ 685.
27 The neglect of British politicians to develop air power persisted despite constant prompting from the military. The literature in Britain warning of the dangers of aerial war and the need to develop British aerial defence was substantial during the 1920s and 30s. Air correspondent to The Times in 1922 Brigadier Groves proclaimed the necessity of air power, predicting in Our Future in the Air, that air defence was fundamental to national and imperial safety. Observing government actions to reduce squadrons, Groves was dismayed at the vulnerable situation this would create for British defence, realising the dangers of aerial attack on Britain and he pressured the British Government to take action.13 A.O. Pollard had witnessed the devastation of trench warfare and was convinced of the superiority of air power.14 He extolled that ‘in a hundred ways the Royal Air Force had shown what it could do.’15 The air battles had demonstrated British superiority over other forces. ‘New technological developments,’ declared Pollard were essential to home defence ‘to protect us against air attack by the strongest air force.’16 By the late 1930s proponents of air power were confronting the appeasement policies of the British government and its denial of German air power and they were more impassioned in their pleas for action. In The Royal Air Force, written in 1937, Air Marshall Sir Leslie Gossage argued the vital necessity for air power development. The task was difficult, he wrote, when many held the view that the production of aircraft material was ‘nothing but a disastrous and wasteful competition.’17 He argued there should be far more emphasis on air power for the defence of the Empire.18 Air Commodore L.E.O. Charlton published over a dozen books on the necessity for air defence, from 1927 to 1947, making him a major lobbyist of the period. In 1935 in War From the Air he wrote vividly, ‘Flying started its military career Cinderella-like, under the jealous scrutiny of its two gaily caparisoned sisters, the Army and the Navy. It had to gate-crash into favor and now it
13 Groves was one of the first of a growing chorus to voice concern at the devastation of air attack. The moral issue of legitimate targets was being discussed in world-wide conferences. Concern was also expressed at the failure of governments to respond. See Paul Whitcombe Williams ‘Legitimate Targets in Aerial Bombardment.’ The American Journal of International Law 23, 3, 1929. 14 Ibid. 189. 15 A.O. Pollard, The Royal Air Force: A Concise History London: Hutchinson & Co. 1934. 217. 16 Ibid. 225. 17 E.L. Gossage. The Royal Air Force London: William Hodge 1937, 15. 18 Ibid. 9.
28 rules the roost.’19 More than many other writers Charlton was insistent in his condemnation of the British Government and their failure to respond to what he saw as an aerial Armageddon. Surveying the situation he wrote, ‘Had affairs of any nation in the world before been so mismanaged as the foreign policy of Britain?’20 The increasingly threatening international situation caused Charlton to become more passionate, claiming air power would become like ‘the monarchies of ancient times, the transient sway of which shaped and reshaped human affairs over vast stretches of earth.’21 The strategic use of air power and the terror it could inflict was also acknowledged. J.M. Spaight’s first book, Air Power and War Rights, published in 1924, established the theme he would continue:
The bombing of civilian objectives will be a primary operation of the war carried out in an organized manner and with forces which will make the raids of 1914-1918 appear by comparison spasmodic and feeble…The attacks on the towns will be the war.22
Spaight argued for air power, and the bomber especially, as the major contributor to winning any war. At a time when disarmament conferences were being held, Spaight maintained in Bombing Vindicated, that arguments against air power in the House of Commons were based on a lack of understanding of the horrors of trench warfare.23 In The Sky’s the Limit, he claimed air power was the source of national strength and the duty of the Empire to aid in this quest.24 Those with the benefit of experience and technical knowledge and a realistic appreciation of the potential of air power continued to act as a lobby group for the development of air power in the hope of influencing the British Government to take action. As international tensions increased, their recommendations for the development of air power became more impassioned, but their influence was minimal.
The same failure to act on technological advances was reflected in Australia. Reliance on Britain for defence was accompanied by the complacency of the
19 L.E.O. Charlton War From The Air London: Thomas Nelson 1935, 41. 20 L.E.O.Charlton More Charlton London: Longmans & Co.1939 295 21 Ibid. 88 22 J.M.Spaight. Air Power and War Rights London:Harper Collins.1924. 23 J.M.Spaight. Bombing Vindicated London: Geoffrey Bles.1940 7 24 J.M. Spaight. The Sky is the Limit London: Hodder and Stoughton 1940 11
29 Australian government, reflected in failure in the 1930s to develop air defence despite the loud advice of several influential Australians. Politician Billy Hughes, diplomat E.L. Piesse and industrialist Essington Lewis had all seen Australia’s vulnerability and recommended the development of air power. In 1935, Hughes published Australia and War Today in which he voiced his belief that air power had revolutionised war, and it was vital that Australia develop effective air defence.25 Essington Lewis, who would become director of munitions during World War II, had travelled extensively in Asia in the 1930s and realised the perilous position of Australia. In 1936 he began to negotiate for the formation of the Commonwealth Aircraft Cooperation to build Wirraway aircraft at Fisherman’s Bend. This opened in 1939 and would form the basis of Australia’s aircraft manufacturing during the war.26 In 1935 E.L. Piesse, writing as ‘Albatross’, advanced warnings about Japan and favoured the development of air power to build up Australian defences.27 He recommended that Australia should increase the spending on its air force. Despite such warnings little was done and in September 1939 the Royal Australian Air Force was far from adequate lacking both machines and air power. Such was the situation of aerial defence when World War II began.
While technology advanced, new strategies attached to aerial warfare were developed. The two main proponents of the new strategies were British Marshal of the RAF Sir Hugh Trenchard founder of the independent British RAF and Italian Colonel Giulio Douhet. In 1921 Douhet published Command of the Air in which he recognised the military potentially war-winning impact of aircraft. His theory was based on two assumptions. The first was the aeroplane was an offensive weapon without equal. The second was his belief that civilian morale would be shattered by aerial bombardment on population centres; so wars could be won by aerial attacks on cities.28 In this treatise Douhet contended that modern airpower rendered armies and navies largely obsolete. Aircraft could simply fly past them to strike at the heart of an enemy. As defence of the sky was all but impossible, once air superiority was established an
25 W. Hughes, Australia and War Today Sydney: Angus and Robertson. 1935. Chapter Air Defence. 26 The Age 27 January 1940, 3. 27 E.L. Piesse Japan and the Defence of Australia Melbourne: Robertson and Mullins, 1935, 48. 28 Guilio Douhet, The Command of the Air Translated by Dino Ferrari, New York: Coward McCann, INC, 1942, 30.
30 enemy was doomed to suffer continual bombardment. Command of the air meant victory. Douhet contended that the effects of sustained aerial bombardment on civilian populations would be so terrible that future wars would be short.29 Trenchard was as ruthless in his doctrine claiming, ‘Because the aeroplane was an offensive weapon it had to be guided by a policy of relentless and incessant offensiveness: the deeper British planes flew into German territory the better, almost without regard for the losses incurred or physical damage caused. He believed that the act of the offensive was essential because it granted the attackers a ‘moral superiority.’30 Three main beliefs guided Trenchard’s doctrine. These were that air superiority was an essential prerequisite to military success; airpower was an inherently offensive weapon; and that although airpower's material effects were great, its psychological effects were far greater. In a speech on 13 April 1923, he fleshed out these ideas: ‘In the next great war with a European nation the forces engaged must first fight for aerial superiority and when that has been gained they will use their power to destroy the morale of the Nation and vitally damage the organized armaments for supplies for the Armies and Navies… war was a contest between the “moral tenacity” of two countries, and if we could bomb the enemy more intensely and more continually than he could bomb us the result might be an early offer of peace.’31 Thanks largely to Trenchard and Douhet as the 1930s approached, the idea of strategic bombing as a means of breaking civilian morale was firmly entrenched into the military mindset.
Advances in aeronautical technology changed the way war could be fought. The first witness to this was the German bombing of the Basque capital of Guernica on April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. This was the first aerial attack in which terrorizing the population was the primary rather than secondary purpose.32 The Japanese would soon make a common practice of such terror raids on Shanghai, Nanking and other Chinese cities. After being dismissed by Western observers throughout the 1930s as a nation of second-rate imitators, Japan pursued an ambitious
29 Ibid. 30 Phillip Meilinger, ‘Trenchard and Morale Bombing: The Evolution of Royal Air Force Doctrine Before World War II,’ The Journal of Military History 6, 2, 1996, 243. 31 Sir Hugh Trenchard ‘Trenchard Speech, Buxton Speech 13 April 1923 Trenchard Papers AF Hendon Fil, II5/1- 57 cited in Meilinger, 243. 32 Refer to James S. Corrum, ‘The Spanish Civil War: Lessons Learned and Not Learned by the Great Powers,’ The Journal of Military History 62, 2, 1998.
31 program to modernize its air components. Those achievements, and the threat they represented, went largely unnoticed in the West, and the Allies would later pay dearly for their neglect. 33
Formation of the Empire Air Training Scheme
As indicated, historians now agree that English aviation was underdeveloped in the interwar years so when war broke out in August 1939 Britain was seriously under prepared.34 Initially ignoring the advance of aviation technology Britain had failed to match German rearmament in the air.35 Urgent action was needed to redress Britain’s apparent alarming vulnerability to German airpower.36 The solution to the problem of providing men and machines and coordinating a large technical organisation was found in the creation of the Empire Air Training Scheme.37 The solution was also based on the 1930s belief in reciprocal Empire cooperation between both the Australian and British authorities. It was at this point the tradition of Empire united with the development and management of technology, both combining in the successful establishment of EATS. The blending of technology and Empire surfaced in several ways. The long-term reliance of Australia on Britain to guide her foreign policy and provide for her defence evoked the comment ‘that Australia’s desire to stand as one with the English speaking world, to accept the leadership and live under the protection of Anglo Saxon patrons…has been the most obvious and commonly
33Jon Guttman, ‘Strategic Bombing Comes of Age’ World War II, 1998, 12, 7,34. 34David Edgerton 18. 35 M.Kirby, R.Capey, ‘The Air defence of Great Britain 1920-1940’ The Journal of Operational Research Society, 27, 1997, 555. 36Alan Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, 60. 37 The main signatories to the agreement were Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The broad agreement was to provide trained aircrews to serve with the Royal Air Force (RAF). The plan was vast in concept and organisation to provide trained aircrew ground staff and aeroplanes that could match the German advances. Fifty elementary flying schools would be established in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and then air crew would receive advanced training in Canada, (some in Rhodesia) and proceed to Britain for service with the RAF. A conference was held at Ottawa, Canada in October 1939, to discuss the proposal. After several weeks of bargaining, an agreement was signed on 17 December 1939.The Australian Government agreed initially to provide 28,000 men to EATS over three years. This represented 36 per cent of the total of aircrews to be trained under the scheme in that period.
32 remarked on trait of Australian foreign policy.’38 While this had implications outside EATS, the impact was felt keenly in Australia’s willing compliance with the scheme. Motivated by such reliance and unlike other Dominions within the Scheme, Australian airmen were placed directly under Britain.39 The RAAF was the only service that the Australian government completely surrendered to British control.40 British expectations on Dominion support were clear and the unquestioned belief in Empire was a cornerstone to the formation of EATS. Sir Anthony Eden, Secretary of State for the Dominions in 1939, voiced expectations in a cable to Sir Geoffrey Whiskard, the UK High Commissioner to Australia in September 8, 1939.41 Outlining the main weakness of the Allies in respect to air strength, Whiskard proclaimed the necessity of doing everything in their power to reduce this discrepancy, and for this ‘we look to the dominions to ensure this is achieved.’ He followed this with a secret cable on September 26 1939. It is now abundantly clear that an overwhelming Air Force will be needed in order to counter German air strength and, in combination with other military
38 Neville Meaney, Australia and the World. A Documentary History from the 1870s to the 1970s Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1985,14. 39 Dominion Government responses to EATS followed a similar pattern. South Africa declined to join but agreed to train pilots and contribute squadrons to the British War effort, thus maintaining complete control over her air force. The Canadian government under Mackenzie King emphasised their freedom and deliberation of choice. Canada’s entry into the war was not an automatic response to some mechanical organisation of Empire. Canada’s entry into the war was the deliberate decision of free people by their own representatives in a free Parliament. Canada agreed to be host for the majority of the training schools, but on her terms Prime Minister MacKenzie King fiercely defended Canadian independence within the Scheme and the Canadians referred to the Scheme as the British Commonwealth Air Training Scheme. King fought furiously for Canadian autonomy and according to Canadian historians Peter Conrad and Fred Hatch, the Prime Minister saw air training as a means of providing assistance to the Mother Country without risking the threat of conscription for overseas service. The air force was a voluntary service, and King imagined that RCAF members would remain on Canadian soil serving as instructors in the new air training schools.39The Canadian air force remained responsible for their own crews. New Zealand acted with greater respect for the forms of independent nationhood independently declaring war on Germany, without any sense of automatic involvement. New Zealand also agreed to contribute, but one later New Zealand historian commented they found little fault with the scheme, perhaps identifying strongly with the RAF and being less nationalistic in their approach. 40 Joan Beaumont has summarised the complex Australian Government arrangement made in consideration to the forces. The commitment to Imperial Defence gave practical aid to Britain with the RAN and AIF but the Australian Government supposedly retained the right to determine where they would serve. The organisation of the RAAF became integrated with the RAF and Senior Officers were all British. Later in the Pacific theatre Australian airmen would work under the U.S air force. Joan Beaumont, ed. Australia’s War 1939-45 St Leonards: Allen and Unwin1995, 4-6. Also refer to G Herman Gill, The Royal Australian Navy 1939-42 Canberra: Australian War Memorial 1957, 62- 64.Gavin Long, The AIF vol. 1 To Beghazi, Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1961, 36-40. 41 Eden to Whiskard, Cablegram, 191, R.G.Neale ed. Documents on Australian Foreign Policy 1937- 49 vol.1 44
33 measures and economic pressure, to bring ultimate victory…it is expected parts of the Empire may well be able to play a decisive part.’42
While it could be argued the expanse of the Scheme required central coordination, placing control of Australian airmen under the RAF, this would end in serious operational difficulties as the Scheme was put into operation resulting in unforeseen consequences. On this point John Robertson made the comment, ‘The RAAF was the service most seriously affected by Australia’s uncertainty as to whether it was primarily part of the British Empire or primarily an independent nation. Among those deciding the RAAF’s fate in 1939, a majority inclined to the former view, though the rival idea also had its champions during the war. The resulting tussle had manifold consequences, including an administrative nightmare.’43 Aware of the possibility of compromise to Australian identity, Prime Minister Robert Menzies had Article XV inserted in the Ottawa Agreement, assuring that this would as ‘far as possible preserve the Australian character and identity of any air force that went abroad.’44 The vagueness of the term ‘as far as possible’ became obvious during the course of the war and under the pressure of the speed of technological development and strategic necessity Australians became spread around over 500 RAF squadrons, with practically every combat unit in the force containing one or more Australians at some stage.45
Australian deference to British superiority also surfaced in the field of aerial technology and skill. Australian airmen had always gone to England for advanced training.46 This reliance on British technical experience and a belief in administrative superiority was highlighted by the appointment of RAF officer Sir Charles Burnett as Chief of the Australian Air Staff in January1940. The Argus reported the appointment as ‘invaluable to the Commonwealth in organising and directing Australia’s part in the
42 R.G.Neale ed. vol. II, 284. 43 John Robertson Australia at War 1939-45 Melbourne: William Heineman 1981, 51. 44 The terms of Article XV are produced in Alan Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, 63-64.The Ottawa Agreement was the official agreement signed outlining the contributions that each Dominion would make. 45 John Robertson, 54. 46Alan Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, 46-47.
34 Empire Air Scheme.’47 While strong arguments can be found for the technical superiority of Britain, historians interpret this action as a signal of the Australian politicians’ complete reliance on Britain.48 Douglas Gillison one of the official war historians for the RAAF scathingly commented ‘in those days senior officers of the British Services evidently seemed to some Australian Ministers to possess a glamour that their own senior officers lacked.’49 Alan Stephens went even further in his criticism. ‘Menzies was typical of many senior Australian officials of that era who seemed to believe that British officers were almost by definition superior to their Australian counterparts…Other public figures who shared Menzies’ pretensions as a pseudo-English gentleman and who abetted him in his mismanagement of the RAAF included his minister for Supply and Development, Richard Casey, and the Australian high commissioner in London, Stanley Bruce.’50
The individual experience of aerial warfare
The conflict between euphoric images of the freedom found in flight, and its darker side, were experienced by all the airmen of EATS. Young men who so excitedly volunteered to use the new aviation responded to images of Daedalus and Icarus as illustrations of the spirit of the Empire youth.51 The socially constructed image of the aviator had projected war air service as the epitome of idealised masculinity. The ultimate hero was the aviator and the air ace.52 Past images of warriors represented stoic self-control and the ability to face death without flinching.53 The obsession with the development of flight and the conquest of the skies that enveloped the international cultural scene in the 1930s also obsessed Australia.54 This
47 Argus January 6,1940, 1. 48 Norman Ashworth How Not To Run An Air force Canberra: Air Power Studies Centre, 2000. 49 Douglas Gillison, The Royal Australian Air Force 1939-42 75. 50Alan Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, 113. 51 L. Charlton, Menace from the Clouds London: William Hodge, 1937, 274 52 See George Mosse, Fallen Soldiers: Reshaping the Memory of the World Wars Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. Michael Paris, From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism and Popular Cinema, 3. 53 George Mosse has defined this image in detail, The Image of Man New York: Oxford University Press 1996, Chapter 6. 54 Frazer Andrewes, A Culture of Speed: the Dilemma of being Modern in Australia in the 1930s. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Melbourne Library, 2003.
35 was linked directly to the aviator hero the embodiment of masculine dominance.55 The adventure of flying, the conquest of speed and space, the technology, the loneliness of the pilot and the conquest of the sky, where the gods lived, had the makings of a myth. 56 The image of the airman was equated with that of the chivalric knight. Airmen personified the new idealised masculinity.57 George Mosse has argued:
the conquest of the skies was one important way in which the reality of war was masked and made bearable, though its implications reached much further, to a way of looking at the nation and the world which, in turn, made confrontation with modern war that much easier. Wartime aviation presented a climax of the myth of the war experience. 58
Despite this, air warfare that ensued was new. There was no precedent on which to base expectations. Recruits carried with them images given in glorified accounts such as those given by World War I official British historian Walter Raleigh.59 He equated the pilot with a Greek sculpture in its rendering of ‘life and purpose.’60 To Raleigh and others, air power introduced a new theatre to war, a ‘place of vision, and speed and movement. A great highway for the traffic of peace.’61 ‘If the machines were good, the men in them were better. Was there ever such a company of heroes as that Air Force of ours,’ were the seductive calls.62 Yet lacking any precedent the men were totally unprepared for the challenges of war found in the new technology and it still remains almost impossible to recreate the physical and psychological conditions that were confronted by the challenges of air war that were so linked with technological advances of aerial war. The literature, capturing the individual experiences of aerial combat is quite thin. The human dimension is given little focus. Histories of all aerial war relate to an analysis of the success of tactics, the importance of aerial war to victory, specific battles, and stories of individual feats of daring. They do not relate the actual trials that were experienced by the airmen. Personal memoirs
55 George Mosse, The Image of Man, (links of masculinity to nationalism, and image of the masculine body). 56 George Mosse, Fallen Soldiers, 120. 57 Ibid. 122. 58 George Mosse, ‘The Knights of the Sky and the Myth of the War Experience,’ in Robert A. Hinde, Helen E. Watson, ed. War: A Cruel Necessity. The Bases of Institutionalized Violence London: I. B. Travis Publishers 1995, 132. 59Walter Raleigh The War in the Air, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992. 60 Ibid. 14. 61 Ibid. 489. 62 Ibid. 17.
36 are also hesitant in confronting the actual horror becoming caricatured portraits of the chivalric aviator.
While recognizing that all combatants face physical threats and death, the role of the aviator in World War II, the use of complex technology, the pressure of high speed and subjected to multiple dangers, distinguish the stress on airmen from the other fighting forces. In 1949 a wartime study on aerial operations in bomber command was released that reveal the intensity of the experiences:
They were like nothing else in the world. The air crew flew in darkness relieved only by the dim orange glow of a lamp over the navigator’s table and the faintly green luminosity of the pilots’ instruments, three or four miles high, through bitter cold over hundreds of miles of sea and hostile land with the thunderous roar of the engines shutting out all other sounds except when the crackling metallic voice of one member of the crew echoed in the earphones of the other’s earphones. For each man there was a constant awareness of danger; danger from the enemy; from sudden convergence of searchlights accompanied by heavy accurate and torrential flak, from packs of night fighters; of danger of collision from ice in the cloud, from becoming lost or isolated or a chance hit on the petrol tank forcing a forced descent into the sea…There was no single moment of security. 63
Another account focused on the technical complexity:
One look at the pilot’s cabin of a B-17 will convince you that its flight is actually an engineering operation demanding manual and mental skills that put the driving of an automobile into kiddy-car class The compartment is lined –front, sides, ceiling and part of the floor with controls, switches, levers, dials, and gauges. I once counted a hundred and thirty. The coordinated operations of all these gadgets would be difficult in a swivel chair comfort of your office. But reduce your office to a five-foot cube size, engulf it in the constant roar of engines, and increase your height to around five miles… that will give you an idea of the conditions under which these men worked out the higher mathematical relationships of engine revolutions, manifold and fuel pressures, aerodynamics, barometric pressure, altitude, wind drift, airspeed, ground speed position and direction.64
63 D Stafford-Clarke, ‘Morale and Flying Experience: Results of a wartime study.’ Journal of Mental Science Jan. 1949. 13. 64 Major General David Grant, Surgeon General USAAF, A Day at the Office, quoted in Mark Wells, Courage and Air Warfare: Allied Air Crew Experience in the Second World War London: Frank Cass, 1995, 29.
37 Colonel Mark Wells, an experienced airman, offered a more detailed outline of specific dangers. Wells outlined the dangers of flying as what ‘makes air combat a singular experience conducted in a dangerous environment.’65 Wells identified numerous areas of danger. First, was the equipment itself. Fast advances in aeronautical design needed better training and more intelligent operators. Higher altitudes needed oxygen support equipment and heavier clothing. Long-range missions required endurance. The weight of bombs, fuel loads, and defensive armaments made take-off treacherous. Second, Wells identified the weather, covering dense fog, turbulence, ice, cross winds, restricted visibility, moonlight, frozen instruments. Weather conditions impacted on the human element reduced bombing accuracy, made formation flying impossible, restricted visibility, meant instrument flying, which needed intense concentration, no visual reference and possible forms of spatial disorientation. Such conditions resulted in pilot error ending in crashes. Above all the skills of the ground maintenance crew were essential for the safe functioning of the aircraft. The third element in aerial combat was the battlefield itself. Wells describes its three dimensional nature and the size of the battlefield meant physical exertion missions over 10 hours where aviators had to remain vigilant for enemy threats from all directions. The last element was the form of combat itself between fighter to fighter, fighter to bomber and then the constant pressure of flak or anti aircraft guns able to destroy aircraft but inflicting damage of shrapnel wounds. All was carried out at high speed involving accuracy and maneuvering, involving the pilot’s mental agility. It was a time of unrelenting confusion and chaos. These were the physical conditions surrounding aerial war.
The psychological stress was also a new phenomena directly linked to the conditions generated by the technical advances of air war. Men suddenly became aware of the devastating violence of war. For many it meant fighting a personal battle between fear and duty.66 There is evidence to support the contention that firing itself required some preliminary psychological preparation largely because the target was
65 Mark Wells, Courage and Air Warfare 28. 66 Mark Wells, 60.
38 not just an aircraft but also had a human crew.67 Later this would extend to the field of strategic bombing. Wells argues that the airman was reacting to conflict between his desire to do his duty and thereby maintain self-respect and his instinct for self- preservation.68 Many of the studies relate specifically to bomber crews. Fighter pilots were more in a position to control their own destinies in any given situation. They preferred the solitude of single seat flying and the concentrated activity that took their mind off their fears. They generally carried much less of a burden in the sense of having others directly depend on them. It is suggested that fighter pilots experienced fewer emotional problems.69
Martin Francis has offered a recent study on the cultural environment of the aviator in which he has confronted the individual anxiety and personal vulnerability experienced by the airman.70 The advanced technology which made the war time fighter or bomber the ultimate modern fighting machine also created the possibility of a variety of terrifying and violent ways in which aircrew might meet their demise.71 It was the capacity to carry out a continuous and sustained course of action that required the highest degree of skill in the face of gross physical hardship.72 Francis emphasizes the strain of aerial war turning young fearless men into men who were old and tired and knew fear. To study the war time flyer ‘tells us something about how the individual personality accommodated itself to an age of catastrophe.’73 It was a catastrophe resulting from the advances of technology that had not been envisaged.
The psychological responses of the individual to the horrors of aerial combat are less well documented and were unique and unexpected at the time of combat in World War II. Examining the memories of men may provide some explanation to the lack of literature in this area, but general exposure of the horror of aerial war has been thwarted almost as a denial of the devastation that accompanied aerial war. An
67 Mark Wells, 37. According to S.L.A. Marshall men had to overcome their inner and usually realized resistance towards killing a fellow man See Marshall pp78-79 Men Against Fire New York, 1947. 68 Mark Wells, 64. David Stafford Clark, ‘Morale and Flying Experience,’ 22. 69 MarkWells, 67. 70 Martin Francis, The Flyer: British Culture and the Royal Air Force 1939-1945 Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, 106. 71 Martin Francis, 107. 72 Roland Winfield cited in Martin Francis, 128. 73 Martin Francis, 130.
39 examination of this theme emerges throughout this thesis as the response of men to the disillusioning experience is examined. A dominant narrative is the adventure and courage of the airmen of World War II returning to the romantic dream, such as Michael Veitch’s Fly.74 However, in the last few years there have been several attempts to expose the myth. Several books published have based the descriptions of aerial combat on interviews with veterans. In the interviews that I conducted, one theme that emerged was a willingness in later years to express the reality of experiences and this resource has been discovered and used in several recent accounts.75 The stories told reveal the sense of disempowerment and alienation in a surreal atmosphere, of filtered moonlight, confusion, streams of flak lights, with night fighters and bombers crossing the sky in all directions, and the constant expectation of attack as surrounding aircraft exploded.76 The flyer ‘was simultaneously an emblem of modernity and a recollection of heroic conflicts from a distant past. The airman’s combat experience was inseperable from science and machinery: not merely the aircraft he flew, but the technology of radio, radar, navigational aids and ballistics with which it was associated.’77
Conclusion
The creation of EATS was a response to the age, and within the origins and organization of the institution can be found the tensions of creation and destruction of modern age technology. Woven into the evolution of technology were the concepts of Empire and masculinity and the power of flight. In three different ways the charge of military technology would impact upon Australian involvement in World War II, and challenge the held values and beliefs, that contributed to the both public and private identities. First, was the change in the nature of warfare that became heavily dependent on aerial warfare. Second, was the reply to call of Empire, that to use a term often employed, sacrificed ‘Australian boys’ to the causes of Empire without question.
74 Michael Veitch, Fly Melbourne: Viking 2008. 75 Kevin Wilson, Men of the Air, The Doomed Youth of Bomber Command London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2007, Patrick Bishop, Bomber Boys London: Harper Press, 2007, Martin Francis, The Flyer. 76 See Kevin Wilson, 254-5. 77 Martin Francis, 163.
40 Third, was the human element. Seduced by the images of the chivalric knight of the air, young men raced to enlist for their chance to join in the glamour of flight. Nothing before had been experienced in combat that would have prepared the men for the confrontation brought by aerial war, that challenged both their duty to Empire and their masculinity. The distinctive tensions and fragmentation on the level of self on the aviator impacted upon the reconstructing of the narrative of self identity revealing the constant struggle of man to come to terms with the past and constructing the future.78 It is within this wider cultural context that the evolution of the personal and public images of EATS will be situated in this thesis.
78 This theme was proposed by Berman, Marshall. All that is solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982; reprint, with new preface Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1988.
41
CHAPTER 2
This is a Man’s Job: Seduction and Production of the Image
Frank Parsons was eighteen when he enlisted in the Empire Air Training Scheme in 1942. In 2008 we met and after some time Frank pulled out his wartime diary and said ‘I want to read you something.’ In large letters he had marked THE GREAT EXPERIENCE. This was his account of first going solo. With trembling voice and misted eyes Frank read:
My instructor climbed out of the cockpit ahead of me smiled and said ‘OK, off you go and good luck!!’ I just sat there for a few moments trying to look as if I was preparing myself, but in fact I was just dazed. Seeing him making himself comfortable sitting in the grass against a fence post I thought he seemed comfortable enough so I had better be too. After the most careful check of the cockpit I had ever done, off I went. How well I remember the beautiful little tiger moth rumbling along the field before quite quickly lifting off –and I was in the air ON MY OWN. I was flying over the big hangers seeing the surrounds of Benalla township and fields and aerodrome so familiar from having done this so many times in the past couple of weeks but never before with no one in the front cockpit. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I knew that once I had done the first few turns of the circuit and was flying on the down ward leg parallel with the drome I just sang at the top of my voice something like ‘There will always be an England.
Frank justified ‘we were all just so patriotic in those days.’ He continued reading.
The real test of landing was to come, but to my intense delight it was probably the best I had ever done. I was bubbling with excitement I taxied back to my instructor to find him running towards the slowly moving aeroplane. He thumped the fuselage beside my shoulder and yelled ‘A bloody greaser, a bloody greaser!’ Words I will never forget.1
1 Frank Parsons, Interview, 6 July 2008. Parsons served flew Catlinas out of Darwin serving in the South West Pacific theatre.
43 Frank was one who was delighted to talk admitting he was amazed that he had anything of interest to record. In this admission he expressed how the role of EATS has diminished in importance within the identity of the individual veteran, as it also had become marginalised within the collective Australian narrative. The words of an eighty seven year old, reading the most valued memory of his experience in EATS, provides a starting point for the exploration of the complexity of the individual and collective images that have evolved around EATS. First, Frank’s words from his diary revealed aspects of Australian identity that were used in the recruitment image of EATS to appeal to the young recruit and were also an important part of individual identity: the cultural values of masculinity, the glory of war, allegiance to Empire and the empowerment of flying. Each of these influences was revealed in Frank’s account. He proved his masculinity, expressed in the words, ‘a bloody greaser,’ and his allegiance to Empire, as he sang, ‘there will always be an England.’ His thrill in flying,’ wonderful, wonderful, wonderful,’ was what Frank and every other boy who enlisted had wanted.2 To fly. Second, the response recorded in his diary, was one of excitement, as he dutifully set off to the adventure of war unaware of any disillusionment that would follow, as the initial values came under question. Third, Frank’s choice of the central event of the gallant aviator decades later provides a preview of the selective nature of memory as Frank reaffirmed the values of his youth that were central in individual and national commitment to EATS.
The focus of this chapter is the initial response to the concept of EATS in the opening years of World War II first of the nation and then the individual. The first section follows the military and media institutions and the construction of their recruitment campaign, which concentrated on the appeal of flight with the public and the glamour of the dashing aviator. This was interwoven with masculine ideals of the glory of war, patriotic duties and loyalty to country and the Empire. It would prove to be an effective campaign. The second part of the chapter turns to the individual and examines the acceptance of the illusion presented in the public image. The responses
2 The novelty of the modernity of flight has been covered in several sources. Michael Paris in Winged Warfare, Manchester: Manchester University Press 1992, Warrior Nation London: Reaktion Books 2000. The popularity of flying in Australia in the 1930s has been addressed by Frazer Andrewes, A Culture of Speed: the Dilemma of being Modern in Australia in the 1930s Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Melbourne Library 2003.
44 of recruits came from reviewing letters and diaries of the men. Central to all was the dominant image of flight reflected in their excited accounts of their initial experiences. Personal records suggest the young recruits were conforming to role models that had been projected through the collective image. Frank Parson’s diary had expressed many of these sentiments, and such values and beliefs appear in letters and diaries of the recruits, confirming the impact of the public image on the development of self- concepts. They were able to enact their boyhood dreams of the intrepid flyer that had featured in the surrounding culture. They were doing ‘a man’s job,’ as the illusion suggested. Private papers indicated little awareness of the realities of air war they would encounter or how their values would be challenged.
The Public Image in 1939
It was to explain Australian allegiance to Empire in 1939 that Don Charlwood wrote Marching as to War, outlining the overwhelming cultural surrounds, present in his childhood, that linked Australia to Britain. Charlwood delved into the reasons why so many Australians saw it as their duty to serve the Empire.3 He recorded the oath of loyalty recited in school every morning, ‘I love my country the British Empire. I salute her flag the Union Jack,’ and the celebrations of Empire Day that expressed unwavering loyalty to the British Crown as they read, ‘The Empire expects every child this day to do his duty. The Royal family and King George is beloved by his people in all parts of the world.’4 The king was represented on coins and postage stamps. Childrens’ magazines were from ‘home.’ Chums was a manly paper addressed ‘To the Boys of the Empire upon whom the sun never sets’. Schools appointed masters who came out from England and put up with Australian life, like missionaries going to Africa.5 Thus, surrounded by the cultural centrality of Empire to the national identity, volunteers to EATS conformed to the expectation of delivering their loyalty. In reading the letters and diaries of the men who enlisted in EATS, the dominant impression is they believed themselves an integral part of a united British Empire.
3 Don Charlwood, Marching as to War Hawthorn Vic: Hudson Publishing 1990. 4 Ibid. 48. 5 See Martin Crotty, Making the Australian Male: Middle class masculinity 1870-1920 Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2001.
45 The images constructed around EATS by media and military institutions clearly emulated the ‘White Anglo-Saxon Imperialist,’ that formed part of the Australian identity in the 1930s.6 Melbourne Grammar School’s old boys’ association sent out a letter to each of its members.
Once again, and so soon. Old Melburnians find it necessary to enlist for Active Service Overseas in defence of all those principles that stand for Christian civilization, liberty, justice, mercy and truth. The council of the Old Melburnians today wishes in its turn to place on record its appreciation of those who, while fully realizing the horrors of modern warfare, are freely offering their services in defence of our great British Empire. 7
This was the position projected by the government of 1939, and believing in the centrality of Empire, Prime Minister Menzies immediately agreed, without consulting Cabinet or the Governor General, to join Britain in war, and committed Australia unconditionally to the Empire Air Training Scheme placing control of Australian airmen under Britain.8 In this, other politicians, including Stanley Melbourne Bruce, at this time High Commissioner in Britain and J.V. Fairbairn, appointed Minister for Air, who both saw Australia’s fortunes tied to the Empire, supported him.9 Loyalty to the Empire was projected tacitly in the official endorsement of the EATS. Conformity to the concept of Empire in the embracing of EATS also meant that Australia was committing itself so unconditionally to Britain that when Australia came under threat, it was radically under-prepared and under- equipped with air power. At the moment of compliance with the air training scheme there were few who voiced concern at Australia’s care for her own self defence.10 At the time of outbreak of war in 1939 the stamp of the British Empire lay heavily on the landscape of the new Commonwealth of Australia.11
6 See Anne Curthoys, ‘Identity Crisis: Colonialism, Nation and Gender in Australian History,’ Gender and History, 5, 1993, 165. 7 Cited in Don Charlwood, Marching as to War, 193 8 John McCarthy discusses this point in Last Call of the Empire 1. 9 John Robertson, Australia at War 1939-1945, 52-53. 10 The Bulletin voiced concern that Australia should not overcommit itself. John Curtin while supporting the scheme also expressed concern for Australia’s own defence. The Bulletin, November 29 1939 8. 11 John Arnold, Peter Spearritt, David Walker. Out of Empire The British Dominion of Australia Port Melbourne: Mandarin Australia, 1993 1.
46
Masculinity
Representations of masculinity in 1939 form a second theme in the initial seduction surrounding EATS. Images of masculinity dominated the Australian identity and the nationalist mythology generated a belief in the necessity to prove manhood, following the role model of those who ‘gave birth to the nation.’12 White European culture had established the image of masculinity centered on imperialism and the strong nation-state based on military prowess.13 Attitudes in Australia in 1939 provided a fertile ground for boys to seize the opportunity to become men by joining EATS.14 EATS offered the opportunity to ‘be a man’ by serving the Empire but it added a further dimension to the attainment of military masculinity. It has been suggested, the reaction to the horror of trench warfare of World War I had produced a tempered response that acted against such devastation and its aggressive and belligerent imagery.15 The airman offered a valiant alternative to the squalid and anonymous war in the trenches. Aviation offered a way to serve in war following a new ideal of chivalry and manly behaviour, and the public image was constructed around this central theme.
The ideal of attainment of masculinity was also fuelled by escapist fantasies. The appeal of a chance for adventure was intensified by the onset of the 1930s Depression, which had depleted the male role of the traditional provider as mass unemployment undermined masculine identity.16 Humphrey McQueen’s comment perhaps sums up the atmosphere of the 1930s in Australia, ‘Poverty, lost chances,
12 This term was used by Marilyn Lake, ‘Mission Impossible: How Men Gave Birth to the Nation- Nationalism, Gender, and other Seminal Acts. Gender and History .4, 3, 1992, 305-322. 13 R. W. Connell, ‘The Big Picture: Masculinities in Recent World History,’ Theory and Society, 22 1993, 597-623.In this article Connell has traced the historical development of the masculine image. 14 Many scholars have recognised the importance of war to Australian identity. See Joy Damousi and Marilyn Lake Gender and War: Australians at war in the twentieth Century Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. 15 Sonya Rose, ‘Temperate Heroes: Concepts of masculinity in Second World War Britain,’ 177 in S. Dudink, K. Haggerman, J. Tosh, Masculinities in Politics and War Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004. 16 Martin Francis, ‘The Domestication of the Male. Recent Research on Nineteenth and Twentieth- Century British Masculinity,’ The Historical Journal, 45 3 2002, 640.
47 anger and lack of hope persisted.’17 Unremitting hardships had been endured and in many of the stories recounted in later memoirs, of those who had been in EATS, education had been sacrificed in the need to supplement family income. Bound by economic constraints and taunted by the romantic images of what it meant to become a man, the seduction of the opportunity offered by the Empire Air Training Scheme was a way to escape, not just to travel and experience adventure, but to fly.
Seduction of Flight
The seduction of flight represents the third element in the attraction of images of EATS in the late 1930s.While the wider theme of the fascination and destruction contained within the power of flight has been developed in the first chapter here I place it firmly in the Australian context of EATS. The embodiment of the dominant male aviator was the seductive image presented in the recruitment images; images of modernity in civil aviation that would project Australia as an active member of the modern word. The RAAF also took every opportunity to polish their public image through bushfire patrols, aerial dusting, survey and meteorological flights, epic flights and all received extensive press coverage.18 They also pursued high profile appearances at special ceremonial occasions and air displays. The largest of these was in 1938 at Flemington racecourse in Melbourne. Eighty aircraft took part in a four- hour display that was hailed in press reports.19 The image of new technology of the interwar years reached its pinnacle in flight. Flying was regarded as a sport and a sport for the wealthy. Emerging from the depression the cost of learning to fly was prohibitive for most and men recorded in letters and diaries, EATS would not only teach you to fly it would ‘pay you’ to fly.20 Not only would the Scheme pay for you to
17 Humphrey McQueen, Social Sketches of Australia 1888-2000, Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 2004, 139. 18 See C.D.Coulhard-Clark, The Third Brother The Royal Australian Air Force 1921-39 Sydney: Allen and Unwin1991, Chapter 13. 19 Argus April 22 1938, 8. 20 Information about the cost of private flying lessons is ‘rubbery’. It depended on the instructor, the aircraft and how long it took. It is recorded Nancy Bird Walton saved 200 pounds for her flying lessons in 1933. The basic wage set in 1937 and unchanged for several years due to the war varied in each state. In Melbourne it was 3 pounds 15 shillings a week. Commonwealth Arbitration Reports, 37, 1937, 583.
48 fly it would pay you to travel to places that were tantalisingly represented in the new technology of the cinema. It also offered the opportunity of the thrill of adventure in a new form of combat, aerial battle that projected the image of chivalrous knights of the air.21 The sensation of risk taking forms a part of the attraction offered by flight and it has been suggested that physical risk taking allays anxieties about masculine inadequacies.22 The thrill of risk taking emerges as an attraction in the diaries and letters of the recruits.
Sporting heroes, including the new daring sport of flight, provided an avenue of relief. The well recorded event was the 1934 MacRobertson air race from London to Melbourne, which received extensive coverage in both the press and Movietone newsreels. Aviators were represented as the new heroes, as conquerors of speed and sky. One that appealed especially to Australian interests was Charles Kingsford-Smith.
Figure 1 Postcard Kingsford-Smith and Ulm 23
21 This image had been cultivated in adolescent literature such as the W. E. Johns, Biggles series and in Korda’s films such as Conquest of the Air. Both had a wide audience in Australia. Juvenile influences were referred to in memoirs and interviews. 22 Elissa Slanger, Kjell Erik Rudestam, ‘Motivation and Disinhibition in High Risk Sports: Sensation Seeking and Self-Efficacy,’ Journal of Research in Personality, 31, 1997, 355. 23 Charles Ulm and Charles Kingsford Smith setting out from America to Australia. State Library of Victoria. Image AO4566.
49 Although he did not complete in the race, Kingsford-Smith’s air adventures fascinated the Australian public and his images were used on postage stamps, cigarette cards as well as in the press. These were the heroes of the day and provided a role model for the youth of Australia. The cumulative result of all of these elements embodied in the concept of EATS was the achievement of an enhanced image of masculinity, placing Australia in the modern world. In this period the 'superman of the skies' took hold of the popular imagination and reinforced the idea of air war as unique and of the airman as courageous, highly trained and resourceful who could succeed where the soldier failed.24 The rise of air force elitism has been charted throughout the inter-war years and most of the public thought of the air service as an elite: a highly trained, high technology force of heroic young men who would decide the outcome of future wars virtually unaided by the older services.25 They were regarded as the superior of the fighting forces representing old-style, public school, visions of chivalric masculinity as represented in Richard Hillary's classic The Last Enemy.26
It is the aspect of elitism that, I argue, becomes important in the development of the image of the airman in the Australian narrative. The technical advancement of air power that aligned itself with a belief that the ‘men who conquered the sky belonged to a special breed.’27 Entry to the air force depended on a physical examination and a basic intelligence quotient of 110.28 Following acceptance there were rigorous courses in academic and technical skills including examinations, and the men became aware ‘they were part of a select group.’29 One woman whom I interviewed, now well into her eighties, was engaged to one airman and then married to another, added a realistic social observation claiming, coming out of the depression years, so many joined the air force as ‘it was a way to get a head.’30
24 Michael Paris, ‘The Rise of the Airmen: The Origins of Air Force Elitism, 1890-1918,’ Journal of Contemporary History, 28, 1, 1993, 124. 25 Michael Paris, ‘The Rise of the Airmen: The Origins of Air Force Elitism, 1890-1918,’ 125. 26 Richard Hillary, The Last Enemy London: Macmillan and Co. 1942 194. 27 Michael Paris, ‘The Rise of the Airmen: The Origins of Air Force Elitism, c. 1890-1918,124. 28 Alan Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, 68. 29 Hank Nelson, Chased by the Sun, vii. 30 Interview with Yvonne Oezer, 4 May 2008.
50 Production of the Image
Military institutions were quick to utilise the socially constructed image of masculinity, and combine it with the images of the daring aviator of the 1930s. Recruitment posters for the Air Force projected the public image reflecting the message that enlistment in EATS provided the path to masculinity in serving nation and Empire. The poster ‘This is a Man’s Job’ produced in 1940, was built on the concept of masculinity in war.31 The pilot was represented as the embodiment of physical and emotional stoicism. Ready for take-off with a look of steely resolve he is portrayed as physically and morally able to meet all challenges. The image embodies bravery, honor, and social responsibility, all qualities valued by society to seduce the young aviator recruit. Three fighter aircraft are pictured overhead in formation, using the enhancement of technology in the aircraft, as well as the pilot’s equipment, to the masculine role. The image exemplified modernity, speed and technology of the new world. There are several other interesting points. While the red white and blue roundel is that of the RAF, (used since the formation of the RAAF in 1921, and after World War II changed to a red kangaroo with a blue circle, an interesting aside that provides visual evidence of Australia asserting independence in later years,) the letters RAAF are used reflecting the duality of identity.
Figure 2 This is a man’s job 32
31 AWM, ARTVO 04283. 32 Ibid.
51 The ethos of the glamour of serving in the Air Force was reinforced by the media. Headlining a column, ‘A League of Eagles’, the Argus wrote of the inspiration to the imagination of man’s ‘spectacular conquest of the air,’ and ‘the type of air force that could be built out of the resources of the cooperative efforts of the Empire beggars the imagination.’33 Media continued to glamourise the pilot one of a distinct race of men where the ‘smooth precision of the machinery which he commands sets the standard of his behavior in the air and his body is trained as rigidly as the components of his machinery.’ Going to war in an aeroplane, ‘carried an appeal that the older services could never match. Aviation was only a generation old and flying glowed with glamour and modernity.’34 The Age announced ‘26,000 Australian airmen to be trained. The Empire Air Scheme will afford a remarkable example of the strength of Great Britain and the Dominions working together.35 The Argus reported, ‘How to join the Empire Air Armada.’36
This question has been on the lips of thousands of eager young men since hearing the broadcast announcement of the Prime Minister on Wednesday of a plan to create an air armada of unprecedented strength. Thousands were wanted and for the most romantic and adventurous of the fighting services. No wonder that the virile youths in a thousand homes have been agog for information since the stirring news of this new winged force came winging over the air.
In a national broadcast, Prime Minister Menzies had again emphasized his conviction that priority must be given to air force planning. He declared that the British Government was not asking Australia to send a large military force abroad:
‘I believe,’ he said, ‘and my belief is pretty well founded, that the cooperation of the Dominions with Great Britain in the provision of trained airmen, and in the case of some Dominions, in the provision of aircraft, will be of growing and vital importance. It may be that in our hours of greatest difficulty—and we are going to have some—the Mother Country will be asking more insistently for help in the air than for help on the land or the sea.’ 37
33 Argus, 12 October 1939, 5. 34 Patrick Bishop, Bomber Boys London: Harper Collins, 2007, 33. 35 Age, 16 December 1939, 1. 36 Argus, 14 November 1939, 5. 37 Sydney Morning Herald, 28 September, 1939.
52 The media hailed the announcement of EATS as ‘a proud day in our history’ as Australian men were now prepared to assist ‘the magnificent men of the RAF.’38 The first Australian airmen to arrive in Britain, it was reported, were welcomed rapturously. ‘A tumult of cheers broke out as the transport berthed and the sun broke through a haze as the airmen landed.’39 While public emphasis is clearly on Empire, the importance of air power the air force and the men who flew increasingly assumed the image of the new super elite.
Figure 3 Publicity image for recruits 40
The Argus produced a file of publicity photos for the Empire Air Training Scheme, between 1940-44. They are held in the collection of The State Library of Victoria. These are sophisticated compositions to appeal to flight, technology, adventure and masculinity. The images represent the attraction of the uniform with the addition of ‘high-tech paraphernalia’ – the parachute, goggles and radio contact earphones indicating the image of a man in control of the aircraft.41 Many recruits, in diary entries, spoke of the uniforms they were given and, just emerging from the hardship of the depression, this would have an extra attraction. Studies have examined the presentation of the body as a form of exalted masculinity and in this image the uniform played an important symbolic role.42 The powerful physicality and fitness of
38 Argus, 27, September, 1940, 1. 39 Argus, 27, December, 1940, 1 40 State Library of Victoria, Image Number AN010479 41 Argus File, State Library of Victoria, AN 10478. This is a series of 20 photographs promoting the Empire Air Training Scheme. 42 Corinna Peniston Bird, ‘Classifying the Body in the Second World War: British Men in and Out of Uniform.’ Body and Society 9 1993 32.
53 the male body for service as an essential part of the image constructed, reflected both prowess of the state and was linked to the individual’s sense of self-worth. The uniform was indistinguishable from his character and his role, and importantly absence of uniform denied him physical masculinity.43 In all services emphasis on the transformation of the body in order to ensure it was fighting fit, was cast as a moral obligation, not merely as more efficient, providing evidence of active citizenship.44 In these recruitment images of the Argus, the emphasis is on physical fitness suggesting the suitability of the body for combat and including masculine qualities of competitiveness and camaraderie.
45 Figure 4 Men embarking for further Training with EATS
The image of a group of recruits setting off for Canada epitomizes the masculine appeal of EATS. It promises adventure, travel and mateship. Waving, cheering and laughing, many of these boys were off on their first adventure away from home. The photo creates the illusion of youthful enthusiasm that formed part of the
43 Ibid. 42. 44 Ibid. 43. 45 State Library of Victoria, Image No. AN00197.
54 official campaign to recruit prospective airmen for a war to defend the Empire. These recruits were seen as the guardians of the Empire and in this heroic form the image promised EATS would fulfill their desire for adventure travel and flight. What is not shown is although they will fly, they will fight, often waging a war of aggression where they would be required to kill. The horror of war is far from the scene. They represented the popular conception of what the hero should be, almost as a cult devotion of those who followed Lindbergh and Kingsford Smith, who had both acquired legendary status.
46 Figure 5 Charles Kingsford Smith
In the publicity photograph created by the Argus for EATS, the similarities with the image of Charles Kingsford Smith are clear, especially the joining of man and machine.47 In studies of the aviator hero, scholars have recognised the air ‘ace’ and the ‘ultimate hero’ providing a source of unending propaganda, which most nations were not unwilling to exploit.48 The airman represented sportsmanship, chivalry. The expressions of one image, reflects similarities with those of Kingsford Smith,
46 National Library of Australia, AN3930781; Smaller portrait Argus publicity for EATS State Library of Victoria H.99.206/2457 47 Argus, file State Library of Victoria, H99.206/2457. 48 Michael Paris, From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation nationalism and popular cinema Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995, 3.
55 promoting the thrill of conquest and adventure. The physical presence of powerful technology was represented in the propeller of a plane, and while it dwarfed the airman is suggested he would soon be in control. The glance of the aviator was towards the sky in almost prayer like reverence. He too would soon be in this heavenly sphere as one of Menzies’ ‘boys in blue’. The image was built upon the idealised hero that had been manifest in the media by early conquerors of the air.
The images produced by the Argus share one feature in the portrayal of heroes: they were young good-looking with an innate good nature and sense of fun and adventure, keen sportsmen and all of them were white. Australia in the 1930s still embraced the image of the superior white Anglo-Saxon. In outlining prerequisite qualities for pilots in aerial warfare, it was recorded ‘both parents of every boy shall be of pure European descent and shall be British subjects. These lads represent the aristocracy.’49 It was decided by the Defence Committee in 1940 that the enlistment of Indigenous Australians was ‘neither necessary nor desirable,’ partly because White Australians would object to serving with them.50 Kay Saunders in exploring this aspect of the Australian values of the 1930s, claimed ‘Despite the rhetoric of fighting to preserve freedom, liberty and justice against a ruthless and totalitarian foe, it was a freedom only for Anglo-Australians at the expense of Europeans of enemy alien extraction, Japanese origin residents and most notably indigenes. Britishness was therefore more clearly refined and articulated.51
However, there is one example where skill in sport and physical prowess, triumphed over the rigid British racial clauses. This was the case of Leonard Waters. With the emerging threat of the Japanese assault, restrictions were relaxed and one indigenous Australian, Leonard Waters, was allowed to enlist in EATS.52 What is rarely spoken of is Waters’ skill as a boxer. In an interview Waters admitted he believed this skill might have helped in his recruitment to fly and in his squadron he
49 Colston Shepherd, The Air Force Today London: Blackie and Son, 1939, 157. 50 Peter Londy, Australian Indigenous Servicemen www.awm.au/encyclopedia/aborigines/indigenous.asp [2 September 2008]. 51 Anne McGrath and Saunders, Kay, with Jackie Huggins, Aboriginal Workers Sydney: Australian society for the Study of Labour History 1995. 52 The interview recorded by the AWM suggests he was a world-class boxer and his sporting abilities were of help in his enlistment. AWM, SO1652
56 was often enlisted in bouts against the African Americans in the South East Pacific and was usually successful.53 Waters won the RAAF's middleweight boxing title.
Figure 6 Leonard Waters
This photo of Leonard Waters indicates his embracing of the image of the aviator in the Empire Air Training Scheme.54 He adopted the flying helmet, the goggles, the silk scarf, and the symbol of power in the wings is clear. As with all Australian boys he completely conformed to the cultural codes of the aviator.
Following in its tradition of contributing to Australian nationalism, the Bulletin emphasised the contribution that Australians and Canadians could make to the war effort in Europe and the defeat of Hitler. The essentially nationalistic graphic represented an over-inflated view of the contribution the editors envisaged was Australia making through the EATS.55 The national symbols of the Australian kangaroo and Canadian moose, both sporting wings, are shown towering over the cowering Prussian eagle. The idealistic political message, the ethical reason for fighting and the magnification of Australia’s role epitomise the official seduction for EATS
53 Ibid. 54 Leonard Waters, AWM PO1757.007; this image was also used by Australia Post in 1995. 55 ‘Wings Over Europe’, The Bulletin, December 27, 1939, 7.
57
Figure 7 Wings over Europe 56
Public images were supported in many ways including bard like poetry supporting themes used to entice enlistment.57 Sky Saga became a popular reading on the ABC and the BBC, glorifying the young aviator, praising them for:
Shirking no hazard your young lives staking
In swift encounter through the trackless night
Show you as men of knightly making
Strong in your skill and righteous in your fight.
In these ways the media enhanced the public image of the aviator, young, chivalrous, strong, righteous, all proving his masculinity. The role of Empire was
56 Ibid. 57 T.W.White, Sky Saga Melbourne: Hutchinson, 1943. White had also served as Minister for Trade and Customs 1933-1938, and this work presents the official image of the pilot in war. He was later to become Minister for Air and then High Commissioner in London.
58 strong in White’s representation as a pilot is consumed with the conscious thrill of English soil, sensing the ‘stored heritage’, a ‘legacy of pride, toil and tears.’
The cultural aura around flying was well established in Australia at the outbreak of World War II, providing the perfect infrastructure for institutions to attract young men as witnessed in the response to enlist. On the day Menzies announced the Scheme, 2000 men crowded to the Melbourne recruiting depot, anxious to volunteer. According to a newspaper report 1,000 applications were dealt with and the remainder of the men were sent away after being told to apply in writing.58 A situation was reached in which the air force was unable to absorb anything like the number of men offering. The men enlisting were placed on a call-up list and, to maintain interest and public acclaim, given a special badge to wear. By March 1940 11,500 men had been accepted.59 The collective image had succeeded in its seduction.
Conformity to the Image For King, Empire and the Thrill of it
In examining the letters and diaries of recruits it becomes possible to assess the commitment, acceptance and conformity of the recruits to the projected cultural codes, and discover the aspects of their identity that appeared from values embedded in society. Yet in accepting the constructed image surrounding Empire and masculinity, and the freedom and romance promised by flight, they were committing themselves to values and beliefs that contained the seeds of future disillusionment, that would undermine the concepts of the self, and fidelity that was recognized by Erikson. Erik Erikson recognized the importance of establishing a culturally acceptable identity. He also described a central disturbance among some returning Second World War veterans and this influenced his definition of ego identity.60 Erikson used this observation to examine earlier stages of development related to his theory of identity formation, in which the period of adolescence or transition to adulthood provided an important period. It must be remembered that the recruits for EATS were young, many
58 Douglas Gillison, Australia in the War 1939-45 Canberra: A.W.M. 1964 ed. 59. 59 Ibid. 70 60 Erik Erikson, Childhood and Society, New York: W. W. Norton 1963, 42.
59 only 18 and the concept of the self often represented a form of role of playing heroic aviators. Erikson suggests fidelity was the essence of identity; to become faithful and committed to some ideological world-view reflecting basic values and one that is also affirmed by the existing social order. Erikson’s theories of identity provide a suitable framework to define the process that was experienced by the recruits who volunteered for EATS. Recruits to EATS began compliant with the collective image presented to them in fulfilling culturally defined masculine roles.
This chapter covers only the period of the enlistment and training of EATS recruits while they were still under the illusion of the thrill that EATS offered. Motivation for enlistment encompassed the quest for adventure, and the desire to experience something different. The opportunity to fly, to travel and to join in the culture of war all emerge as themes, but they are not as straight forward as they initially appear. The individual sources also reveal the intimate interiority, and self- concept individuals held of themselves. The more abstract motivations of emotion emerge from these sources indicating a divergence between the public life of adventure and the mind of the individual, disclosing undercurrents of fear and apprehension of the unknown. The ideological motivation, fighting for a cause, is not defined as a major influence but emerges more as a post war theory of justification, as later images are examined. Unspoken was the presence of the social pressure to enlist. In later interviews, recruits maintained there was no question of not volunteering.61 The social attitude has been assessed suggesting ‘men who refused to, or were incapable of, fighting were not deemed to be worthy of active membership in the wider body-politic.’62 The same social attitude was present in Australia and emerges in the records and later narratives of the men. These collective images and thus self concepts would be shattered as they experienced combat and they began a tormented journey in search for new identities.
61 In interviews I conducted and in the AWM archives most stated there was no question of not joining up and the air force was the preferred force. 62 Joanna Bourke, Dismembering the Male. Men’s Bodies, Britain and the Great War London: Reaktion Books. 1996. 77.
60 Diaries and Letters
The letters and diaries, the intimate sources written by recruits, provide an extraordinary record of their initial expectations and the response to the following impact of combat on their private lives. While there are many collections of letters of those who enlisted in EATS, they generally do not provide the same insight as diaries. The letter is a semi-public form of expression. Heavy official censorship restricted comments on flying, and most were written to parents or wives, thus content presented a positive experience, concentrating on daily routines, sports matches, concerns of a domestic nature and the obvious thrill of sightseeing.63 The diary provides a more subjective account, both spontaneous and reflective, a balance between selfhood and events. In the extreme environment of approaching combat the diary also became a way for a man to empower himself, providing an imaginary space in which to model himself on the hegemonic warrior, and ‘steeling his resolve.’ Empowerment revolved around several themes. First, the longing for adventure and travel, second the opportunity to fly, both enhancing the achievement of a masculine image. These were the attractions experienced by Frank Parsons in his first solo flight. Such motivations were paramount in the early entries of the diaries.
Often the early entries of diaries were filled with the ordinary details of daily life. One extract written in transit to Britain recorded, ‘Germans are within seventy miles from Alexandria. Broke into Mal’s drawer as it had jammed with our bananas in it. Had a jolly good feed of them.’64 This comment is an indication of how the reality of war was as yet so far from their lives. The early accounts in diaries, while airmen were still in training, express a surface image of the extreme nonchalance of youth. The language and image of ‘Public Man,’ was generally maintained even in the privacy of their diaries as entries followed a well-known, well-scripted dialogue. This is what R.W. Connell refers to as ‘complicit masculinity’, as the new recruits assumed
63 William Weatherly, Private papers State Library of Victoria. MS9683. These letters provide a complete record of the experiences of William Weatherly addressed to his parents. There is little mention of the war. It was a way of maintaining contact with the normality of life thus providing some explanation for the experiences he was enduring. Weatherly served in 459 Squadron flying in the Mediterranean theatre. 64 Leonard Pike, Private Papers. AWM, PR01424, 1942.
61 the masculine role.65 The real value of diaries as psychological source becomes fully evident once we accept the emotional states are not wholly conscious and take into account what is hinted at, unspoken or unspeakable. It is the retrospective accounts that are generally more reflective about the emotional experience of war than the letter or the diary. Time was needed before a coherent narrative could be constructed.66 Later, as they faced combat the tone and focus of their diaries would change as no well-formed scripts existed that would cover the experience. Despite the surface bravado of the personae of the ‘Public Man’, hints can be discovered of expressions of fear, an awareness of death and the need for familiarity and affection that were not part of the accepted role model of masculinity.
The diary also provided men with a form of familiarity and helped in the affirmation of the self. In recording their lives it would provide a sense of understanding and even power over events. Don Charlwood wrote, ‘In this life, I need affection.’67 He was to meet a Canadian girl, Nellie, who provided the affection he needed and his diary became part of their love story. Eventually they were to marry. In the harsh environment of training for war many men recorded in their diaries the need for some softer compassionate link to reality. Robert Pittaway was to address his diary to his wife and searching to define his life he wrote, ‘I realize what a good year it has been for me in many respects. First of all I am still alive and when you look back and think of all those who have lost their life it is a lot and then I think of all the suffering and starvation in the world today and contrast my position. But through it all I have loved you darling. I still want to get into the action.’68 His last line is a sign of ambivalence that came to exist within many of the men caught in the journey to war.
65 R.W.Connell proposed a social theory of gender discussing the concepts of hegemonic, complicit, subordinate and marginalised masculinities, their interaction and how they relate to each other in men’s everyday lives. Complicit masculinity is embodied by the many men in society who do not themselves live up to the ideal of hegemonic masculinity yet benefit from its dominant position in the patriarchal order. Refer to R.W.Connell, Masculinities St Leonards Australia: Allen and Unwin, 1995. RW Connell and J.W. Messerschmidt, ‘Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept.’ Gender and Society 19,( 2005): 829-59. 66 Michael Roper, The Secret Battle. Emotional Survival in the Great War Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009, 21. 67 Don Charlwood, Diary entry, 2 February 1941. 68 Robert Pittaway, Private Papers, AWM, PR01195 28 /12/ 1943
62 The diary also provided a place for personal reflection. While recruits were still training and involved in travelling to their destinations, the prospect of war was mostly in the distance. The initial period of training often stretched over a year and each individual was allocated a different path scattered over all theatres of war. Training was completed in the different schools established throughout Australia and then paths separated as some were sent to the Middle East, some to Rhodesia, Canada, or Malaysia, and others direct to England.69 Despite these different locations and training regimes, all were involved in EATS, and were training in the skills of aerial war.
Ideological Seduction
While not often mentioned in the diaries and letters, several did contemplate on the concept of the duty to serve with interesting reflections. Dereck French presented himself in his diary and letters as the epitome of the masculine role model, fulfilling the socially accepted masculine image in Australia during the Second World War. He had joined the RAAF in 1937, aged 21, after several abortive attempts to secure work.70 He transferred to the RAF for further training, a course followed by many young Australians in the RAAF as a way of advancement. When World War II broke out, he was immediately absorbed into the allied effort, as organisation swallowed all existing aircrew. As an officer, he was in a position to reflect on the success of the Scheme and its growing strength. The motivation to join, he concluded, was usually assumed to be patriotism but this he continued could only be applied to a few ‘odd chaps.’ Most, he decided were simply victims ‘of the notion my neighbour is aircrew, I shall become aircrew.’ He continued his personal musings on ‘colonials.’ ‘They are ‘different in that most of them primarily have a love of adventure, and service life is a way of achieving this.’ Perceptively he observed, ‘They would seldom admit to this being their reason for enlisting but would give the excuse of love of
69 Training schools were established in every state in Australia. There were 34 schools in all. After Initial Training Schools recruits were divided on ability for example pilot, navigator, and wireless operator and sent to more advanced training schools including those in Canada and Rhodesia. The length of training varied but to become an operational pilot averaged around nine months. 70 Dereck French. This was related in his unpublished autobiography among his papers at the State Library of Victoria. PA01/32.
63 country, defence of Empire.’71 Also commenting on enlistment was Richard Hillary, whose love of adventure and flight had inspired him to enlist. Hillary wrote ‘we were not patriotic.’ He was one to show the questioning of youth as he continued in his contemplation, ‘we were convinced that we had been needlessly led into the world crisis, by the bungling of a crowd of incompetent old fools.’72 Charlwood also pondered on war, ‘I must admit to myself there are good reasons why we fight and adequate reasons that many of us should die. But it is in an insane world that such reasons arise…Somehow I feel this war has a course to run and that no earthly power will stop till its natural, and I don’t mean predetermined, end comes.’73 Others continued to express faith in the Empire cause. French again reflected on his belief in the Empire as he wrote, ‘the crisis I am afraid is rather serious but one cannot forget that what must be realised is that any action the British Government take will be a step for the preservation of the British Empire.’74 French was told of the outbreak of war by a retiring Indian army colonel who pompously ‘gave us a pep talk that England expects all officers to do their duty- real Lord Nelson stuff.’75 His entry reveals the complex responses to the ‘official’ call to duty.
Seduction of Travel
Important to most recruits in EATS was the seduction of the glamour of travel. The concept of travel had always promised the rewards of adventure and produced images of heroic figures. French clearly stated his reasons in a letter to his parents: ‘The proposition appeals to me and offers a free first class trip to and from England and a chance to travel. It will mean flying up-to-date aircraft and should be a good broadening experience.’76 The Great Depression had shaken Australia to its foundations. In this environment, it was only the very wealthy and leisured classes who could afford to travel from Australia. It was a privilege enjoyed by few. This period had also seen the development of visual technology and ‘had created a familiarity with locations previously barely imaginable.’77 Each diary provides a
71 Dereck French, Diaries 6 November 1940, State Library of Victoria PA 01/32. 72 Richard Hillary, The Last Enemy 16. 73 Don Charlwood, Diary entry. 29 November 1941 74 Dereck French, Diary entry 29 August 1939. 75 Dereck French, Diary entry 4 September 1939. 76 Dereck French, letter, Papers. 77 Charles Burdell, Dereck Duncan, Cultural Encounters New York: Berghan Books, 2002, 6
64 wealth of information and observation of the travel experience of the recruits. They were seeing sights that they had never imagined would be available to them from the overwhelming glamour and night life of New York and the heritage of familiarity of sights in Britain. The experiences of more exotic locations of the Middle East to the tropical destinations of South East Asia were recorded as a series of wondrous sensations. The allure of travel was captured by recruitment posters.
Figure 8 Poster for the Recruitment Campaign78
Geoffrey Berglund was just eighteen when he enlisted in the Empire Air Scheme in 1942 and, like many he began a diary to record the adventures that were about to unfold. The early entries express some boredom and concern with the food on the troop ship that sailed via the United States, but he was to be quickly over-awed by Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, then amazed at snow as they crossed the US by train to Niagara Falls, then New York, where he recorded, ‘they say a day of great wonderment is before me.’79 ‘Life here at midnight is just beginning. Everything has a blaze of glory.’ ‘Radio Hall has a gold leaf ceiling and mirrors.’ And so to Edinburgh where ‘the castle was covered in mist,’ and finally to Brighton and a mixed crew, composed of airmen from Britain and the Dominions, under the command of the
78 AWM ARTV 04296 1943. Page 79 Geoffrey Berglund, AWM Private Record PR00402, entries Dec1942 to June 1943.
65 RAF.80 Here the entries are obsessed with food and meal times, cards, dances, where he found ‘the biggest mob of trolls,’ and movies.81
The diary of Robert Pittaway began on embarkation for Britain with the first prospect San Francisco, which was underlined with an excited exclamation. Robert was twenty-six, one of the oldest, and married when he enlisted but the lure of adventure was present. The first sight of ‘The Golden Gate Bridge caused a ‘frenzy of delight.’82 On the train trip across the United States, he spoke of the scenery being like that he and his wife had seen in the Western movies.’ Throughout his entries, Pittaway continued to crave for adventure. He was fascinated with the exotic history, way of life and culture of the Middle East describing Jerusalem in detail, ‘Where the women were totally clothed in black.’ At the end of his first year Pittaway concluded. ‘I have travelled over a large part of this earth’s surface, both land and sea, seen sights that in the ordinary course of events have been beyond films, experienced bombing in England and the Med., seen how the people of America and England and now Palestine live.’83
Excitement of War
The concluding words of one ninety-seven year old whom I interviewed still echo. ‘Let’s face it,’ he said, ‘If it weren’t for the killing, war would be great fun.’84 The sense of adventure and excitement provided inspiration for enlistment as Mosse claimed ‘masking the reality of war.’85 The image of war and the military hero had grown in status since the emergence of strong centralised states based on militarism.86 The development of air power as a way of fighting added a new dimension to the image of the masculine role. This was clearly expressed by a young Australian pilot as
80 ‘mixed crew’ refers to the crewing up of men from Britain and the Dominions. Men were placed where they were needed. 81Geoffrey Bergland, Diary 30th June 1943 Entries November 1943- February 1946. 82 Robert Pittaway, Diaries. AWM, PR01195 Entries 26 June 1943- 3 November 1943. 83Robert Pittaway, 28December 1943. 84 Interview George Hannon 26 July 2007. 85 George Mosse, ‘Knights of the Sky,’ 132. 86 Refer to earlier reference of the development of masculinity supported by R.W. Connell and George Mosse.
66 he reflected on the role of the air war. ‘In a fighter plane I believe, we have found a way to return to war as it ought to be; war which is individual combat between two people in which one either kills or is killed. It’s exciting, it’s individual and it’s disinterested.’87 In each diary, expressions of excited anticipation of action were to be found. Each sought the thrill of action. In his study of Soldier Heroes, Graham Dawson explored the gendered meanings encoded in cultural beliefs, social practices and political structures and the projection, by the state, of the qualities of aggression, strength, courage and endurance as the preferred form of masculinity.’88 In exploring what he termed the ‘pleasure culture’ of war, a real man was one who was prepared to fight. While the cultural image presented the illusion of the dominant male, with the airman as the elite, it was the appeal to perform acts of heroism in fast machines that seduced the men of EATS. Diary entries reflect the pursuit of such heroism.
After what he described as a monotonous voyage, Robert Pittaway confessed ‘I am not frightened, just longing to get into it.’89 In the Mediterranean he claimed to have his ‘Baptism of fire.’90 An air battle began above the troop ship and immediately Robert Pittaway’s thrill with action, if only from a distance, was obvious. He described with awe the ‘desperate battle,’ the ‘display of fireworks,’ ‘the tracer bullets wizzing-by,’ the pilot shot down who, ‘didn’t have a chance,’ and ‘believe me I enjoyed it,’ he recorded. The attitude here is the belief that action would be ‘fun.’ The reality of combat was still to come.
Expectation of action was recorded differently by Jack Woodward. All his entries are approached with the fun of a larrikin, perhaps a way of disguising apprehension. He was to write in verse referring to the stringent training that had to be undertaken by aviators:
The way we have to swot to fight the Huns.
Now who would have thought when signing up
In this God forsaken show
87 Richard Hillary, The Last Enemy, 7. 88 Graham Dawson, Soldier Heroes: British adventure empire and the imagining of masculinity 1. 89 Robert Pittaway, Diary Entry, 6 July 1943. 90 Ibid. 29 November 1943.
67 Of all the days and nights of swot
At things we ought to know
I often think with all this swot
We’ll never see the brawl…
There’s little doubt of this by gosh
We’ll never see the ruddy bosch.
As Woodward watched the Japanese slowly advancing, he recorded ‘Everyone including myself is looking forward to the future and a bit of a scrap, but somehow I don’t think the little yellow bastards will fight.’91 French recorded in his diary, ‘Our attitude to war was unreal and stiff. Yet aboard the Corfu we aircrew were most anxious to get back to our unit before the war was over fearing we would miss out on the fun.’92
Seduction of Flying
The ultimate lure for all those who enlisted was the chance to fly, which had previously remained in the realm of the wealthy.93 In EATS, there was a chance to model yourself on the aviator hero, who was not only daring and courageous but had the ability to conquer the skies by the use of skill in dominating technology. There appears to be a further attraction to both flying and the thrill of aerial combat and that is what Freud describes as the inherent death instinct that resides within all organisms.94 The extracts used in this chapter were recorded during training when the thrills of the adrenalin rush could be achieved in dangerous flying. The impetus behind the masculine love of ruthlessness and risk-taking that provided the attraction for these aviators has as yet not been clearly explained. Connell has associated it with the violence within men and believes it is the institution that has produced the narrowly
91 Jack Woodward, Diary Entry 1 December, 1940. 92 Ibid. 10 September, 1941. 93 John Gunn, The Defeat of Distance: Qantas 1919-1939, St.Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1985, 48. Mathew Williams, Australia We Remember: The 1920s and 30s, Sydney: Trocodera Publishers 1985, 75. The earliest passenger flight in Australia was between Sydney and Brisbane in 1930. It took five to six hours. The cost was nine pounds thirteen shillings. These were unaffordable to the majority of Australians especially in the Depression, and when the average weekly wage was around ninety-three shillings. Commonwealth Year Book 1933. 94 Sigmund Freud, Beyond the Pleasure Principle, New York: W.W.Norton and Co. 1989 ed. 56.
68 defined hegemonic male.95 This does not seem to provide an adequate explanation of the sense of thrill that provided an attraction to these boys, but it provides an essential part of the adventure of flying. It is Freud who best gives an explanation for the pursuit of risk and danger that empowers man with a death instinct.
Jack Woodward enlisted in January 1941 and was sent to Malaya under RAF command where he observed the advance of the Japanese. He recorded all his experiences with a rush of adventure. His love of the sensation of flying was described ‘the very steep turns which threw us all over the plane and a thrill at the end by diving from 7000 feet and pulling out at 1000.’96 Still searching for thrills he recorded, ‘you get a real kick out of flying with the diving down towards the ground and just when it seems the ground is just rushing up to engulf you, you just swoop away out of its grasp and cheat it of another victim.’97 French wrote to his parents. ‘Aviation in England is A1. We have nearly as many aircraft at our station as there were at Hendon Air Pageant in 5 years. Super aircraft just roar over my quarters.98 He described in glowing terms all the aircraft he flew and his boyish sense of fun is best seen in his description of target practice. ‘Our job here is shooting at targets on the ground from the air This is great fun and two chaps fire at once to distinguish between the two. One dips his bullets in red paint, which shows up nicely. The rest is bombing and it’s great fun to fly over a target get it in your sights and let a lever go with a bang and watch the bomb falling but not so good when it falls a long way from the target.’99 He added a further aspect of excitement, ‘Rather a thrill to be entrusted with 30,000 pounds worth of brand new plane.’100
In a letter to his parents, Frank Parsons declared, ‘I’ve indulged in a bit of low flying and shooting up. Personally I said good-bye to this life several times I guess about six of my nine lives have gone. We just missed trees houses hills and many other various items of man and nature just tearing towards them and pulling up at the
95 R.W.Connell, The Men and the Boys St Leonards NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2000, 214. 96 Jack Woodward, Diary Personal Papers, AWM. PR00158, 5 November 1941. 97Ibid. 7 November 1941. 98 Dereck French, Personal Papers, 17 March 1938. 99 Frank Parsons, letter to his parents 18 July 1940, private collection. When I interviewed Frank he gave access to all his private papers. 100 Dereck French, letter to his parents, 2 April 1940.
69 very last moment. When I got back I found my watch had stopped. It must have passed out with the continuous shocks and reliefs as we wiped off yet another life Gosh that only gives me three more chances to play around with. But really it was a very exciting trip. I enjoyed it immensely.’101 At this time Frank had not looked to the possible reality of death. It was removed in his account.
In one of the most horrific of aircrew positions, Geoff Bergland was finally crewed up in bomber command as a rear gunner.102
The rear turret is a rather peculiar feeling. You feel as if you are suspended in mid-air you are isolated from the rest of the crew, you hear their intercom otherwise you are by yourself suspended at the end of the fuselage. You rotate the turret to beam. You want to hold onto something. You might blow away. A queer but nice sensation. One I wouldn’t swap for the world.
While still in training, Bergland expressed his delight in the thrill of night flying with his crew ‘We flew again at night. Gee did we fly. Went up top at times and there were Gerries flying around too. Searchlights galore. Got to bed by 0600 hrs.’103 Others described the thrill of doing spins until they passed out.104
It was not only the thrill of aerobics but the beauty and wonder of flying that entered into the diaries of so many. These descriptions evoked another response, the intoxication of beauty that could be viewed. Ted Dupleix joined EATS in 1940 and his diary records the voice of a man passionately involved in flying:
Coming home this morning I got above the broken clouds and played about, dipping one wing into them doing turns around the knobbly bits and occasionally smashing right through one. Flying is great fun. A plane is more to us than a good horse is to many riders. It must answer to more, take a good beating and then grind away for hours and hours. It’s a friend in danger and all we rely on. Heck I still can’t put it into words but a plane is still – well it gets to you.105
101 Frank Parsons, letter to his parents 18 July, 1943. 102 Geoffrey Berglund, Diary entry, 30 January1944. 103 Ibid. 21 February 1944 104 Herbert James Thomson, Private Papers. State Library of Victoria Manuscript Msl2006.Letters written 18 March 1941. 105 Ted Dupleix, Private papers held in family collection.
70 A final comment highlights the ambivalence many must have felt. ‘Did our final flight today makes the horror of war all the more distressing. The beauty of the world is mocking.’106 Slowly, it was to emerge in the conscience of these trainee aviators that their love of flying was firmly placed in a context that made this possible. That was war. They were being trained to fly and to kill.
Recognition of Reality
Yet, despite the sense of adventure and fulfilling roles of the masculine ideal and the prescribed form of behavior that was voiced, in many diaries and letters, there was an undertone of fear of the unknown. The model of masculinity represented to these men was that emotional life had been regarded as a sign of weakness to be repressed.107 There was no recognized, socially constructed model for fear and apprehension. These emotions represent the non–violent, sensitive areas of man and were marginalised by images, as a sign of weakness, making it all the more difficult for men to admit to such feelings. The public illusion had disguised the prospect of death and violence that was part of war. At this time in their training, they perhaps knew this was to come but it was against the code to voice apprehension. This was analysed in many studies of masculinity as, ‘the concept of sex role identity prevents individuals who violate the traditional role for their sex from challenging it; instead, they feel personally inadequate and insecure.’108 In their diaries, it is clear men struggled with emotions such as fear of death and were too fearful to publicly admit their vulnerability.
Even while concealing inner fears, in their diaries there was a realisation of the horror that could be encountered. Often, this is recorded in a jocular tone as in ‘this diary commences from the time I left Australia till the time I return; I hope.’109 A later comment recorded ‘full operational flight tonight we are excited. We are remaking our
106 Don Charlwood, Diary entry, 8 March 1941. 107 R.W.Connell has examined the binary relationship between the masculine and feminine roles in Masculinities second edition Cambridge: Polity Press 2005. He examined Freud’s claim that femininity is always part of a man’s character. 23. 108 J. Pleck, The Myth of Masculinity Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 1981,160. 109 Geoffrey Berglund, Diary entry. 3 November 1943. AWM PR00402.
71 wills giving every thing to our mates. Just in jest. At last it looks as if I’m a real air gunner. Not just an image of one. It’s hard to express my feelings at a time like this but I hope to write some more later, if we get back.’110 Another began his diary ‘as a running commentary of my journey dedicated to my wife, the girl I love with every atom of my being. So my darling wife if by chance that I shouldn’t return to you and this should fall into your hands, as I trust it will, you will know that always you were with me. So to the task-.’111 ‘Again Pittaway was to address his diary, ‘Anne every night I pray for you and my boys and mother, and many nights I lay in bed with my heart heavy not only from being away but from the fear that I won’t get back to you. You know all I want from life is to be near you.’112 Sometimes the closeness to death was remembered with humour. Woodward wrote one lad ‘was leaning on the door looking out getting a reco when the door suddenly opened and he nearly fell out. He didn’t have his parachute on but one of his companions ensured him that he would have thrown the “chute” out after him so he could catch it after he hit the ground.’113
More than any other, Don Charlwood had the strength to record his fears. His words infer the horror that was to come when he wrote, ‘Today we heard of the Australians who were here this time last year only two are now left in action the rest either being dead or prisoners of war. My reaction to that news is annoyance that we should be living such utterly insane lives. Once again asked myself why should we fight? Why should we become mere leaves on a flood?’114 He too had arranged with his mate ‘about the disposal of each other’s personal effects.’115 Further, he contemplated ‘Damn my fears Yet to face the truth is surely more reasonable than to Britishly look back on past victories and past methods I assume from them that we can’t be beaten. That attitude has lost us the war so far. Giving up years of our own lives would not be so bad if they were used to maximise effect.’116 While still in training in Canada, Charlwood was beginning to ask for reasons and explanations and
110 Geoffrey Berglund, Diary entry, 7 March, 1944. 111 R.S.Pittaway introduction page to his diary which began on his embarkation for Britain in 26 May, 1943, AWM PR 01195. 112 Ibid. 113 Jack Woodward, Diary entry, 11 April 1941. 114 Don Charlwood, Diary entry 29 November 1941. 115 Ibid. 1 February 1941. 116 Ibid. 16 March 1941.
72 to question the authorities in their administration of air warfare. Finally, he recorded: ‘A number of the boys are starting to wake up to the fact that we will soon be facing war and a sticky end. I am not sorry that I realised that fact as soon as we left home and I have fought a lot of my fears in my imagination I still have plenty though and I have lived fully because of my imagination.’117
Conclusion
In this chapter I have argued that the collective image of EATS was constructed around elements of identity found within Australian society and culture of the 1930s. The collective image seduced young recruits with the illusion that war was a glorious way to manhood, that they had a duty to serve, and the Empire would always be there to protect them. Flying was a way to enhance these and experience the thrill and adventure of flight. Young recruits had absorbed these values and beliefs into their own identities living out the role model of ‘knights of the sky.’ Once combat began, and on their return to civilian life, these images were destroyed, and thus the basis of their identity reflected, as Erikson observed that they ‘no longer hung together, and never would again’. Cultural forces that had guided their lives would in many ways be annihilated, and both the nation and the individual aviator would be forced to grapple with the discontinuity of the past and construct a new identity around their experiences with EATS to establish a place for themselves within the social context.
It is the horror of action in the air that the next chapter will examine. Once seduced by the image of the glamour of flying and responding with boyish enthusiasm, this illusion was to be shattered as they plunged into air war. Entries would allow the fears to surface as the fun of flying gave way to the violence of killing. There was no prescribed script to perform in the extreme environment of combat and the nominative role of the aviator warrior was brought under question. A search for a new image of explanation would emerge to replace the transparency of the image of seduction that had drawn these men to the Empire Air Training Scheme.
117 Ibid. 21 April 1941.
73 CHAPTER 3
This is Really It. The Image Under Fire
The whole target area was ablaze with searchlights with thousands of cursed red stars being fired everywhere. Just before turning to leave the target a Lancaster flew under us. It was one of the most horrible sights I’ve yet seen in the air. It was coned by searchlights and in the light I could see the whole side had been shot out. There was a fighter alongside and as they passed he fired a multi red cartridge in my face quite blindingly. The Lanc flew right across the target, still coned and the fighter never fired a shot. On the northern side of the target it burst into flames and the fighter then blew it up like a cannon. I rather think the fighter was giving the crew a chance to bail out as he could have shot it down but he waited till it commenced burning. Perhaps there is a little chivalry left in the sky. I wonder?1
Such was the reality that confronted aviators as they faced the action of aerial combat. Even within the horror of this sight the aviator clung to a belief that seduced him; perhaps chivalry existed. Confrontation with the brutality of air warfare brought with it a challenge to accepted values. When enlisting, the glory of war as a path to masculinity, faith in the protection of Empire, and the glamour of flight, were assumed as central in the identity of young recruits. With trust in these established principles of identity undermined, as they faced killing and being killed, airmen in despair articulated the hope of retaining elements that would give explanation to their experiences.
1 Keith Cook, Diary. This was among the papers of Don Charlwood’s private collection to which I was given access. Don placed it in context saying, ‘So wrote Keith Cook on his forty seventh air operation. He was killed on his fifty-second operation the day before his twenty-second birthday.’ Interview 18 July, 2008
74 This chapter examines the reactions to combat, and the alarming disintegration of the imagined expectations of the aviators that can be referred to as one of disbelief and bewilderment in the collision between reality and illusion. The intrusion of events on their trust in pre existing cultural values created responses reflecting powerlessness. While initial responses were not uniform in the resilience shown to the immediate stress, each grasped a way to cope with a threatening situation. Contributing to distinctiveness in these images and complicating articulation was the combination of three fundamental components all linked to new experiences for the uninitiated individual aviator. The first was the experience of aerial combat on the scale encountered in World War II, which was without precedent. Expectations and demands were new and posed the problem of where paradigms could be found in expressing experiences. The second problem was the dilemma of redefining identity as previous images began disintegrating. The third problem that emerged from combat experiences was the emotionally charged situations that necessitated exploration of previously unrecognized emotions of pain, sense of failure, inferiority, and fear. All required the search for a new voice that would begin to reconstruct identities around these challenges. It has been observed, the sensations of initial responses were relatively undigested and often opaque where men were not fully conscious of the impact of war especially on emotions.2
A New way of fighting
There was no precedent for the experience that would be encountered in aerial action. The charge of technology changed the whole concept of war and unwittingly the young volunteers to EATS were to be the initiators of the new techniques. These aviators became identified between the years 1939 and 1945 in Europe and Asia, ‘with death-dealing explosives raining from the sky, gutted buildings, shrieking children and crowded air raid shelters in which families huddled together.’3 While represented as perpetrators, the merciless bombardiers who threatened to end civilization, they were also victims. Those involved in the new form of aerial war sought many different ways
2 Michael Roper, The Secret Battle. Emotional Survival in the Great War Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009, 21. 3 Robert Wohl, ‘Republic of the Air,’ The Wilson Quarterly 17. 2. 1993,108.
75 to interpret experiences once they saw action. Caught by the seduction of the image that promised the opportunity to fly, young men were now required to fight in a violent theatre of war that owned no prescriptive script.
Redefining identity
Also influencing the expression of experiences was the sense of bewilderment as belief in established role models was shredded. Erikson, in observing the World War II veterans, recognized the challenges to the individual identity. He wrote, ‘They knew who they were; they had a personal identity. But it was as if, subjectively, their lives no longer hung together—and never would again.’4 Erikson defined identity formation of late adolescence as a time of exploration and commitment, providing a secure sense of self-definition.5 The majority of those who enlisted in EATS were in this period of transition and had constructed, both consciously and unconsciously, identities from role models experienced in childhood, of masculinity defined by the experience of the glory of war, and the central role of Empire. Until the period of combat the identity formation had been one of construction. The confrontation of combat produced what psychologists have recognized as successive disequilibrations of existing identity structures. Each stage involved a re-formulation of identity.6 The experience of battle caused periods of diffusion and confusion, and this is what is reflected in the initial images created by the airmen to explain their experiences.
Emotions
There was, and is, little reflection on the emotional disillusionment that the individual airmen experienced by contending with an entirely new theory of war. It is this aspect that forms one of the themes of this thesis: the initial emotional reaction of aviators to air combat and their later reflections. Responses to aerial combat involved intense emotions not previously encountered. The expression of emotion was first
4 Erik Erikson, Childhood and Society,’ 42 5 Ibid. 6 James E. Marcia, ‘Identity and Psychosocial Development in Adulthood’ Identity: An International Journal Of Theory And Research, 2, 1 2002, 8.
76 governed by public codes of conduct of the age that men must deny emotion. Keith Douglas, an English pilot with the Empire Scheme, and a poet reflected on this issue. ‘To be sentimental or emotional now is dangerous to oneself and to others. To trust anyone or to admit any hope of a better world is criminally foolish, as foolish as it is to stop working for it. It sounds silly to say work without hope, but it can be done; it’s only a form of insurance; it doesn’t mean work hopelessly.’7 The words of Douglas reflected the Edwardian view surrounding the place of emotions within masculinity that dominated cultural expectations during this period. These were characterized by emotional control and a lack of vulnerability. Men were not expected to hurt and emphasis was on the strong and silent. The second complexity in expressing initial emotional responses is the problem of translating raw impulses into words. Michael Roper, in his study of emotions in the Great War, observed of men in combat, ‘the gap between emotional experience and what was actually conscious to them let alone what they felt they ought to communicate …was huge.’8 He continued, ‘many of their deepest emotions would not have been evident to them at the time, or to us now as historians.’9
The concept of emotional experience is one that will recur throughout this thesis, as recognizing emotions contributes to an insight of how the war was remembered many decades later. While there is no shortage of histories of men in the public spheres of war, attention to the subject of emotions, and especially the link between masculinity and war, has been a relatively recent historiographical departure, and more work needs to be done on this.10 Michael Roper maintains the influence of social and cultural construction has been compounded by the reluctance to admit to the influence of subjective and psychic influences in studies of masculinity.11 He noted the difficulty was that both social and cultural approaches tended to conceive of masculinity only in terms of external codes and structures. Masculinity, Roper maintained, has been viewed primarily in terms of ideological codes, which are
7 Keith Douglas, Collected Poems, London: Faber and Faber, 1966. 150. 8 Michael Roper, The Secret Battle. Emotional Survival in the Great War, 20. 9 Ibid. 10 In recent literature Michael Roper and Martin Francis maintain there has been a reticence to address emotions in war. In this sphere the work of Joanna Bourke on masculinity emotions and war, needs to be recognised 11 Michael Roper, ‘Slipping out of View: Subjectivity and Emotion in Gender,’ History Workshop Journal, 59, 2005, 58.
77 studied through representations such as political tracts, enlightenment philosophy, art, conduct, books, poetry, religious discourse, and propaganda. Such an emphasis leaves open, and untheorized, the question of what the relationship of the codes of masculinity is to actual men, to existential matters, to persons and to their psychic make-up.’12 Within the Australian context containment of masculine emotions was compounded by the already emerging Australian identity, which implicitly implied the stoicism of emotions within masculinity. That the paucity of emotion within the Australian context claiming emotional literacy was distinctly un-Australian has been recognized.13 Despite the work to reform concepts of masculinity, it appears the problem remains just as true today.14
Confronting a new form of combat that challenged their identity and plunged them into a world of emotional chaos, airmen struggled to discover a form of expression that reflected the confusion of emotions, a loss of identity and the ambiguity of their situation. In the initial responses, emotions remain nebulous as if they were in a state of shock. In searching to articulate reactions to combat experience, airmen found refuge in several alternative forms of narrative. The first was to continue the illusion and adopt the discourse of mythologizing the aviator hero. The second was to face the reality of the dark side of war, but, in doing so, to maintain the role models of masculinity that had been embedded in their identity through the collective images of society, incorporating the values associated with hegemonic masculinity. While responses were not uniform, they enabled aviators to overcome a sense of powerlessness and re-establish control in continuing the process of identity construction in the form termed recovery narratives.15 All the images used in this chapter record immediate reaction and were produced either during the war or immediately after. Each source provides an interpretation of experiences in attempts to offer explanations and redefine identities. These sources, diaries, poems, novels and art created by airmen, as well as commissioned artists, provide the voice of ‘witness’
12 Ibid. 59. 13 See, Joy Damousi, ‘History Matters: The Politics of Grief and Injury in Australian History,’ Australian Historical Studies 118, 2002. 14 Note especially R.W.Connell, Masculinities Berkley: University of California Press, 1995, 185-195. 15 Carol Emslie, Damien Ridge, Sue Ziebland, Kate Hunt, ‘Men’s accounts of depression: Reconstructing or resisting hegemonic masculinity?’ Social Science & Medicine, 62, 2006, 2251.
78 and illustrate the various responses attempting to form an understanding. Found within these images is the emergence of new identities of the individuals that would selectively adjust the position of EATS in the presentation of the self. The impact of air action dislocated the perception of the aviator hero, questioning masculinity and Empire allegiances.
The diaries record the immediate experience of shock, some with horrific detail, while in others silences disclose the inability to record the experiences in a written form. In the immediacy of the form, there appeared no attempt to interpret events. Although created during the war period sources other than diaries were one step removed from the immediate experience and introduced a more reflective perspective, as they sought for a way to manage the war emotion. The materials examined in this chapter are not exhaustive; they represent a broad cross section of what was created and are part of the dialogue that contributed to the evolution of a new image of the EATS.
In reading the diaries and letters of those Australians who enlisted in EATS, one notes that the onset of action introduced a complete change of tone. In early letters, all addressed to a Mrs. Shier of Greenview, Rochester, Victoria, Herbert Thomson recorded his boyish enthusiasm of delighting in the chance to fly claiming it was ‘hard to describe the thrill.’ Faced with action in the RAF flying over Europe he wrote, ‘You say that you could feel a more serious note in my letters. There are lots of things you can’t laugh off.’16 He explained what had ‘put me in this mood is probably the fact that we had bad news about two of our friends today.’ Flying with Bomber Command, Thomson pondered, ‘it is too much to expect that all could get back without being hurt at all.’ Perhaps his mental anguish was caused by the ethical questions of air war, or just the fact of being so close to death and the reality of combat. Two weeks later he was shot down at just twenty. His death notice was recorded with his letters in the State Library of Victoria. It stated simply, ‘Affectionate memories of P/O H.J. (Bert) Thomson who was lost over Germany. September 9
16 Herbert Thomson, Personal Papers, letter to Mrs Schier 18 July 1942, State Library of Victoria, MS 12006. There is a complete sense of mystery surrounding the relationship between Thomson and Mrs Shier.
79 1942. One of the Valiant. Till then.’ The signature was ‘Greenview,’ the address of Mrs. Shier
A sense of disbelief
The initial impact of aerial combat on the men may be termed one of disbelief or shock. ‘Shock’ as used here does not imply the extreme debilitating nature of shell shock or as it was referred to in the air force, ‘lack of moral fibre.’ It was a reaction to facing extremely terrifying events and each individual responded differently. Early life experiences had developed beliefs in the glory and honour of war. While experiencing continuous assaults on these values, events were described, but reference to internal psychological reactions was minimal, perhaps explained by the reticence to admit emotion or ‘weakness,’ or of being out of control. Reactions displayed a variety of symptoms in dramatic and unexpected ways. The diaries examined here are a continuation of those examined in the previous chapter and each offered a different interpretation of the aerial combat of EATS. The sudden entry into combat evoked different strategies from individuals, including omissions and displacement in the narrative, as they attempted to relate sights and actions outside normal experiences.
For some, there was no expression of disbelief in recording their ‘ops.’ They chose to represent the excitement. The contradictory nature of such emotions, fear and fascination in combat has been documented, and the revealing of men’s innate capacity for violence, offered as a reason for the reluctance to detail the emotional response to combat.17 The assumed role of the stoic aggressive warrior was found in the recorded word of some aviators. Cliff Randall admitted: ‘That was my first experience with a Hun fighter and I must admit I was far too excited to be scared.’18 There may have been an initial rush of adrenalin in the first moments of battle but Randall continued to record each ‘op’ with cold detachment. He observed his squadron leader shot down with two others, then, ‘Our turn next, so in we went, I saw some lovely targets, gunners running to their posts, and gun positions spitting up at
17 Joanna Bourke, An Intimate History of Killing: Face to Face Killing in Twentieth Century Warfare London: Granta 1999, Chapter 2 The Warrior Myth. 18 Clifford Randall, Diary, Seventh Op, 3 September 1943 AWM PR01394.
80 us.’19 Another horrifically confronting episode was described ‘chaps who had got out were blown to bits by the explosion, entire crew lost, could only find small bits of them… The other poor chap was trapped in the front so roasted in the fire.’ In dropping his bombs he observed, ‘Created a beautiful pattern and should have smashed anything that was in that area. Very satisfying to see something go up in smoke.’20 This entry was brutal in its confrontation of the visual scene. For this pilot the recording of such detail may have helped establish a sense of control in his life. There is no sense of compassion for any human being who may have been in the target area as Randall continued, ‘And so to another exciting do.’21 In his diary, entries were recorded by operations like a countdown. In one tour, thirty operations would be completed and the likelihood of this being completed was poor.22 The unemotional countdown was one man’s way of dealing with the experience, perhaps tinged with the fascination of the closeness of death and as posited by Freud, the ‘death instinct.’23
Other records incorporate the war into the very familiar daily entries of their diaries as a construction of their world and could be seen as an attempt to give order to the insanity, and continue to establish identity. It seems they were stunned by the violence, unable to grieve and were reticent with any emotional expression. Entries such as, ‘Hopkins crashed at 10 this morning. Soon burning fiercely. George Hutchinson, Bob Clarke also killed. It was Hopies 21st and Clarke’s wedding anniversary. Another briefing at 1800.’24 In these few words the lives of those two men were briefly imagined and then dismissed as if anaesthetised. There was no time or ability to mourn. Air operations were briefly recorded, ‘flew with another crew this morning, a big drop. Went to the pictures.’25 In short staccato sentences, life was recorded without emotion. ‘Fighting day today.’26 ‘Flying in morning, sports meeting
19 Clifford Randall, Diary, Thirteenth Op, 22 October 1943. 20 Clifford Randall, Diary, Twentieth Op. 21 Clifford Randall, Fifty Second Op, 9 August 1944. 22 5,400 were lost in operations, 3,500 as members of bomber command. Joan Beaumont Australian Defence Sources and Statistics Melbourne: OUP, 2001, 306. G. Long, The six year war: a concise history of Australia in 1939-45. Canberra: AWM, 1973, 474. 23 Sigmund Freud, Beyond the Pleasure Principle, London: W.W. Norton & Company 1961, 46-49. 24 J. Fewster, AWM Private Records, 3DRL/7405, 8 July 1943. 25 J. Fewster Diary, 27 September 1943. 26 Ibid. 24 October 1943.
81 in afternoon and dance in camp. Eleven killed in flight tonight.27 ‘Hell of a trip last night everything went wrong.’28 ‘Briefing this afternoon for this evening, the whole trip was wonderful experience, plenty of fighter cover, little flak.’29 Such entries reflect the layers of ambivalent emotions in the lives of crews and in their diaries they struggled to keep control of their lives.
Jack Woodward grasped every encounter and related them in a way that has been described as ‘big noting.’30 Seeing a convoy of ships he went to investigate. His diary recorded, ‘They gave us a pretty hot reception and let go a decent barrage of ack ack at us. Will look forward to tomorrow and see what happens.31 Again he recorded, ‘Wham! What a day ending with a crash-landing on Java.’ The admiration for the flying skills of the CO, were recorded as a tribute to masculine courage. To Woodward, he was ‘more daring and went down low, machine gunning them and creating havoc.’ Death became part of the action. ‘The gunner, Alan Oliver, copped a bullet through his pelvis and died later on in the day.’ The carnage continued. ‘The CO had to make a crash-landing and quite a good landing it was too.32 The emphasis was on the skill of the pilot as he controlled his aircraft. On shooting down an attacking fighter, Jack described ‘the satisfaction of seeing him get into an inverted spin and ‘he was still spinning at 500 feet when we lost sight of him to deal with another fighter coming in at us.’ The records in this diary are in the voice of the masculine hero. The qualities of strength and courage are emphasised and it could be assumed that Jack thought of his flying experiences as one big adventure. However, this is not sustained throughout the entire diary. The last line of his diary contradicts this, ‘the human race can now wipe itself off the face of the earth I should be happy but my mind is one big ? [question mark] What lies in the future?’33 These words suggest the doubts, despair and questioning when dealing with the contradictory experiences, both causing and suffering pain, in the EATS.
27 Ibid. 24 April 1944. 28 Ibid. 5 June 1944. 29 Ibid. 6 June 1944. ‘Flak’ is the German abbreviation for Fliegerabwehrkanone, Aircraft defense canon. 30Robin Gerster has used this term in describing the writings of Australia in World War I. Big Noting: The heroic theme in Australian war writing Carlton: Melbourne University Press 1992, 31 Jack Woodward, Diary, 14 February 1943.’ack ack’ is British Jargon, Anti-Aircraft(AA) gun. 32 Jack Woodward, Diary, 9 February 1945. 33 Jack Woodward, Diary, 10 August1945.
82 The diary of Geoffrey Berglund, who had waited so keenly for action, became strangely quiet about his flying when he began flying operations. There were brief mentions ‘Had to fly today.’34 Woke up, breakfast, flew, went to movies.’ There was no detail of any flights or of personal feelings. His initial excitement was extinguished as he confronted the genuine horror of war. He could not externalise the experience and this was explained in the closing comments of his diary:
On the 3rd November 1943 I made a dedication in the front of this diary I can now write a conclusion on the realisation of my ambitions. This diary has not been quite a true record of my doings and adventures but what is in it is the truth. What I have omitted is imprinted too well in my memory to forget, besides I prefer to forget the horror of war and the destruction of all mankind. Many other little things I left out. During the course of this diary I’ve learnt many things about life, people and countries. I’m now back at home and a wiser and better person I hope. As a Sgt. I started this episode now as a pilot officer I say cheerio to a laborious but not wasted time to that of writing this diary.35
The diary provided a subjective space where men could explore their experiences and define their lives. The construction of their world enabled each to act out a role that allowed them to make sense of their experiences. Diaries recorded an immediate response to the violence without formal shaping. Other means of expression were found to define the various responses. In poetry, novels and art, a more reflective realm was entered as they struggled with the question of the man of hatred or man of pain. The expression of experience found in these sources is far from the initial images of the excited recruits.36
Initial fear was admitted by a few. In his diary, Don Charlwood was able to express the overwhelming fear he felt on operations openly disclosing his emotions. ‘Ugly fears swept hope from my heart I went miserably to the dining room. Fear stood beside my chair. Life about me seemed happy and carefree, our future so hopeless.’37 Charlwood continued flying and as he did so, he struggled with the ethical question, ‘Though I can see the necessity for preserving the democratic way of life I cannot imagine Christ bidding men to bomb little children. What things we have to answer
34 Geoffrey Berglund, Diary, 20 February 1945. 35 Geoffrey Berglund, Diary, 25 July 1945. 36 The initial response in diaries and letters was reviewed in Chapter 2. 37 Don Charlwood, Diaries, 23 September 1942.
83 for.’38 He confessed to a constant tension of knowing how he should perform and the reality of fear of death. ‘I began to realize that this moment was something I had never really believed… At last I said, “What is it that’s worrying you? Face it out, then go to sleep. Is it that tomorrow night you might die?”39 He sought for ethical explanations to the prospect of killing. ‘We were about to kill. They would attempt to kill us…To kill. Let’s see this clearly. To kill and to be killed. Why was this, again? Freedom; yes, that was it; for freedom. Whose freedom? Freedom for what?’40 The complexity and bewilderment of responses was voiced by Charlwood, who ended an oral history interview with Patsy Adam Smith with the words, ‘We had no idea of the reality of war. No idea.’ 41
Images of disbelief
Figure 9 Bomber Crew 42
38 Don Charlwood Diaries, 13 August 1942. 39 Ibid. 31. 40 Ibid. 32. 41 Patsy Adam Smith, Oral history interview with Donald Ernest Cameron Charlwood, 1976 Nov. 20 [sound recording] 1976 Nov. 20. State Library of Victoria. MS TMS 159. 42 AWM, ART 26256.
84 The sense of disbelief and shock reaction was reflected in other sources, as in the paintings of Stella Bowen. Bowen was one of the few women commissioned by the Australian War Memorial.43 Her brief was ‘to provide a pictorial record of the activities of Australian forces in the U.K.’ and her perception enabled her to experience the sense of disempowerment of the airmen.44 In 1944, Bowen began a group portrait of a crew who flew Lancaster bombers. She made sketches of the six Australian and one British crew members. On the night of 27 April 1944, the crew departed on yet another operation. Their aircraft was never seen again. All but one of the men represented in 460 Squadron were killed in a bombing raid before Bowen’s painting was finished and she admitted that she felt she was painting ghosts.45 The painting was completed from her sketches and official photographs. There is little in the painting to distinguish the men as Australians, reinforcing the innate belief of the time, in the unity of Empire. Their names and ranks are represented in the painting, one has a small emblem of Australia on his sleeve and the pilot has the RAAF symbol on his wings. Apart from that, the crew is integrated into RAF Bomber Command and regarded as Englishmen.
The expressions on these faces are very different from those of the boys who enlisted months earlier. Drusilla Modjeska, who wrote of Bowen’s life, recognized they ‘are represented as a vision of unprotected heroism under the sinister wings of the Lancaster in which the imperiled young men of this group portrait make their bombing raids’46 Bowen captured a sense of powerlessness in the expression of these young aviators that is heard in the diaries. They are lost in their own thoughts, unable to make eye contact. Perhaps part of the bewilderment was not only due to the horrendous involvement in bomber command destroying the narrative of glory in war, but the disbelief which the men had in being involved in a war in Europe when their own country was under threat. Anonymous white feathers were sent to airmen on numerous
43 Charles Bean was the first to present the idea of a national war memorial to preserve the memory of Australians in World War I and his work was developed by John Treloar director of the Australian War Memorial from 1920 to 1952, collecting all concerned with Australian experience at war. Art was commissioned by the AWM as a pictorial record and art as a memorial. 44 Drusilla Modjeska, Stravinsky’s Lunch, Sydney, N.S.W.: Picador 1990 159. 45 Ibid. 46 Drusilla Modjeska, Stravinsky’s Lunch, 159.
85 occasions and, on return to Australia, there were chants of ‘Jap Dodgers.’47 The horrific reality challenged illusions of Empire loyalty.
Research reveals that as the Scheme went into operation, an awareness emerged to the recruits that national interests were not always included in the common cause of Empire.48 Confidence in young recruits gave way to a sense of ambiguity in identity. Such events introduced new narratives into the relationship with Empire, undermining the belief that Australia would always fall under the protection of Empire. The confusion surrounding Australia’s relationships with the Empire can be found in the visual representations of Stella Bowen. While it would be legitimate to interpret the emotions represented in Bowen’s paintings as the result of combat, there are other layers of meaning to appear in her work. The realization of the increasing divergence of identity between Australia and Empire becomes clear in a lesser known depiction of Bowen’s titled, At the Churchill Club, large and small worlds.
Figure 10 At The Churchill Club: large and small worlds 49
The Churchill Club was one of the dozens of clubs provided in London for Australian servicemen and Bowen visited many of these clubs to record the activities
47 In immediate sources white feathers were not mentioned. These were recalled in interviews conducted with veterans of EATS. Eddie Bradshaw and Boz Parsons and are discussed later. 48 This has been recognized by Australian historians including Alan Stephens, ‘The Royal Australian Air Force in 1941’ Paper given at the Australian War Memorial 2001 History Conference, www.awm.gov.au/events/conference/2001 /stephens.htm [2 January 2008]. 49 AWM, ART 26269
86 of Australian airmen. The depiction invites an interpretation of Australian Empire relationships in the duration of World War II. The airman is Australian, denoted by a small symbol on his sleeve of the RAAF. It is suggested his injured hand was the result of an injury defending the Empire. The scene outside places him unmistakably in England, yet in his study of the globe, his focus is clearly placed on Australia. It suggests not only homesickness but perhaps the realization and bewilderment that he is bound to Britain while his own country is under attack. It is this ambiguity of identity that can be found in all Bowen’s work.
When I interviewed Don Charlwood I had taken, among a few other talking points, copies of Bowen’s work. He puzzlingly claimed not to have seen these before and became quite emotional at recognising the men with whom he had trained. ‘Such children’ he said, identifying the innocence in the representation of their faces. Bowen has captured a sense of confusion and of powerlessness in the expressions of these young aviators. They are very different from the young recruits about to embark on an adventure. The evolution of the image becomes clear when the expressions in Stella Bowen’s paintings are compared with the very self-assured young aviators who were represented in the Argus publicity photos of EATS.
Figure 11 Argus Publicity Photograph for the Empire Air Training Scheme50
50 State Library of Victoria, Image No. H99.206/2458.
87
Figure 12 Halifax Crew 51
In Halifax Crew the seven heads of the crew are grouped together, all in the up-turned fur collars of their leather jackets, similar to the recruits just starting out. Around them, as extensions of their identities, their seven pairs of hands performed the empowering actions that guided the huge machine behind them. Over their heads is the RAF eagle that Modjeska described ‘like a faint echo of the dove in the religious paintings of the early Italians.’52 Bowen succeeded in portraying the aviators as vulnerable victims of the destruction they encountered but this was tempered with the serious realisation of the violence they caused. They had become both active and passive heroes causing and suffering pain. The identities they had assumed as they enlisted had proved unfounded and now, to regain control, their identities had to be reconstructed.
51 AWM, ART 26268 52 Ibid.
88 Mythologising the Air Warrior
Striving for glory through warfare has formed part of the public dialogue since The Iliad and The Odyssey and romanticising experiences, formulated around earlier life models, provided one answer to the dilemma faced by airmen.53 In the records of those who articulated identities around the glory of war, myths were continued around the virtues of manhood, courage, valor, empire patriotism, and glory in death, preserving continuity with the past images in negotiating elements of identity.
The poems and narratives examined were written by men serving in EATS. Some voices resorted to the safety of maintaining the image of the masculine aviator hero. Others were silent about the horrors surrounding them and concentrated on the romantic joy of flight. The romanticising of death and patriotism for the Empire provided new themes in the images of the aviator warrior. Poetry provided an avenue where men could reflect and explore the experiences of aerial combat and create new images as a way to understand the world into which they had been plunged. Reactions were different from those found in diaries, and were given formal shaping turning many experiences into an aesthetic encounter, with the men as the heroic victims, thus avoiding their part in inflicting the total horror of air warfare.
Among the private papers of many members of the Empire Scheme was a small printed copy of a poem carefully saved between pages. Tracing the history of this poem revealed it was the work of John Magee, trained in EATS who died at nineteen while serving. While he enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force, his poem was deemed to be relevant to Australian pilots as on his death a copy of his poem was sent to every member of EATS.54 The poem, titled High Flight, forms a strong argument to justify and glorify the involvement in air combat. It reflects the shared motivations of the adventures and sensations ‘never dreamed of,’ that were achieved in flying, in the control of the aircraft and conquest of the skies.55 Masculine
53 James Marcia, ‘Identity and Psychosocial Development in Adulthood,’ Identity: An International Journal Of Theory And Research 2, 1, 2002, 10. 54 www.lancastermuseum.ca/s,johnmagee.html [8April 2008]. 55 John Magee, High Flight. Magee wrote a letter to his parents. In it he commented, ‘I am enclosing a verse I wrote the other day.’ On the back of the letter, he jotted down his poem, 'High Flight.' Just three months later, on 11 December 1941, Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr., was killed. John's parents
89 strength is emphasised in the elation of combat against the backdrop of war. It also offered spiritual consolation as the pilot found the hand of god. The values portrayed, are intended to inspire the devotion and courage necessary to fight, without revealing the devastation, and as such it entered the collective myth that glorified war. It offered justification for the actions of the individual and reaffirmed masculine identity in its celebration of the skills of man. The joy of flying is paramount
Oh,’ I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the silent silence. Hovering there
Chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft thro’ footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I‘ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, nor even eagle flew –
And while with silent lifting mind I trod
The high, untrespassed sanctity of space
Put Out my hand and touched the face of God.
Like a Greek god striding the skies, Magee used the classical image of heroism, and brings the role of the aviator into the realms of mythology. Nowhere is he presented as an aggressor. Identification with the passion of flying unified all those in EATS. It was portrayed as an ethereal experience that would join them with God. Later in an interview Frank Parsons claimed he still had a framed copy of this poem on
were living in Washington D.C. at the time, and the sonnet was seen by Archibald MacLeish, who was Librarian of Congress. He included it in an exhibition of poems called 'Faith and Freedom' in February 1942. After that it was widely copied and distributed.
90 his wall, and it inspired him during his time in the EATS. His mother had sent it to him earlier and he was faithful to the sentiments expressed.56
Magee’s poem represented the official dialogue and it was comforting to some of the airmen to incorporate this with the personal, as they sought reasons for their involvement. Faced with the reality of war, which involved the aviator becoming a destructive power, ethical justification to their actions was sought. The violation of ethical norms confronted in killing evoked complexities in emotional responses and one answer found was to present themselves as the defender of the community. For the first time in individual voices, images of loyalty to Empire and nation were used to explain involvement in EATS. Fighting was for freedom, liberty, and principles that ‘belongs to the common heritage of the wattle and the rose. Aircraft of the Dominions ‘gathering for the kill’ expressed the brutality of war, but it was for a higher cause, the fight for freedom.57 Another expressed belonging, and in his heart there lived ‘a heritage of Briton’s sons, /We would fly and fight for life to keep our land from shame.’58 The Australian heritage of fighting with the Empire on the Western front in World War I was sought as justification, ‘Again the trumpet stirs the eager blood/That drove their fathers to the Flanders mud.’59 Fighting as part of the Empire of the air mythologised the belief in being part of a greater cause where they could find a new importance for their role.
In confronting the prospect of death, images of comfort were found in taking a fundamentally romantic attitude to war that would make heroism in dying possible. Some wrote in terms ‘of shedding the dullness of their earthly shroud’ and ‘joined the ancient gods’ in a release from earth that bound men. Again, ‘your spirits are not dead;/your pennants in the arched sky unfurled/Bid men look up with hope for ever more.’60 Another wrote: ‘For those who on their outward journey/ Went beyond the far off clouds/ Sleep softer ‘neath the far horizon. /Pillowed in these silken shrouds.’61
56 Interview with Frank Parsons. 57 S.E. George ‘South West Pacific,’ RAAF Story 1943, Chapter 5. Canberra: AWM 1943. www.diggerhistory2.info/raaf/1943/00 [11 February, 2008]. 58 A.D. Bell, ‘A Lament on Youth’ Wings, 2, 9, 1944, 28. 59 Ibid. 60 Harry Harris, ‘Salute to the Brave,’ Wings, 2.10, 1944, 23. 61 David, ‘To The Parachute Section,’ RAAF Saga, 1944, 16.
91 Death was glorified through the thrill of speed, the spinning spirally downwards.62 Finally in ‘Airman’s Epitaph’ the image turned to funeral pyres where ‘our brief lives burned for a while,/and ceased’ but immortality was promised, ‘Youth bold! Youth daring! /Intrepid youth will rise again.’63 As it would with any warrior, it appeared that representing the experience of war and death as ending in some form of eternal glory, would enable the airman to face the prospect of death without fear. ‘It seemed they looked upon themselves /In Time’s prophetic glass.’64
The love of flying remained a constant factor in the words of the men of EATS, and while the unprecedented experience of aerial warfare dislocated the notions of masculinity that had been used in recruitment, many airmen used the joy of flight to justify the doubts associated with aerial combat. Several pilots in the Empire Scheme, associated with the Angry Penguins, most notably Geoffrey Dutton, wrote of the mystical fascination with flying.65 ‘In flying, /The body/Was entered, as will is seldom, by the soul.’66 This cosmic experience of flying transcended the horror of war. Pilots were described as musicians composing for a violin with the power to create and find.67 The power of flying that was experienced was explained as being ‘a silver centaur out of time/Or some free spirit that flings off its shroud.’68 Chivalric imagery had long been used and it reinforces the image of war as an heroic act, now they were ‘knights of the sky.’ Man was represented free from earth’s bonds to become the invincible, an ‘avenging spirit, knowing his chances yet not afraid.’69 The idea of invincibility was affirmed as ‘this breed of men, these eagles,’ who ‘have brought such peace.’70 Another line of adulation was given in, ‘those who were born to fly around the throne of Mars.’ This was to suggest that aviators fought in the air as the gods of mythology had done. Such classical images linked them with traditions of heroic warriors, thus extending the image of the aviator. They were part of the ‘heritage’ of
62 A. J. Jones, ‘Missing in Air Ops,’ RAAF Saga, 1944. 6. 63 Flying Officer A. I. H. Jones, ‘Airman’s Epitaph,’ RAAF Victory Roll 1945, 160. 64 Ibid. 65 Angry Penguins was a literary movement begun at Adelaide University in 1940, which sought to question the entrenched Establishment and supported an art and literary magazine. 66 Geoffrey Dutton, Night Flight and Sunrise, Adelaide: Hassell Press, 1944. 67 Geoffrey Dutton, The Hero in Night Flight and Sunrise. 68 R. H. Webster ‘Test Flip,’ RAAF Saga 1944, Canberra: AWM 1944, 19.www.diggerhistory2.info/raaf/1944/00 [11February 2008]. 69 G. W. McDonald, ‘Night Flight,’ RAAF Saga 1944, 91 70 C.M. Thiele, ‘L’Envoy,’ RAAF Victory Roll 1945, Canberra: AWM 1945, 174.
92 young Australian men who with valiant hearts fought for ‘a splendid cause.’ 71 Air war had become a symbol of national salvation and the airmen the elite guarding the nation.72
An important part of the mystique of aviators was the control of modern technology and part of the allure of flying was the masculine domination of the powerful machine. To control an aeroplane was considered not so much a technical feat as a moral accomplishment.73 Present in some of the images was the adrenalin thrill of war in lines such as, ‘Death screams for the kill, /I swoop up aloft and laugh to show/The harmony of metal and men’s will.’74 A similar image of enhanced masculinity was constructed in the ‘oneness of blood and brain and metal,/ Undivisible unity into perfect weapon.’75 Imagining themselves in this dimension of power enabled the men of the EATS to maintain the masculine role that had formed the basis of their seduction. In these diary entries and poems layers were being added to the image based on the glory of the aviator. This would combine a sense of loyalty to the Empire, the rightness of their cause, the love of flying and the affirmation of their masculine identity, giving ethical justification for their actions. And, above all, they were warriors of the sky.
Two personal narrative accounts, also mythologised the experiences of the aviator. ‘The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.’76 So began Richard Hillary’s account of his experiences in the air. Born in Australia, he went to Oxford and in 1938 he joined the university air squadron. In 1939 he became a bomber pilot with members of the Empire Air Scheme and fought during the Battle of Britain. In 1942 he wrote The Last Enemy. In writing this account, Hilary became a cult figure and a war hero. The book was a promotion of air war. In the words of a twenty year old it was announced: ‘In a fighter plane I believe, we have found a way to return to war as it ought to be war which is individual combat between two people in which one either
71 Senior Officer D.M. Blakers, RAAF Saga 1944. 19 72 George Mosse, in Fallen Soldiers, explores the growth of air force images, 121-124. 73 Ibid. 120. 74 R. H. Webster, ‘Test Flip’ 75 G. W. McDonald, ‘Night Flight’ 76 Corinthians XV 26
93 kills or is killed. It’s exciting, it’s individual and it’s disinterested.77 This is the voice of the aviator hero who has no fear of death. He continued, ‘It is only in the air that the pilot can grasp that feeling, that flash of knowledge, of insight, that matures him beyond his years; only in the air that he knows suddenly he is a man in a world of men.’78 Hillary was killed in his twenty third year. He was writing to glorify masculinity, providing an image that ethically justified the gruesome horror that was endured. He faced death and in writing of his experiences he intended to represent ‘the ideals for which my comrades had died were stamped for ever on the face of civilisation.’79 In his mythologising of the role of the aviator to the extent he does, Hillary perpetuated the seduction image enlarging the myth of which he had become a symbol.
Air Chief Marshall Lord Tedder wrote the foreword to Paul Brickhill’s, The Dam Busters (first published in 1951), acclaiming the ‘individual courage and skill which is unique,’ in ‘devotion and self sacrifice.’ Tedder maintained Brickhill’s aim was to demonstrate the specific and decisive importance of air power inspired by a team who overcame impossibilities.80 Yet, in his writing, Brickhill maintained the legend of the Homeric male who finds ethical fulfillment in war. While he too mythologises the image, the emphasis of Brickhill was to show how men have passed through their initiation and were now virtuously heroic.
Brickhill was an Australian, trained under EATS, serving in bomber command with the RAF, and several of the crew members in the Dam Busters and those incacerated in Stalag 17, were Australian.81 In recounting his war experiences Brickhill chose to distance himself from his personal story, (he was shot down and became a prisoner of war), continuing to construct the myth of the chivalric aviator. While the book is factual, the emphasis is on the heroism and intense excitement of the men involved and their highly developed skills as exemplary pilots. It could be said ‘these are books for men.’ Brickhill’s books would become part of what Graham Dawson
77 Richard Hillary, The Last Enemy, 21. 78 Ibid. 139. 79 Ibid. 253. 80 Paul Brickhill, The Dam Busters, London: Evans Brothers Limited, 1951, Foreword. 81 Obituaries New York Times, April 26 1991.
94 called the ‘popular pleasure culture of war.’82 More than other accounts, Brickhill’s novels fill the masculine desire for images of the military hero and the bonding of men in the crews of the Dam Busters and those escaping from Stalag 17. It is a novel that supports traditional values attributed to war and masculinity and proving the value of self when confronted with death.
Figure 13 Wounded Gunner 83
Mythologising of the aviator hero was developed in the paintings of official war artist, Roy Hodgkinson. Airmen are represented as warriors of the nation, ready to sacrifice their lives to a higher cause. The concentration on the masculine form, its strength, youth and coordination is depicted in Wounded Gunner. The wounded gunner is Christ-like in his crucifixion pose as his crew, who are bonded together as one, lowers him from the cockpit. The straining muscles and anguished faces represent these men as the virtuous heroes who are the victims of war. All these images represent relentless optimism in defining the role of the aviator.
82 Graham Dawson, Soldier Heroes, 4. 83 AWM, ART 21353.
95 The images that glorified war were based on a series of common ideas that had dominated the cultural and social lives surrounding young Australians in the 1930s presenting war as an honorable activity and those examined here, although diverse and complex, reflect a predetermined discourse, based on earlier life models and reflecting the pleasure culture of war. They were preserving aspects of the past identities to legitimize themselves. Yet there were other responses that reflected the dark side of war and the reality of the air warrior.
The Reality of the Air Warrior
Representing the aviator as virtuously heroic, and adopting the socially accepted social patterns, was one way of responding to the experiences of war. In such depictions aviators conformed to expected cultural values. An alternative and distinctive form of representation was found in the confrontation of realism by a man who recognised his own weaknesses, and was credible and lifelike in his focus of the horror experienced. Foremost in such immediate records was a slowly awakening recognition of the disintegration of traditional values and beliefs, tinged with disillusionment and at times anger. Rather than disguising the experience in a mantle of heroic myth, this group of airmen exposed the despair in the betrayal of their trust in the collective morals and norms projected by society.
As all men who enlisted, the recruits to EATS had trusted in the abstract principles of the glory to be found in war, now as reality exposed the agony and horror of war, identity would need to be continually revised. Australian recruits in EATS had also implicitly trusted the institution itself, but, as the war progressed, the weaknesses in the institution of EATS became exposed, revealing the role of the Australian government in initial negotiations. Such responses assimilated new layers to the image of EATS that placed it far from the original images of seduction. Caught in the midst of the horror of war Death be Not Proud was a collection of poems by D.B. Kerr, assembled after his death.84 While still at the University of Adelaide, Kerr enlisted in EATS and was called up in 1940. He was killed in air operations in New Guinea on
84 D. B. Kerr, ‘Death Be Not Proud,’ Collected Verse, Adelaide: The Hassell Press, 1943.
96 December 15 1942.85 The poems, in a small volume, reflect a mind in recoil from the horrors of confronting action. The dust jacket of the volume records, ‘the poems show bitterness, despair and cynicism combining with gentleness and acceptance.’ Disillusionment is found in, If I Should Go as Kerr questioned the actions of authorities in the haunting phrase ‘my quicksand government.’ The term ‘quicksand’ does not imply trust in the authorities and on one level the poem can be interpreted as Kerr’s response to the government’s capturing and exploitation of the purity of youth in the name of war. In An Oration for Australia, in which he described his experiences, Kerr visualized a ‘land removed from the cause of sanity/The nerves of men whisper madly in its roots.’ And later, ‘through scarlet eyes creeps the fear of action.’ There is no mythologizing of the glory of war as Kerr faces the certainty of death as he followed the demanded call to duty.
Kerr had experienced aerial war in the Pacific theatre, and in this theatre, the aerial war suffered from an inadequate supply of trained aircrew and machines, resulting from the initial negotiations of EATS assigning airmen and machines to Europe. This inadequacy evoked a cynical response to an event on January 20 1942. Japanese carriers launched a hundred bombers and fighters to attack Rabaul. Air Force HQ in Melbourne ordered Wing Cmdr J. Lerew, to attack the Japanese invaders. With only one Hudson and one damaged Wirraway at his disposal, Lerew replied with the signal ‘nos morituri te salutamus’, the Roman gladiators' cry to spectators at the Colosseum, ‘we who are about to die salute you.’86
Disillusionment and a sense of powerlessness were voiced by others. The documentary realism presented in They Hosed Them Out: the Story of Australian Air Gunners in the RAF, confronts the psychological impact on the lives of men involved.87 I remember the excitement of Geoffrey Berglan’s diary entry as he found himself assigned to the gunner’s turret. He could think of nothing better. When action
85 This must be placed in the context of the already mentioned inadequate supply of trained airmen and equipment after fulfilling the original demands to the Empire undertaken in the negotiation of EATS. 86 The original response from his logbook is recorded in the AWM Collection EXDO168. The circumstances surrounding the event have also been detailed in Lex McAulay, We who are about to die salute you Maryborough Qld.: Banner Books 2007, and George Holden, We who are about to die salute you: the wartime diary of 24 Squadron, Bentleigh. Vic.: George Holden 2007. 87Even the title of his book admits to the position of Australia in the Empire
97 began his diary had become strangely quiet.88 It was there when the turret was shot away and the remains of the aviators had to be ‘hosed out.’ John Beede admitted in writing the book he was exercising a personal catharsis with a determination that ‘it must never happen again.’89 In confronting the violence and the slow shattering consequence of war, Beede recognised the threat to his masculine identity.90 His descriptions of, ‘the Committee of Adjustment,’ to look after the deceased belongings, his own guilt at his own survival, the ‘hosing out of the turret,’ the fear of the annihilation and flaming death, and treatment by Australian officers, contribute to the negative image which he creates around aerial warfare. Faced with the necessity to bomb civilians, he reasoned, ‘Bugger them, I thought in angry self-justification, they have brought this on themselves.’91 The realism of the horrors men had to endure, would bring into question the whole ethical conditioning that ‘war makes a man,’ represented in the initial images of EATS.
Official war artist Dennis Adams, commissioned by the Australian War Memorial to depict the aviator, gave Beede’s description of the rear gunner visual representation. Rear Gunner in a Halifax Bomber, is a frighteningly realistic interpretation of the sacrifices made by those in this situation detailing the vulnerability and the complete isolation of the rear gunner. It was the rear gunner who was most frequently killed.92 In a cocoon of steel, the face of the lone gunner gazed out to detect attacks from above or behind. His task was to kill and to protect his fellow crew from attack. It is possible to suggest that Adams saw in the isolation of the gunner, situated in a position of extreme danger, the challenge to the individual identity. The facial expression reflects the same bewilderment as seen in Bowen’s Bomber Crew.
88 See Chapter 2, 57. 89 John Beede They Hosed them Out: The story of Australian Air Gunners in the RAF Sydney: Australian Book Society, 1965. He wrote on medical advice to overcome what was called war neurosis. 90 Ibid. Introduction. 91 John Beede, 32. 92 John Beede, 32.
98
Figure 14 Rear Gunner in a Halifax Bomber93
Fear, anguish, and anger are offered in ‘Roy Bulcock’s Of Death But Once.94 Bulcock was stationed in Malaysia with the RAF, under EATS, when Japan attacked, and his denunciation was political in the condemnation of the Australian Government’s unconditional joining of the Empire Scheme, leaving Australia woefully unprotected. He was critical of the RAF’s lack of organisation in the defence of Malaysia and Singapore. Before his capture as a prisoner of war, he expressed complete disbelief in the betrayal dealt to the men sent in to defend this area. Apart from the lack of coordination, equipment, aerodromes and command and lack of training of the men, Bulcock reveals in Singapore, ‘we had bluffed the world with propaganda stories of the impregnable fortress, we had bluffed ourselves and the Dutch into hoping the stories were true, but we hadn’t expected the Japs to call our bluff so soon.’95 His sense of despair grew at the total mismanagement and the farce of the situation ‘where the whole spirit of the place was slackness.’96 At one point, as his air base was being bombed, he heard of several Australians fleeing, he bewailed ‘for the first time and the last time in my life I felt ashamed of being Australian.’97 Yet the realism does not diminish the recognition of the heroism of the airmen, and to
93 AWM, ART22962; External view of a gunner in the rear turret of a Halifax bomber. In 1943 Adams worked in the Middle East and Europe, especially with the RAAF in Britain. 94 Roy Bulcock, Of Death But Once. Melbourne: F.W. Cheshire Pty Ltd, 1947, 3. 95 Roy Bulcock, 11. 96 Ibid. 20. 97 Ibid. 43.
99 memorialise their valor, Bulcock’s final words, like those of Beede, express the hope that militarism will ‘not rise again. For only thus shall we earn the right to bring children into a world which we pray they shall find a little less cruel and inhuman than we did.’98 The myth of the glamour of air war is shattered in Bulcock’s accounts as he struggled to find ethical justification for the horrors endured, so at odds with the images of seduction.
The dark side of war was representated by Donald Friend. Originally serving with the AIF, he was appointed an official artist for the RAAF. In his diaries, he expressed the nightmare of killing, admitting he had not realized the significance of enlisting.99 Working on Morotai, he saw what he considered the barbarities of aerial war and his depiction of the Spitfire portrayed in the Grey Nurse Shark cannot be mistaken. Many crews did decorate their planes with visual images and this combines the power and deadliness of the aircraft with that of one of Australia’s most feared icons, the grey nurse shark. Friend explained in his work that he tried to portray the individual, which to him, ‘seemed far more impressionable than statistics which tell a dry tale and leave actions devoid of reason.’100 Friend saw himself as a pawn within a mad force.101 Such disillusionment, in part, influenced certain responses to experiences within EATS, and would contribute to the future images.
Figure 15 ‘Grey Nurse’ by Donald Friend102
98 Ibid. 208. 99 Donald Friend, Gunner’s Diary, Sydney: Ure Smith 1943 17-18 100 Gavin Fry, Colleen Fry, Donald Friend, Australian War Artist Melbourne: Currey O'Neil, 1982. Introduction. 101 Donald Friend, Gunners Diary 39, 56. 102 Donald Friend, Spitfire and the ‘Grey Nurse’ Squadron, 1945 AWM, ART 23346.
100 The intense sense of disillusionment in such accounts would contribute to the marginalization of EATS in Australian history. Another account outlining the fall of Singapore and written in 1944, placed the blame firmly on the inadequate air defence that was ‘insufficient and obsolete.’103 Those men serving in the air force could not have been unaware of the situation and while it seems only a few, such as Bulcock, voiced immediate despair, these attitudes would begin to alter future images of EATS. Such narratives would also form the basis of later official criticism of EATS and it is the area that war historian, John McCarthy, thought would be best forgotten.104 The realism so closely associated with the scheme, so far from the romantic idealism of the warrior aviator, and the role of Empire in the defence of Australia, would become one of those episodes in history no one wanted to remember.
Conclusion
In August of 1945, World War II finally ended for Australia. The Empire Air Training Scheme was dissolved, training school, by training school, over previous months and it now became a fading memory in the minds of the individual and the community. The period had challenged the glamour and heroism of the airman. The image depicting the opportunity to enter manhood through the baptism of war had been brought under question as the men encountered action, where they met both the ethical questions of inflicting violence and yet also found themselves victims of the horror of air combat. Now both the nation and the individual aviator faced a challenge of self-renewal, to rebuild identities and to legitimize themselves and recreate themselves in the midst of anguish.105 Within this process, elements that would be ‘better forgotten’ were contained altering the way EATS entered the memory of the individual and the community in the next decades, and it is the examination of the evolution of the image and the creation of new visions, that the next chapters will focus on.
103 H.Gordon Bennett, Why Singapore Fell Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1944, 42. 104 John McCarthy, ‘An Obscure War,’ a paper given at RAAF, AWM History Conference 1993. www.awm.gov.au/events/conference/1993/McCarthy [2January 2008]. 105 Marshall Berman uses this term in relating attitudes of Baudelaire. 170.
101
CHAPTER 4
A Diminishing Image
‘Empire Air Force. Australia Plays Her Part.’ announced Prime Minister Menzies in 1939, ‘Stand or Fall together.’1 Menzies further declared, ‘I believe, and my belief is pretty well founded, that the cooperation of the Dominions with Great Britain in the provision of trained airmen, and in the case of some Dominions, in the provision of aircraft, will be of growing and vital importance. It may be that in our hours of greatest difficulty—and we are going to have some—the Mother Country will be asking more insistently for help in the air than for help on the land or the sea.’2 Menzies was not alone, supported by other politicians and the media as they constructed the collective glorification of EATS. James Fairbairn, Australian Minister for Air, eulogised of ‘A United Empire.’3 ‘A League of Empire Eagles’ proclaimed the Argus.4 ‘United Empire Air Plan attracts 56,000 men.’5 Others acclaimed ‘the Empire Air Armada,’ and the ‘most spectacular demonstration of Empire coordination.’6 In 1939 the bond between Empire and Australia was strong, and representing the strength of this bond was EATS. One hundred and eighty eight thousand Australian men and women were to serve under the Empire Scheme.7 In the collective narrative of the early war years EATS was proclaimed as the greatest sign of unity and Empire loyalty, yet in the decades following the end of the war it is difficult to discover any mention of the scheme, and in the twenty-first century it no longer holds a place in Australian collective memory.8
1 Robert Menzies, Broadcast, 11 October 1939, Department of Information Melbourne. 2 Sydney Morning Herald, 28 September 1939, 2. 3 J.V.Fairbairn, House of Representatives, 10 May 1940, Canberra Commonwealth Government Printer, 1940. 4 Argus, Melbourne, 12 October 1939, 3. 5 Argus, Melbourne, 9 February 1940, 1. 6 Argus, Melbourne, 1940. 7 Various estimates of the total number given vary according to the criteria used. 8 Hank Nelson, Chased by the Sun, comments on the ignorance of young Australians on their knowledge of air warfare, 269.
103 The purpose of this chapter is first, to establish that the public image associated with EATS had changed between 1939 and 1945, and this was witnessed in the reaction of returning veterans. Having responded to the appeal presented in 1939, Australian veterans of EATS on their return would encounter no recognition of the Scheme in the public realm. The reaction of veterans to their experience, and the lack of a collective narrative to support the claims to their identity, is followed throughout this thesis. The second purpose of this chapter is to examine the reasons behind the diminishing collective image of EATS in the Australian narrative, in the decades immediately following the end of the war. Just as the individual airmen, examined in the last chapter, were forced to reinterpret their identity when faced with the experiences of combat with EATS, so would the Australian nation suffer experiences that would give cause to question many of the beliefs and values embedded within the national identity that underpinned the institution of EATS. I argue that the experience of the national involvement in EATS would provide a continuous reminder of Australian subservience to Britain, and thus contribute to a re-evaluation of the Australian identity. The changing collective image would impact on the individual and, in examining the interaction between the two, and in following the slow disintegration between the image held by the individual self and the collective representations, an illustration is provided of the claim that ‘socially sanctioned institutionally supported memories make certain versions of the past public and render others invisible.9
Disintegration of the Collective Image
Before examining contributing reasons for the change in the collective image of EATS I wish to establish that it had in fact changed and witness to this can be found in both public representations and the response of the individual. The expression of disbelief and mourning reflected in the faces of the airmen, pictured below, as they march in a victory parade in 1946 provides a public metaphor of the change of image. The words of Erikson observing returning soldiers echo, ‘they knew who they were; they had a personal identity. But it was as if, subjectively, their lives no longer hung together—and never would again.10 Comparing this with the image of a cheering group of recruits setting off for adventure nearly six years
9 Paula Hamilton and Linda Shopes, made similar claims in Oral History and Public Memories, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008, 3. 10 Erik Erikson, Childhood and Society, 42.
104 before, makes the devastation of the experience all the more obvious, and this was compounded by the absence of a positive collective response. This image also reflected the changed collective image which surrounded EATS as it was represented in the media.
Figure 16 RAAF Victory Parade 11
The omission of EATS from the Australian public narrative at the end of the war appears to have been dramatic and was noticed in the records of the returning veterans. Diaries continue to provide the intimate responses of the men. Already disillusioned by the impact of combat, they were now confronted by a lack of public recognition. For the men of the Empire Air Training Scheme, now referred to in the media as ‘men of the RAAF’, initial emotions on their return, were mixed, but in many accounts, an awareness of lack of positive public response was apparent. Leonard Peake wrote a final entry in his diary, ‘so passed the first VP day celebration, making merry, the release of pent-up feeling. It has been a long struggle from Dunkirk to August 15. All my early cobbers from ‘Ballarat Ceramic’ and ‘464’ days have gone to make it possible. Ferdie Proctor, Temby, McConnell, Mal Collett, Harry Fridge, Ray Leonard, Arthur Galey. I wonder if the great public realise their sacrifice. Now to look to the future. What does it hold? Happiness?’12
11 Australian Victory Contingent March Adelaide, RAAF section, 1946. State Library of Victoria AN011839 12 Leonard Peake, Diary, 11 September 1945.
105 On his repatriation, Jo Fewster’s first words at the reception they were given in Sydney recorded in his diary, ‘Hell what is this!’ Later followed by, ‘It is all coming true. They are bastards. Farcical.’ The reaction of Fewster, and voiced by others as they encountered the reaction of permanent air force officers, who had not seen action, revealed the complexity of emotions experienced by returning aviators.13 The humiliation and anger of such a reception would, I argue, impact on the recounting of their experiences in EATS. The final comment in Fewster’s diary was, ‘Started back at work this morning and five years slipped away as if they had never existed. Can’t say that I like the feeling either.’14
Disillusionment and bitterness at the public reception characterised the homecoming of Dereck French.15 He recorded in his diary the ‘RAAF appear to have no idea.’ ‘They are apathetic.’ ‘The general atmosphere is unreal, a state of disturbed peace yet not one of a country at war although the pubs seem full of chaps in uniform.’16 French was sent to the transit camp at the MCG where he was ordered to attend two parades, one church and the other to raise war bonds, which he thought ridiculous. This was an airman with a DFC, who had flown over 80 missions. He was able to resign and left for a life on the land.17 A story recorded in his diary, and echoed in later interviews, surrounds the response of one of his mates whom he had trained with in Point Cook and received the same disregard as French. He went down to the beach and blew his brains out.18
The impact of the collective image on the individual was reflected in experiences recorded in other sources. The one Indigenous pilot, Leonard Waters, who rose to the rank of Warrant Officer, never flew again and returned to a life of shearing which was the best paid work ‘open’ to him.19 While returning sentiments were reflected upon in his diary, Don Charlwood struggled to explain his feelings engendered by lack of recognition to EATS at the end of the war. He managed, in later years, by visualising them as a long tragic play from
13 This was best illustrated in oblique words of Dereck French and Boz Parsons in their interviews. 14 Jo Fewster, Diary, Final entry. 15 He returned in late 1944. 16 Dereck French, Papers, State Library of Victoria. 17 Dereck French interview, also recorded in Michael Veitch, Flak:true stories of men who flew in World War II Sydney: Pan Macmillan 2006. 18 Ibid. 19 Len Waters, AWM Papers, PR00308.
106 ‘The Empire School of Drama’ where ‘warriors killed in battle lay so thickly on the stage.’20 He did not believe that he would question himself about it, or read critics’ opinions of it, that ‘its doors would close forever and that loyalty to the Empire would be scorned.’21
Geoff Magee of 460 Squadron expressed bitterness to the collective response in his poems.22 It is not clear exactly when the following poem was written, and the resentment expressed, although referring to the immediate homecoming, may have built up over the years.
Yet Australia to its lasting shame
gave these men a mocking scornful name
‘blue orchids’ they called them as they sailed away
and said ‘there’s fighting here why don’t you stay’
Some received white feathers as they left this land
the mark of a coward you understand.
and they fretted and wondered the reason why
as they flew through enemy skies to die.
and where is Australia’s conscience, that none recall
this saga of those who gave their all
who remembers them who will the exploits tell
of those brave young men who flew through hell.
Accounts of the evidence of white feathers remain one of the least mentioned humiliations of the Australian men who served with EATS in Britain and the Middle East. White feathers were symbolic of the changing Australian attitude to EATS and the demands of Empire and occurred after the entry of Japan into the South West Pacific War. William Weatherly wrote to his parents of the grievance which the men felt in receiving white feathers and letters ‘accusing them of hiding from action against the Japs by staying in the
20 Don Charlwood, Journeys into Night, Melbourne: Hudson, 1991, 268. 21 Ibid. 22 Geoff Magee, Bombs Gone! And other poems, Sydney: 460 Squadron Association, 1991. Although not published till 1991 this was a collection of poems Magee had written since his repatriation.
107 Middle East and not wanting to come home.’23 He continued, ‘the people who say that should just come over here and see for themselves. Every one wants to go home but it is harder to get from here home than it is to go anywhere else in the world. The answer is always “not required at home.” The fellows here have done equally as big or bigger job as that at home and defeating Germany is just as important as defeating Japan.’24 The confusion in the collective response to the Pacific theatre of war, and the clash with individuals serving within the institutions revealed one of the major flaws within the structure of EATS.25 In these individual responses, the disillusionment, bewilderment and mourning, expressed on their return home would be compounded by the exclusion of EATS from the public realm. It is to examine the reasons for such exclusion that I will now turn.
Exclusion of EATS from the Collective Narrative
Understandably, the end of war was greeted publicly with tremendous relief. 26 There was going to be a tomorrow.27 Both the individual and the nation wanted to forget the horrors of six years of war, and this would influence the construction of the collective image. While acknowledging the study of the construction of the collective memory has become ‘an obsession,’ work on its opposite, ‘collective forgetting,’ has been less researched.28 Forgetting is very much part of the memory process which is pivotal in the development of the image of the Empire Scheme in the post-war years. While collective memories follow a process of selection of events and situations, providing for the construction and affirmation of a positive national identity, forgetting confines the negative images to a memory hole. It has not been possible to erase the presence of EATS altogether. Richard Esbenshade, in examining the deconstruction of Communist era images in Central
23 William Weatherly, Letters, 6 September 1943. State Library of Victoria MSB 76 MS9683. 24 Ibid. 25 This flaw of Australia’s inability to defend itself due to commitments to EATS is discussed in the next section. 26 Several diaries of men serving in EATS expressed this sentiment, as well as media coverage. 27 While this was a general sentiment it was expressed in the diary of Jack Woodward, final entries. 28 Joanna Bourke has referred to this term in, ‘Introduction Remembering War,’ 474. Paul Ricoeur has developed the importance of forgetting as a construction of memory but his focus is on the individual.
108 Europe, explained the process as one where, ‘They remain under erasure in the Derridean sense, neither truly there nor fully absent, just the presence of an absence.’29 My argument contends that the image of EATS occupies such a position.
While the desire to forget is central to many war experiences, there were several other specific circumstances contributing to the exclusion of EATS from the collective image. These were embedded in the evolution of national identity and memory. First was the dismantling of the physical presence of EATS, including training fields and disposal of all equipment, bringing a symbolic end to EATS. Second, EATS as an institution, absorbing Australian men into Empire forces allowed no focus on the individual nation and depleted Australian home defence. Thus its memory is of a humiliation of the agreement made by the Australian Government of 1939. Failure of expectations could not be disguised and were recorded in the public realm after the war, in media and official histories. Third, the authority of the Empire had been brought under question during the war period, destabilizing its centrality in the Australian identity. Fourth, the construction of the collective image depends on the stories of individuals and narratives surrounding EATS did not appear forthcoming. The fifth reason belongs to the era of the fifties and sixties and, with a newly emerging nationalism ‘no one was interested’ in either Empire or war. Each of these would be a determining influence adding resistance to the image of EATS within the public realm.
The Physical End to EATS
Alan Stephens nostalgically recorded:
The day the war ended there were 173, 622 men and women in the Air Force, working in 570 units, with the ultimate objective of keeping 5620 aircraft flying. Those numbers represented an astonishing contrast to the 3489 people, twelve squadrons and 246 obsolescent aircraft which had been the RAAF’s modest lot six years previously. By any measure the wartime expansion was an
29 Richard Esbenshade, ‘Remembering to Forget: Memory History National Identity in Postwar East Central Europe,’ Representations 49,1995, 72-3
109 administrative and organizational achievement of the highest order. Already, however, the Labor government led by Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, regarded that achievement as ancient history. The government’s priority was to rebuild the nation.30
The training schools of EATS had been slowly phased out by March 31, 1945, yet the disposal of equipment, categorized as ‘surplus material,’ was an enormous task. 31 Stephens records, ‘many were stripped of accessories, broken down and sold as scrap metal, or dumped, a process which destroyed an irreplaceable part of Australia’s aviation heritage.’32 Air Marshall George Jones observed, ‘the demobilization was so rapid and so thorough that, even though it was accomplished with the size and shape of the postwar RAAF always in mind, many became alarmed, believing that we were abandoning any plans to retain an air force. The Government Opposition insisted that the RAAF had been practically destroyed, and Blamey and Bostock were even quoted as claiming that Australia could not muster more than one squadron as a result of the demobilisation.’33 As such, ‘disposing of aircraft was the most symbolic act in dismantling the wartime Air Force,’ and the institution of EATS. With no physical reminders it was possible to delete EATS from the collective memory.34
Mishaps of the air training scheme.
During the operational period of the Empire Air Training Scheme certain areas of discontent began to appear that would gradually either be avoided or justified within accounts of Australia’s involvement in air warfare. First was the failure of Article XV, which had been introduced to protect Australian national identity.35 In his
30 Alan Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, 175. 31 The closing of training schools was phased out over several months as operational commitments were reduced, The Argus Tuesday 19 June 1945, 3, makes reference to the phasing out of EATS. 32 Alan Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, 175. 33 George Jones, From Private to Air Marshal,Richmond Vic.: Greenhouse publications, 1988, 122. 34 Several museums do exist. The official RAAF museum is at Point Cook. While records of EATS exist in private files there is no obvious recognition of EATS. 35 Air Vice-Marshall Richard Williams in discussions with RAF’s member for Personnel Air Vice- Marshall Charles Portal, insisted that servicemen be identified with their own country. See: Richard Williams These are the Facts Canberra: Australian Government Printers, 1997, 245. Article XV was a product of the dominions' experience during the First World War. Each government wished to retain the capacity to influence the employment of their personnel and ensure they were not simply subsumed
110 original announcement of Australia’s part in EATS the Minister for Air The Hon. J.V. Fairbairn announced under Article XV ‘every effort is to be made to maintain Dominion identity.’36 Yet rather than specific national squadrons, the dispersal of Australian crews throughout all Empire squadrons allowed no distinctive Australian identity to emerge. Yet, I found no mention of discontent in personal records of the men, at serving with mixed crews. Bound by the trust in fellow crewmen there was ready acceptance of the cosmopolitan nature of crews with a sense of pride. It added to the sense of adventure and many comments were recorded on the universal nature, such as, ‘most squadrons have a mixture of all kinds, Britishers, Aussies, New Zealanders, Americans, South Americans, with an odd one from the Bahamas- two of the squadron have been Chinese missionaries.’37 Dereck French recorded, ‘All in it together. In this mess here, we have Czechoslovaks, Poles, French Canadians, New Zealand chaps.’38 Hugh Berry commented, ‘At the first stop four air force pilots got in, one Australian, two Canadians, one RAF truly the Empire Air Training Scheme is going to win the war for us.’39
Hugh Berry as a Wing Commander attached to the RAF in Iraq, during World War II, and later to be commander of the First Desert Air Force commented on the failure of Article XV, in a letter to his family.
It is really a jolly shame that the RAAF is not allowed to preserve its identity- we read about the RAF doing this and that whereas in fact the
into the large British organisation. For its part, Britain was not prepared to let the large numbers of dominion personnel result in the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand governments seeking to influence strategic air policy. The British retained control of command appointments to the Article XV squadrons and of the promotion of dominion personnel serving with the RAF. Ultimately 44 Canadian, 16 Australian and 6 New Zealand squadrons were formed. Shortages of appropriately trained personnel, combined with often obstructive RAF posting and promotions policy, meant that early in their existence many of the Article XV squadrons were devoid of their national character and virtually indistinguishable from ordinary RAF squadrons. By the end of the war, however, most Australian squadrons had developed a distinct national character. The bulk of Australian EATS graduates, however, did not serve with the Article XV squadrons but with a mainstream RAF squadron. Fact sheet on Article XV, www.awm.gov.au/units/event_210.asp 36 J.V.Fairbairn ‘War in the Air’ Statement made in the House of Representatives, 10 May 1940 Canberra: Commonwealth Government Printer. 37 Alfed McEvey, Letters, October 12, 1943. 38 Dereck French, Letter to parents October 21,1940. 39 Hugh Berry, letters to his family, State Library of Victoria MS 10119.
111 crews are more often than not men of the Dominions. It doesn’t give us much of a chance to build up a tradition. 40
The integration of the Australian crews into an ‘international air force’ made it impossible for EATS to develop as part of a national legend. As Australian relationships with the Empire deteriorated, so would the image of EATS be discarded. The same shadow would also occur as Australian airmen were brought under the operational command of MacArthur in the Pacific theatre.41
A second major, yet partially unforeseen occurrence, lay within the structure of EATS. The Australian Government had completely surrendered control of the air force to Britain, with the consequent depletion of sufficient air power for home defence. Despite the claim by several historians that ‘The fall of the British base at Singapore was the final demonstration that Australia could no longer rely on an Empire whose power was broken and pledges were worthless,’ it had been the Australian government under Menzies, which had agreed to the initial terms of the Empire Air Training Scheme.42 So not only could it be claimed that the Empire betrayed Australia, but that its own government must also share the blame for the unconditional commitment to the Scheme. The 1942 fall of Singapore and bombing of Darwin revealed the misconception that participation in the EATS was based on the belief that Britain would always be there to defend Australia. During the war the inadequacy of home defence was not exposed, but only as records became released did the over-commitment to EATS lead to national humiliation, and with it, a blow to the country’s self–esteem, relegating EATS to one of the events better deleted from the national memory.
When the Pacific theatre of war opened many Australian airmen had already enlisted and were serving with crews in England and the Middle East. For these men serving in established squadrons, it was impossible for them to return, and many of the letters and diaries expressed anxiety at the threat to Australia. Censorship meant limited access, as one airman remarked, ‘We get news from the papers over here but
40 Hugh Berry, letter, June 27, 1943. 41 George Jones, From Private to Air Marshal, 84. 42 See Stuart Macintyre, A Concise History of Australia Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, 188, and David Day The Politics of War Sydney: Harper Collins, 2003, 14.
112 we don’t get the detail. I hope to be fighting the Jap as soon as possible. It seems a waste of time to us over here to say we are well and safe when what we really want to know is how you people are over there. We have just received word about the bombing of Darwin-but there is no detail.’43 Earlier Dereck French had written to his parents, ‘In today’s news was a feeling of unrest over the prospective policy of Japan. If the Japs start any funny business I’ll be downing arms here and coming home to give you a hand.’44 ‘I have applied for a transfer but so far have had little success.’45 French would spend the rest of his operational time applying for transfers to Australia. Ted Dupleix wrote, ‘Afraid my chances of getting back are very remote. Can’t help worrying about the Japs. Wish I was nearer Australia.’46 It was in this situation that the sending of white feathers, reflecting a change in national Australian attitudes began, and must have provided a tumult of emotions for the airmen, including guilt. While such emotions were not examined at the time they would emerge in memories of the individuals, which are to be examined in later chapters. It was an indication of the change in collective support for EATS. A.C. Fewster, while stationed in England was to record in his diary: ‘The white feather business has reached the papers. The B-- ---ds.’ At the same time, Fewster also recorded his application for repatriation and the ‘hopelessness’ he felt as it was continually ‘squashed’ putting him in the ‘blackest mood.’47
The final area of discontent with EATS that emerged during the wartime experience was the conflict that festered between the institution of the RAAF and its subservience to senior officers of the RAF within the Scheme.48 Dereck French reflected, ‘our enemies were Germany, Italy and later Japan which is not entirely true as we had two other enemies at home- the upper echelons of the services and the
43 Herbert Thompson, Diary, State Library of Victoria MS12006, Written from London, 19 February 1942. 44 Dereck French, Letter, 14 February1941. 45 Dereck French, Letter, 1 October 1941. 46 Ted Dupleix, Letter, 2 February, 1942. 47 A.C. Fewster, Diary AWM Private Record 3DRL/7405, 26 March 1944. 48 Norman Ashworth, How Not To Run An Air Force! Canberra: Air Power Studies Centre 2000. Ashworth has written at length over the divisions that occurred in air force command.
113 government which made the decisions to allow ill trained, ill equipped service people to go to war.49 In later years, Alan Stephens commented:
There are some lingering disappointments over the RAAF’s employment in World War II; notably in relation to the command and control arrangements in the European theatre and the SWPA; and 11through its assignment to the “mopping up” role in the latter. Those feelings are justified. In the SWPA, in particular — Australia’s primary area of operations — constructive action could have been taken to try to resolve the problems any time up until about the middle of 1944, by which stage things had gone too far. Regrettably, reprehensible leadership gradually closed off political opportunities for the RAAF. 50
Censorship, and the need to preserve morale would prevent such failures being exposed during the war but the silence ended with the war.
Scandal Exposed
Knowledge of the failures within the Scheme entered the collective realm in a series of articles that appeared in the Herald in June 1946 exposing many of the administrative weaknesses of the wartime air force alleging ‘gross maladministration’ and calling for an independent inquiry.51 The articles, written by Air Vice Marshall William Bostock, who was compulsorily retired from the RAAF in late 1945, were given headline publicity in a syndicated basis by a large section of the Australian press, and such revelations were possible with the end of government suppression on negative information. Norman Ashworth has provided an updated assessment of these articles.52 The controversy exposed in the articles related the tensions that had operated between senior RAAF officers, the Air Board, the Minister for Air, Mr. Drakeford, the appointment of RAF officer Sir Charles Burnett to head the RAAF, an acknowledged Empire man, and the final ‘submission’ of the Australian forces to U.S. General Kenny. Details of the blunders and operational mishaps were many and
49 Dereck French Personal Papers reflection on war State Library of Victoria PA01/32. 50 Alan Stephens Power Plus Attitude: Ideas, Strategy and Doctrine in the Royal Australian Air Force 1921-1991 Canberra: AGPS Press publication 1992, 83. 51 William Bostock The Herald 22 -26 June 1946. 52 Norman Ashworth, How Not to Run and Air Force.
114 prompted a public debate around the failures in EATS, followed by other articles and letters to the press, and finally reached a debate in Federal Parliament.
Deputy leader of the Country Party and former Minister for Air, Mr. J. McEwen, admitted in parliament, that all had been aware of the situation but nothing had been done to remedy it.53 General Blamey called for an investigation into the unhappy conditions which handicapped and embarrassed operations in the field.54 Statements by various representatives of ex-service organizations, numerous letters to the editor and editorial comment over the ensuing days all added to the call for an inquiry.55 Bostock further challenged Prime Minister Chifley to release as yet unpublished transcripts of the May 1945 Barry Commission report, which had investigated the conditions surrounding the Morotai Mutiny, and exposed serious weaknesses in the system.56 The circumstances that led to many of the ‘muddling and inefficient’ outcomes within the system, involving the lives of Australian airmen, could be attributed to the initial organization of EATS in 1939.
My purpose here is not to investigate these allegations. Rather, it is to highlight the public exposure of the failure of an institution that had been so highly regarded in the early stages of the war. It is impossible to assess the impact this would have on the collective image but it can merely be considered as another of the negative influences contributing to the deletion of EATS from the Australian narrative.
Maintaining the Image
The official struggle to support the heroic image of the airman and the Empire Scheme was continued by publications of the Australian War Memorial, until 1950. Titled As You Were these volumes provided a collection of nostalgic mythologised
53 Norman Ashworth, 268. 54 General Blamey The Herald 27 June 1946 55 Norman Ashworth, 268. 56 W. Bostock, The Herald 3 July 1946. The Morotai Mutiny is an event that deserves far closer examination. Essentially as a result of inefficiency and mismanagement, and unnecessary danger to lives, eight senior officers offered their resignation. A royal Commission was set up to examine what was essentially a mutiny. No action was taken during the pressing time of war.
115 images of all services. The 1946 version included a print of Stella Bowen’s Lancaster Crew with an accompanying comforting obituary for the men lost. ‘The Air Ministry Research and Inquiry Service,’ the article assured ‘is still expertly and systematically combing Europe and the final resting place of these gallant airmen may still yet be found.’57 The victory over Japan featured with images such as ‘the navigator air bomber prepared to give the Nips a hearty thump accompanied by fire sticks.’58 Praise for the skill of individual Australians was continued in the words, ‘the resource skill and daring shown by this officer…was of an extremely high order. His endurance, perseverance and enthusiasm for operational flying shown during the period could not be surpassed.59’ Seventy-six thousand copies were sold. In the effort to build the image of tradition the 1947 version extended its content to a cavalcade of events with the Australian Services from 1788 to 1947. This ‘Colourful Past’ included reference to the NSW Veteran Corps, the original Sudan Army, an extract from C.E.W. Bean and also included an ‘original’ photo of Simpson and the Donkey.60 The RAAF was included in this tradition, dropping bombs as ‘happily as kids throwing stones at light bulbs.’61 The attempt to incorporate the air force image into the wider tradition of Australia as a warrior nation was never to succeed.
Historians’ Records
A number of scholars have observed the central role played by historians in the articulation of national identity. Indeed, as Eric Hobsbawm, himself an historian, has ironically pointed out, ‘historians are the opium growers who feed the habit of heroin- addicted nations and nationalists—they provide the raw materials for claims to national identity.’62 Four official histories on Australian air power in World War II were written under the direction of Gavin Long of the Australian War Memorial,
57 M.H.S. ‘Lancaster Crew,’ As You Were 1947, RAAF Public Relations Office, 84. 58 ‘Brett Hilder,’ As You Were 1947, 186. 59 ‘Web-Foot. Cloak and Dagger Catalinas,’ As You Were 1947, 144. 60 ‘The Man with the Donkey,’ As You Were 1947, 52. 61 W. P. Povey, ‘Catalina on a Mission’, As You Were 1947, 155. 62 Eric Hobsbawm, ‘Ethnicity and Nationalism in Europe Today,’ Anthropology Today 81 1992, 3-8. Also see Stefan Berger, ‘The Role of Myth and History in the Construction of National Identity in Modern Europe,’ European History Quarterly 39, 2009, 490.
116 administered by a War History Committee consisting of the Prime Minister, Minister for the Interior, Minister for External Affairs and the Leader of the Opposition. The principal task was to collect and collate information for the official history series covering Australia’s part in the air war.63 By 1967 four volumes were published by the AWM covering all military aspects of the air war.64 The four volumes follow the tradition of military history and are concerned with combat and military strategies. To military historians, war was their centrality. All were written before the late 1960s and before the inclusion of a human dimension was recognized in the discipline of military history. Military operations were seen without a human face and there is no connection to the social or cultural aspects that relate to the impact of war.65 There was nothing in their content that would form the basis of a myth that had been achieved by Charles Bean’s coverage of World War I.
While issuing neither analysis nor condemnation, the official historians, in recording the progress of the air war, could not conceal the basic flaws embedded within the Australian participation of EATS. The failure of article XV and Australia’s inadequate home defence could not be ignored. The first two volumes cover the air war with Japan and the despair of the first attempts to defend Malaya, where
Australian airmen were under RAF command, cannot be disguised. The descriptions reveal the inadequate preparation. ‘No one seemed to know what to do.’66 Gillison used extracts to indicate the extent of the chaos taken from Roy Bulcock’s reflections:
The airfield was absolutely pitch dark and orders had been issued not to show a light. The rain still fell in heavy showers and [some of] the aircraft, scattered hundreds of yards apart, simply could not be found. Then one of the old tanker-towing tractors broke down and it was necessary to load lorries with drums and use a hand pump, a slow and exhausting business. In a few minutes the lorries were immovably bogged; one tractor had to do the whole job; scouting parties couldn't find their way back to the tractor, or didn't want to. . . And we were a front-line operational station.
63 www.raaf.gov.au/airpower/html [5March 2008] 64 Australia at war 1939-1945 Series 3 AIR Canberra: Australian War Memorial Douglas Gillison, vol. I RAAF 1939-1942 Canberra: AWM, 1962. George Odgers, vol. II Air War Against Japan 1943-1945 Canberra: AWM, 1964. John Herrington, vol. III Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-44. Canberra: AWM, 1954. John Herrington vol. IV Air Power Over Europe1944-1945, Canberra: AWM, 1963. 65 See Joan Beaumont’s comments, Australian Centenary History of Defence, vol. VI, 3. 66 Douglas Gillison, 247.
117 In half an hour that little flame of panic had spread like wild-fire. I looked out on a deserted station. . .There were only four of us left—the CO, the Adjutant, the Armament Officer and myself . . . myself still too numb to appreciate the sarcasm of the other men's conversation. Then I realised they were talking of Australians, that I was an Australian, and that many curious glances were being cast in my direction. . . For the first and last time I felt ashamed of being an Australian. . . 67
Gillison in his account revealed that the defence of Singapore and New Guinea exposed inadequacies of equipment. Admitting the superiority and determination of the Japanese air strength was initially overwhelming, Gillison related a story, about Australian Wing Commander, John Lerew, who was responsible for defence while awaiting for American reinforcements. The lack of understanding of the situation by Australian authorities was summed up in a signal Lerew received from them: ‘Loss of Rabaul means loss of offensive.’ Gillison added the observation, ‘and to protect Rabaul Lerew now had only 12 Wirraways.’68 In the following accounts Australian airmen operated under the shadow of the United States Air Force in the Pacific war. Gillison, aware of the humiliation to Australia, ended his coverage with a tribute to Australian Airmen:
To bring the picture into its full perspective it can be thought of as a vast jigsaw made up from very small pieces. It may well be doubted whether any armed force had ever before accepted such a multiplicity of obligations in so many areas, under so many commands and with such assorted and limited facilities. As war came in September 1939 the first pieces of this jigsaw were being only tentatively fitted together. Now at the end of the first quarter of 1943, it had been filled in to include Australian airmen being trained in their own country, in Canada, in Britain and in Rhodesia and—much more significantly—Australian airmen fighting in the skies over Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the Middle East. Then, with the onslaught of the Japanese, they are seen fighting over India, Malaya, Burma, the Netherlands East Indies, Papua and New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Australia itself, and over the vast stretches of sea separating these territories. Eulogy is superfluous. On the other hand, it is against this intricate pattern that all criticism for such weaknesses, errors and failures as are revealed in these pages should be matched. 69
67 Douglas Gillison, 250. 68 Ibid. 321. 69 Ibid.707.
118 George Odgers remained silent on many of the criticisms that would later be voiced about the air force in this theatre of war.70 Operating under the shadow of US command, Odgers commented ‘the RAAF suffered from mistakes made in this theatre, but at the same time it built up a body of knowledge and experience which might prove most valuable in the future.’71 The overall picture of the war against Japan, does not recommend itself to incorporation in the national heroic narrative.
John Herrington, who trained as a pilot with EATS, covered the European theatre of war. He was particularly aware of the failure of Article XV designed to ensure Australians should serve as an organised compact and easily identifiable national unit. This was, as previously mentioned, never maintained and Australian airmen were spread over more than 500 squadrons of the Royal Air Force. Aware of this ‘possible’ inadequacy, Herrington, offered explanations claiming it was due to ‘the military reverses of the first years of the war, the shifting emphasis of air operations themselves, the geographical spread of air operations, the failure in advance to appreciate the administrative reorientation all intervened to prevent any neat satisfactory solution.’72 Herrington revealed the question of Australian identity had caused some concern in political circles in 1939, and early in the operation of the Scheme a rift had occurred with those who questioned the decision of Prime Minister Menzies to subject Australian airmen to British control.73 Herrington who represented Menzies’ appeal to the tradition established in World War I, of support for the Empire and EATS, saw the integration of Australia with an international force following in this tradition. It was ‘the Empire of the Air’.74 The complexity of the situation revealed by Herrington, highlights another difficulty of establishing an Australian national commemorative base around EATS.
70 George Odgers was a journalist with a M.A. in history from Melbourne University. He had served in the AIF and took up a role in the Office of Air Force History in 1945. 71 George Odgers, vol. II Air War Against Japan 1943-1945, 499. Extensive criticism concerned Menzies’ commitment of Australian air force to Britain under EATS, leaving Australia with severely depleted defence in 1942. 72 John Herrington, 523. 73 Ibid. 524. 74 Herrington was writing about the European air war where over twenty six thousand Australian men were spread between five hundred RAF squadrons at the time the Pacific war began.
119 Identifying the specific role of Australia in the air training scheme to provide an ‘Australian’ war record was difficult.75 First, all operational records were held in Britain and were not sent to Australia. Second, the RAF did not identify Dominion personal serving in the mixed squadrons. Third, there were very few Australian only crews. Fourth there was a wide geographical dispersal of Australian units with frequently changing crews. There was no obvious position for an ‘Australian only’ image. There is little in the four volumes that would provide positive public images or substance for a national myth. Searching library catalogues reveals other histories recording the experiences within EATS would not be written for several decades, and then they were few.
Joan Beaumont in her research on Australian Defence Forces noted the failure to feature EATS in the Australian narrative. She offered several reasons for this. First, despite the vital role of air power to operations in the Second World War, the memory of the RAAF was ‘absorbed into the Royal Air Force through the Empire Air Scheme and then subsumed within broader US strategy in the south west pacific.’76 Second the high technology and moral ambiguity resulting from use against civilian populations during World War II, limited the potential for celebratory mythology.77 Third, supported by Hank Nelson, Beaumont observed that commemorative practices and rituals are linked strongly to physical place.78 The integration of Empire Crews, and the wide area of their service, would make it impossible for Australia to have any claim on national commemoration, especially as the air war of 1939-45 did not, for example, have the contained geographical location of Gallipoli.
Decline of Empire
The previous reasons examined for the decline of recognition of EATS, the physical dismantling of the institution, the weaknesses exposed in its structure and the
75 Ibid. 524. 76 Joan Beaumont, Australia’s War 1939-1945 St Leonards, N.S.W: Allen and Unwin, 1996, xxiii 77 Joan Beaumont, ‘ANZAC Day to VP Day: arguments and interpretations,’ Journal of the Australian War Memorial, 40. 2007 78 Joan Beaumont, ‘ANZAC Day to VP Day: arguments and interpretations.’ and Hank Nelson, Chased by the Sun.
120 historians’ accounts revealing the failures, have all been directly concerned with EATS itself. The concepts upon which the Empire Air Training Scheme was founded, loyalty to the Empire and the Australian duty to protect the motherland, belonging to a wider cultural and social scene had been questioned during the war, and in the following years the acceptance of these principles became more attenuated, and then more blurred. Australia had been shocked with the realization that Britain could no longer be relied on to protect Australia.79 The changing of the Australian cultural values and the population would also render Britain and the Empire ‘increasingly marginal.’80
Yet, despite the claim by scholars that events of World War II had undermined Australian relationships with Britain, the immediate post war years still produced a nostalgic attachment to the Empire. 1949 saw the anglophile, Robert Menzies, again as Prime Minister, and the announcement of the British and Australian Nationality and Citizen Act. He officially gave the go ahead to the atomic testing in Maralinga out of ‘a great willingness to help the motherland.’81 The death of the King in 1952 caused national mourning. The editorials of Australian newspapers expressed the ‘bereavement in the hearts of the British people in all British communities.’82 The strength of the monarchy was celebrated with the 1954 visit of the young Queen Elizabeth, and many sections of the Australian community clung to the image of Empire.
However, different complex currents were emerging in the Australian cultural scene. This same period saw a new set of beliefs and a new idea of Australian identity emerging that was fiercely nationalistic and against Empire. The commitment given to EATS would find no acceptance with the new concept of Australian nationalism. Known as the ‘radical national school’, members promoted assertive nationalism that
79 This began with Curtin’s declaration of ‘betrayal’ Sydney Morning Herald, 9 December 1941. 80 This term has been used by Joy Damousi in ‘War and Commemoration: The Responsibility of Empire’ in Deryk Schreuder and Stuart Ward, ed. Oxford History of the British Empire Oxford: Oxford University Press 2008, 289. 81 Report of the Royal Commission into British Atomic Tests in Australia Canberra A.G.P.S. 1985 15. in Wayne Reynolds, ‘The Fourth British Empire, Australia and the Bomb 1943-47’ Australian Historical Studies 119, 2002, 38. 82 Editorial, Canberra Times, 7 February 1952, 4.
121 claimed independence from British subservience. Influences included Russel Ward’s Australian Legend, a powerful nationalist work opposed to British imperialism and determined to establish an Australian tradition.83 Vance Palmer wrote The Legend of the Nineties, keen to distance Australia from Empire.84 It was a painful search for a distinctive nationalism. These cultural developments would not encourage the memory of an Empire Scheme.
Neville Meaney, in examining the concept of Australian nationalism and the role of Britishness in Australian identity, revealed a further complex layer in the construction of the Australian identity. He maintained the centrality of Britishness to Australian identity was hard to destroy. He recognized that Australians, in the decades after World War II clung to the myth that all British people would be united.85 He also believed it was important to recognize that ‘nationalism was a jealous god and that national myths are absolute in their exclusion as well as inclusions.’86 Placing EATS within the context of Meany’s argument, it could be surmised that, for the reasons already outlined, EATS was a symbol that destroyed the concept of the strength of Empire unity in the collective mind and the reaction was to exclude it. EATS was to suffer loss of recognition in the evolving myths of Australian nationalism.
No One Wanted to Talk
The connection between national memory and national narrative and individual memory has been well explored of late, and is followed in this thesis.87 When examining the collective memory, or reasons for omission from collective memory, it is necessary to evaluate the contribution the individuals made as, it has been argued, the collective does not possess a memory, only barren sites upon which individuals inscribe shared narratives, infused with power relations.88 Voices of
83 Russel Ward, The Australian Legend Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1958. 84 Vance Palmer, The Legend of the Nineties Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1963. 85 Neville Meaney, ‘Britishness and the Australian Identity. The problem of nationalism in Australian history and historiography.’ Australian Historical Studies 116, 2001, 76-90 86 Neville Meaney 78. 87 See Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on and the Origins and spread of Nationalism, London: Verso 1983. 88 Joanna Bourke, ‘Introduction Remembering War,’ 474.
122 individuals are important in building the collective image, but during this period of the 1950s and 1960s, individual voices relating experiences in EATS are hauntingly quiet. Once again library catalogues show few memoirs or biographies published during this period. In later interviews with veterans of EATS several disclosed that it took decades before they could talk about their experiences, while some never could. One reply when I requested an interview was, ‘Some things are better left in the past,’ and another simply avoided the issue replying, ‘I really don’t think I have anything of interest for you.’89 Those who did agree to interviews were to admit there were many occasions they could never talk about. It was a rejection of what was uncomfortable, embarrassing, humiliating and horrific that enabled the initial belief in EATS to be undermined and be written out of the structured memory of the individual and the collective in Australia. The silence of the veterans in these years was supported by the silence in the public spheres, and they in turn gave no voice to the memory of EATS in these early decades after the war. The individual and collective silences were mutually supportive.
Evidence of the individual wanting to forget or not talking about experiences came through another source that it seems appropriate to include at this point. Faced with a resurgence in Australian war commemoration since the 1990s I spoke to the children, now in their fifties and sixties, of several EATS veterans and this included asking them about their early memories and knowledge of EATS. Unlike stories that were passed on in families about World War I veterans such as the stories of fathers and uncles recorded in Alistair Thomson’s Anzac Memories, those I spoke to record only silence. Within the family situation, there had been no conversation surrounding wartime flying experiences. Tony Dupleix, as others did, knew that ‘my father had been in the air force because of all the souvenirs around the house. ‘We used to pick them up and ask about them and he would tell us stories. He would speak of Canada and all the blokes from the different parts of the Empire. But I didn’t really put it all together. He didn’t ever talk about specific traumatic events that had happened unless in later years I asked him for details and then he was reluctant to say anything.’90 Jane Robinson related much the same experience, having observed photographs, her father
89 I had been given these two names by contacts who said they would be interesting to talk. 90 Interview with Tony Dupleix, 21 June 2009.
123 refused to talk or answer questions.91 In later interviews with veterans, several claimed adamantly they would never talk to their children about experiences. Max Roberts claimed his son ‘does not know to this day he was in the air force. He explained, ‘Well I just didn’t want him to know. I had friends whose sons wanted to join the air force in Vietnam and I didn’t want him anywhere near. I didn’t want him anywhere near the thing. All the stages when I was going to tell him the opportunity was just not there. I would have to sit him down and say… Look and I just couldn’t do it.’92
Another reason for excluding combat experiences from the public discourse was the belief that only those who shared the experience could understand. So, although not wanting to publicly voice the experiences of aerial war, some aviators sought refuge in the company of others who had flown with them and thus began the long history of squadron associations. These became almost a sacred place where those who had witness to events could maintain contact with others who shared the experience. The bonding and mateship of these groups are like a club talking shop. The Odd Bods Association was first considered in 1946, and formed ten years later, as three disconsolate men sat in the mail exchange building in Spencer St. listening to others ‘prattling on about the regimental and unit reunions they had been to during the Anzac day commemoration and the three wondered how they could fit in to the reunion business.’93 The three were ex-RAAF crew who had served only in the UK in RAF squadrons. Their motto is ‘Pressing on Remembering.’ While providing a forum where the memory of war could be shared, the formation of the Odd Bods highlights the problem of maintaining memories when Australians were dispersed throughout different squadrons. It is recorded in their website that, ‘We are all proud of our history as an Association and of that wider group of people of whom Winston Churchill said, “The gratitude of every home in our island, in our Empire and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes to the British, Commonwealth and Allied Airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, turned the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion.” The identity of these men is bound to the broader
91 Interview with Jane Robinson, 10 July 2009. 92 Interview with Max Roberts 11August 2008 93 http://www.theoddbods.org/history.htm[7 October 2008].
124 institution of Empire and does not sit comfortably within the concept of Australian identity.
No One was Interested
When I asked Brigadier Keith Rossi, the 87 year old historian of the Victorian RSL, why men had been unable to record their memories of EATS, suggesting that it was because they wanted to forget the trauma of the experience, he bellowed ‘BULLSHIT!’ ‘Try,’ he said, ‘No one was interested.’94 This is the other side of wanting to forget. The post-war generation, Rossi described as the ‘gimmee generation,’ inferring they were only interested in themselves. Air Chief Marshal Val Hancock remembered the immediate post-war years as being one of the most disappointing periods of his RAAF career because ‘no one wanted to know about us,’ an attitude he believed stemmed from the politicians.95 This lack of interest needs examination and while focusing on EATS the, ‘not wanting to know,’ was part of a broader reaction that was governed by attitudes to war and a newly emerging national identity.
Michael McKernan has covered possible reasons for such a lack of interest in all World War II stories. In the introduction to Australia, Two Centuries of War and Peace, published in 1988, he admitted ‘20 years ago this book could not have been attempted, because of paucity of interest and lack of confidence.’96 He identified both the ‘not wanting to know,’ as well as the turmoil surrounding the Australian identity in the 1950s and 60s. McKernan advanced several reasons to support his claim. The first was the oppressive weight of the Anzac legend and the mythical hero, that resulted on the outbreak of World War II, in a celebration of a war which would give boys the chance to prove to be as good as their fathers.97 However it emerged that World War II generated no such mythology as the Great War and none were seen as
94 Keith Russi, Liason Contact, R.S.L Melbourne Branch He is now 87. We had several long conversations about commemoration, which I did not record but made notes. 95 Alan Stephens 178. 96 Michael Mc Kernan, M. Browne ed. Australia, Two Centuries of War and Peace, Canberra :AWM 1988, 14. 97 Michael McKernan, M. Browne ed. 15.
125 the warrior heroes. Others have pursued this theme of lack of interest. A further argument was the dominance of Bean’s writing that mythologised the Anzac and established a tradition of narrative rather than analytical history but enshrined in the official record of the war the celebration of the Australian digger that was integral to Anzac.98
McKernan also proposed the reluctance of historians to write on this period was an unwillingness to confront the issue of war that seemed part of the personal past and thus irrelevant to history. Ken Ingliss concurred with McKernan that until 1965 there had been no exploration of World War II history and with the event of Vietnam the debate was about to begin focusing on the role which war had played in shaping Australia’s past.99 This was also expressed by Keith Hancock in 1968, that history writing of the Australian past was so contingent with his own half century of experience that it could not legitimately form part of the historical past.100 The turmoil of this period in Australia is summed up in the words of Alan Seymour’s play, The One Day of the Year, when Hughie realizes that his parents were ‘so Australian,’ ‘so yesterday’ and his girlfriend, Jan’s response, ‘Are they? They’re what it was. We’re what it is going to be.’101 Australian cultural and social values had changed. To the young generation of the 60s being Australian meant being anti-war and anti- imperialist. The whole Australian identity was being redefined and the institution of EATS had no place, no function, in this the new definition.
Conclusion
In this chapter, I have argued that the collective image surrounding EATS suffered a transformation, and by 1945 mention of the Scheme had all but disappeared from the public arena. The change in public image had an immediate impact on the airmen as they returned, and their initial reactions signaled the beginning of the individual reconciliation of self- identity with the newly constructed national identity. Scholars of collective memory have argued the importance of the social structure to
98 Joan Beaumont, ed. Australia’s War 1939-45, St Leonards: Allen and Unwin, 1995, xxiii. 99 Ken Ingliss referenced by Michael McKernan Australia Two Centuries of War and Peace, 16. 100 W.K.Hancock, Attempting History The university Lectures 1968 ANU Canberra, 1969 53-54. 101 Alan Seymour, One Day of the Year, 92.
126 the formation of individual identity and memory. However, this assumes a public validation of the experience. This thesis aims to examine the response of individuals when their experiences are given sparse recognition in the public narrative. The interdependence of the public and individual is a necessary component in the construction of individual and collective identity and the outcome of this process will be followed in this thesis.
The second part of this chapter has established reasons for the marginalisation of EATS in the collective narrative. The reason for its demise is complex, and the construction of the collective memory is intimately linked with the development of the national identity. I have argued that contained within the image of EATS was a constant reminder of Australia’s subservience to Britain that allowed for the Australian commitment to EATS. The unqualified trust in Britain, by the government of the time, had been betrayed. Within the structure of EATS, certain expectations had been assumed and in the Australian view, Britain had failed to meet these. Combined with the wider experiences of World War II Australia sought to redefine itself away from the provincial relationship with Britain. In attempting to achieve this new identity only certain memories were validated and explained in these early years.102
The concept of the Empire Air Training Scheme, regarded as a symbol of Australian misguided allegiance to Empire, would remain dormant until a further change in the intellectual and cultural scene of Australia would bring it under focus, and an image of Australian involvement in the air war would be re-constructed. The next chapter will follow the development of the image from the 1980s and will find that by 2010 there was little official recognition of EATS.103 Few general histories of Australia mention the scheme, and the appearance of the scheme’s name is left to life accounts in obituary columns.104 While politicians talk of the fall of Singapore and the
102 Dr Sean Scalmer ‘Anzac and Australia Identity.’ The University of Melbourne Voice 3, l 14 April 2008, 11. 103 For example see Oxford Companion to Australian History, Melbourne: Oxford University Press. 2001 ed. There is no mention of EATS. 104 One example, Edward Anzac Dupleix, obituary, Age, June 16 2006, 10.
127 Kokoda trail, the public image of the Empire Air Training Scheme has been written out of history.105
105 See Paul Keating’s speeches 1992 for emphasis on Kokoda myth and the betrayal of the fall of Singapore. Major Speeches of the First Year, Canberra 1993, 59.
128 CHAPTER 5
Reconstruction of the Image
Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this, every prediction made up by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct; nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record.1
Over sixty years ago George Orwell prophesized, in fictional form, the process which sociologist Maurice Halbwachs defined as collective memory, a popularized comfortable construction of the past redefined to suit the interests of the moment. This is a concept that holds fascination for twenty first century academics as they investigate the construction and manipulation of interpretations of the past. Images of EATS have not escaped this process, and they have been filtered, politicized, and influenced by their relation to authority.2 This chapter will examine the construction of the collective image surrounding and excluding EATS and its links to representations and the Australian identity from the 1980s. The investigation will follow two lines of inquiry to develop an understanding of the exclusion of EATS from the national narrative. In emphasizing the selective nature of national identities, I have first developed a comparison with the Canadian collective image, projected from the same air training scheme. The collective memory in each country is different.3 Reflecting
1 George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty Four London: Penguin Books, 1949, 1989 edition.42. 2 Dominick LaCapra used similar words in his analysis of collective memory refer to, History & Criticism Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univ. Press, 1985, 34-35. 3 Since memory studies became popular in the 1980s different definitions of collective memory have been developed. Maurice Halbwachs defied collective memory as a socially constructed notion by individuals as group members who remember, On Collective Memory Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1992, 22; Mieke Bal, Jonathon Crewe Leo Spitzer ed. Acts of Memory: Cultural Recall in the Present, London: University of New England Press, 1999 define Cultural memory as distinct from Social memory; Wulf Kansteiner ‘Finding Meanings in Memory: A Methodological Critique of Collective Memory.’ History and Theory, 41, 2, 2002, defines collective memory as a recast of a complex production and consumption that acknowledges the persistence of cultural tradition and the subversive interests of memory consumers as well as the ingenuity of memory makers. Barry Schwartz defines collective memory as the distribution throughout society of beliefs, feelings, moral judgments
129 national identity, images in both countries have been manipulated, resulting in the emergence of different or ‘other’ interpretations.4 The otherness reflected in the Canadian representations become integral in understanding Australian identity, the formation of the collective memory and why, in Australia, EATS has been given so little recognition. Collective memory of the air training scheme in Canada has seen it revered and remembered while in Australia it has been apologetically forgotten. The second part of the investigation in this chapter will follow the influencing agents within the Australian cultural and political forum that, while perpetuating the myth of the individual air warrior, acted to delete the image of EATS from the national narrative.
Comparative Studies
To appreciate the complexity of representations associated with EATS, it is essential to go beyond the national and examine the legacy of the Empire. Both Canada and Australia have a shared narrative in the history of the Scheme. Both were settler colonies and maintained strong links to the Empire. There were many similarities between political culture, ideological traditions, constitutional concepts, judicial systems and established social systems. In 1939, both shared strong economic ties with Britain. Yet, increasingly in the interwar years, the Canadian government had perceived itself as a partner within the Commonwealth able to act with autonomy in foreign relations.5
In the interwar years, there were several political movements in Canada that sought for a more autonomous role within the Empire. An Imperial Federation was suggested with Canada playing a large part in running the Empire. There was never a
and knowledge about the past… History and commemoration are the vehicles of collective memory. ‘The Social Context of Commemoration: A Study in Collective Memory,’ Social Forces 61, 2. 1982 374; Paul Connerton uses the term social memory as interchangeable with collective memory, How Societies Remember, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1989. 4 Concepts of ‘other’ does not here imply any sense of exclusion or stigmatization that has been associated with the term in certain areas, rather it implies individual identity can only be formed in comparison with another. 5 Phillip Buckner, Canada and the End of Empire Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005. 4-5.
130 suggestion that control would be surrendered to Britain.6 They had already canvassed the name of British Commonwealth to give title to these ideas, and this was symbolically reinforced when Canadian Prime Minister, Mackenzie King, made it clear that Canada was acting as an independent agent when entering World War II with her own declaration of war, one week after Britain. It was clear Canada would support the Empire but as a cooperative commonwealth.
The same independence was maintained by Canada in the establishment and control of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, (BCATP). This was made clear with the adoption of the term British Commonwealth in the name of the plan. The Canadian contribution negotiated by Mackenzie King placed Canada as a major training centre for aircrew from around the Empire. The responsibility for control of the training schools, within Canada, remained with the Canadian government and the RCAF. Once part of the united air war, it was agreed that Article XV would guarantee the identity of the Canadian squadrons and prevent them from being absorbed into the RAF.7 Article XV has come under constant criticism for its vagueness and its openness to interpretation and it became impossible to uphold during the course of the war.8 This same problem was confronted by all other Dominions but Britain wanted control for the overall efficiency of the scheme. Final negotiations saw Australia accept the terms but Mackenzie King continued to fight for a more specific definition of Article XV, finally agreeing on the wording, ‘the United Kingdom Government, on the request of the Canadian Government would arrange that Canadian pupils when passing out from training scheme would be incorporated in or organised as units of the Royal Canadian Air Force.’9 The plan was renegotiated in 1942 at Canadian
6Phillip Buckner, Canada and the British Empire. Oxford History of the British Empire Oxford: Oxford University Press 2008, 10. 7 Article XV of the Riversdale Agreement that established the framework for EATS or BCATP stated, The United Kingdom Government undertakes that pupils of Canada, Australia and New Zealand shall after training be identified with their respective Dominions either by organizing Dominion units or in some other way. The United Kingdom will initiate intergovernmental discussions to this end. 8 Chris Coulthard Clarke, The Empire Air Training Scheme AWM History Conference 2003. www.awm.gov.au/events/203/clark.asp[22 December 2007]. This was also recognised by Peter Isaacson in an interview 17 June 2008. He Explained, ‘ When you are fighting a war you can’t do things exactly as you would like them to be done. You had to do them according to operational requirements.’ 9 Fred Hatch, The Aerodrome of Democracy: Canada and the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan 1939-1945, Ottawa: Directorate of History Department of National Defence, 1983, 25.
131 instigation, establishing cooperation in air training with the United States and by this time the Canadians were thinking of the plan more and more as their own.10 This stand of independence and sense of identity, although not fully maintained throughout the duration of the plan, would act as a powerful incentive to place the BCATP high in national commemoration and memory.
The Australian government had made no similar stance for its autonomy and while this could lead to future criticism in itself, these compliant acts were linked directly to the heart of the condemnation, that involvement in EATS was a betrayal of national interest, surrendering thousands of Australian air crew to the RAF and leaving Australia dangerously unable to defend herself at a time of national peril.11 The Australian Government, in a continued display of their reliance on Britain, and distrust of Australian talent even appointed a British RAF Officer, Sir Charles Burnett, as senior commander of the RAAF.12 Canada underwent no such threat and so no sense of government betrayal could be developed nor questioning of allegiance to Britain. Thus, even in the inception of the Scheme and the way it was developed in each Dominion, the basis was laid for future representations and the development of the collective memory.
The representation of national perspectives was identified in two accounts, both outlining the training of airmen for the Empire Scheme. These are Aerodrome of Democracy: Canada and the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, and A Last Call of Empire: Australian Aircrew, Britain and the Empire Air Training Scheme.13 Both are historical investigations into the air training scheme, both define the meaning of the event in the context of the present time of writing and both were published in the 1980s. According to Canadian historian, Syd Wise, who has compared the Australian and Canadian attitudes to EATS, both of these studies capture the national
10 Fred Hatch, 105. 11 It must be stated that Canada did not face the same threat as Australia during the Pacific war, but I maintain that in itself is not a reason for the difference in national attitudes. 12 Alan Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, writes of this command scandal and the impact it had on senior Australian officers, 109-125. Also see Norman Ashworth, How not to run an Air Force. 13 Fred Hatch, The Aerodrome of Democracy1939-1945. John McCarthy, A Last Call of Empire: Australian aircrew Britain and the Empire Air Training Scheme Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1988.
132 attitudes towards the plan.14 Both historians give reasons for the passage of the Scheme into the national memory as identifiable from the time of the initial negotiations in 1939. In Aerodrome of Democracy, Fred Hatch argued Canadians maintained their autonomy and fostered a shared sense of Commonwealth countries within the air training scheme. The plan was seen to the Canadians as providing the ‘aerodromes of democracy,’ a term used by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to describe the Scheme. The Canadian government and the aviators regarded themselves as fighting for an international way of life in preserving democracy, while the Australian emphasis remained on Empire and then nation. It is in the original formation of the BCATP that the sense of Canadian pride can be found, as the government guarded its national sovereignty. Canada was seen as the ideal training site, and its proximity to Britain and its industrial relationship with the United States gained it the prominence of preferred training ground. Much training took place in Canada and as Hatch claims, the Royal Canadian Air Force, in Canada was the controlling authority.15 Hatch emphatically maintained that Canada held to its independence, although at times he does concede this was symbolic.16 The work of Hatch acknowledged the immensity of Canada’s contribution to the Scheme, both Imperial and International in its accomplishments.17 To Canadians, BCATP in its management, education, training and operation long remained a subject of national pride.18 In all, Hatch argued the BCATP served the interests of Canada well, mostly due to the initial negotiations carried out by Prime Minister, Mackenzie King and his insistence on Canadian autonomy, driven by political and economic motivations.19 The RCAF was placed in control of the training scheme, and as Hatch claims, proved capable of the challenge.20 In 2009 the Scheme in Canada remains a revered and
14 S. F. Wise, The Empire Air Training Scheme and Canada Canberra: Australian War Memorial History Conference, 1985. 15 There is some doubt over this statement in claims of the RAF but it contributes to the national myth of Canada. 16 Fred Hatch maintains this was so especially with regard to Article XV squadrons. 24-25. 17 Fred Hatch, 4 18 Ibid. 19 In 1939 the Canadian government was aware that division with the French Canadians must be avoided and this meant negotiations should not place Britain in a superior position. Economically Prime Minister Mackenzie King also made sure that Canada’s position would be protected. 20 Fred Hatch, 20.
133 respected institution.21 BCATP has, as Wise concluded in his paper, ‘long remained a subject of national congratulation.’22
Last Call of Empire: Australian Air Crew, Britain and the Empire Air Training Scheme, is John McCarthy’s definitive study of the scheme.23 His title confers a very different perspective. It implies the death of Empire in its last call on dependent Dominions, expressing the idea that Australia was ‘summoned’ to serve with no sense of independent action in the Scheme. The incorporation of the older term ‘Empire’ into the title confirms this dependence. The main focus of McCarthy’s work was the failure of Australia to exercise political and strategic emancipation from Britain, with long reliance on Britain preventing Australia developing an efficient defence force of her own. McCarthy recorded the slow awakening during the war and the disillusionment that ‘by 1945, the imperial connection had been found wanting, with political expectations for greater Australian political influence, not fulfilled.’24 McCarthy’s emphasis is on a defensive national narrative excluding the wider cause.
Unlike the Canadian leaders’ insistence on a degree of autonomy, McCarthy highlighted the contribution of the Menzies’ government to the mismanagement and ultimate flaws in EATS.25 This had been reflected in the willingness of Australia to completely surrender its Air Force to British control. Many scholars recognise the Australian government had shown a complete lack of self-reliance in matters of defence and EATS was the pinnacle example of this lack of confidence.26 British mismanagement, McCarthy also argued, was a feature of EATS.27 Instead of
21The Secretary of the Down Under Club, Jenny Gates, related this. [email protected] The club was formed by Australian and New Zealand airmen who married Canadians and settled in Canada. There are branches of the club throughout Canada. Their organization, although diminishing in members, still flourishes to commemorate BCATP. The Canadian Veteran Affairs Department distributes a commemorative book for the BCATP with an introduction that claims ‘when the free world needed a champion Canada answered the call.’ 22 S. F.Wise, 1. 23 Between 1976 and 1979 McCarthy was foundation editor of the Australian Journal of Defence Studies and is currently Vice-President of the Australian Commission of Military History. He has published widely in the fields of Australian defence and foreign policy and Australian politics generally. 24 Ibid. 128. 25 John McCarthy, Last Call of Empire, 4. 26 John Robertson expresses this view in Australia at War 1939-1945, 52. 27 John McCarthy, 123.
134 strengthening Empire relationships, EATS did, in fact, achieve the opposite.28 The theme developed by McCarthy was the destruction of the belief in Empire bonds that had been the basis of EATS. It is this feature of ‘betrayal’ of national faith in Empire that offers some explanation for the reluctance to include EATS in the collective memory. These two publications indicate the different national perception of EATS. The Australian disillusionment with the Scheme and the construction of negative images become more vivid when compared with the positive public commemoration of the Scheme in Canada. Here lays an explanation why some episodes of war are forgotten and why others are elevated to become part of national myths, and how this is embedded in the social structures of both nations.
Evolution of Empire Relationships
Changing relationships within the Empire can account in part for the difference in representations. According to Phillip Buckner the historical relationship between Canada and Britain has practically disappeared and he maintains that in Canada a republic is not a pressing issue.29 Buckner argues British-Canadian relationships underwent a quiet revolution moving beyond the British influence in a slow dissolution, linked to Britain’s own decline as a world power. With the writing out of Empire, Canada has adopted the BCATP as its own contribution to World War II believing, ‘it was the Canadian military contribution to the Allied War effort. And it should be remembered not only because it was an important chapter in Canada’s history, but also for its lasting legacy.30 ‘Across the country Canadians mobilised to take part in this gigantic undertaking,’ is the way BCATP, has been commemorated.31
Canadian responses to and representations of the air training scheme suggest Canadians have become comfortable with their identity and relationships with Britain, while, in Australia, there is still an uneasiness that results in swings of
28 Ibid. 127. 29 Phillip Buckner, ed. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Canada and the British Empire, 15. 30 Rachelle Lee Heide, The British Commonwealth Air Training Scheme, Ottawa, Veterans Affairs Canada, 2000. 1 31 British Commonwealth Air Training Plan Veterans Affairs Canada, 2002. www.vacacc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=feature/week2000/media/bcatp
135 political mood and what has been termed anxious nationalism.32 Political analysts have noted the ambivalence of political leaders. One claim made of Gough Whitlam as Prime Minister (1972-75) suggests that his intention was severing the outdated imperial attachments to Britain, redefining Australia’s position in the world.33 This was accompanied by the creation of an ideologically tailored identity for Australia that would distance it from the ‘servile monoculture that existed under Sir Robert Menzies.34 However, James Curran suggests that Whitlam had more of a commitment to internationalism while still acknowledging the part of Britain in the Australian story.35 While both views must be considered, there would be no place in the new identity for stories of subservience to Britain which Australian involvement in EATS represented.
The way EATS was set up and operated in Australia and Canada provides an example of how Empire worked on different sites, and while it fitted comfortably with emerging Canadian identity, it did and does not fit easily with the development of Australia desperate to establish its own national identity. Central to my argument is that the institution of EATS, in not conforming to the evolving Australian identity, was conveniently omitted. It is recognized, memory in the development of national identity is subject to structures of power in any society, and more investigation is needed into the processes by which some memories become erased, some emerge in the public arena, and others remain relatively privatised.36 This is where some comparison between Canada and Australia and the way the collective memory of EATS may prove to contribute to an understanding of how collective memory operates.
32 The term was used by Dr. Julie Marcus in ‘Bicentenary Follies: Australians in search of themselves.’ Anthropology Today, 4, 3, 1988, 4. 33 David Martin Jones and Mike Lawrence Smith, ‘Misreading Menzies and Whitlam: Reassessing the ideological construction of Australian foreign policy.’ The Round Table, 2000 387. 34 Ibid. 389. While this article offers a condemnation of the claims made for Whitlam’s position it has provided a clear assessment of the revisionist debate that I have used as evidence to support the change in identity construction that began in this period 35James Curren, The Power of Speech 65. 36 Paula Hamilton, ‘The Knife Edge: Debates about Memory History’ in Kate Darian-Smith and Paula Hamilton Memory and History Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1994, 20.
136
Forming the Australian Collective Image
The second part of the investigation into the exiled image of EATS examines the internal influences linked to the newly emerging national identity of the 1980s.
Collective commemoration
Paucity of collective recognition of Australian involvement in EATS began in the decades immediately following the end of World War II. War memorials are many in the Australian landscape, recognized as sacred places, commemorating a vision of Australian war experience. Of all public commemorative sites to Australia’s involvement in war, I have located only two small plaques that mention EATS. The Air Force itself is given recognition in numerous memorials to air squadrons who served in Britain, but no recognition of how or why Australians were involved in this theatre of war.
Figure 17 Commemorative plaque, Shrine of Remembrance Melbourne 37
The two squadrons recognized in this memorial at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance were in fact composed of airmen from throughout the Empire. There is no mention of EATS.38 The Australian War Memorial commemorates, with the
37 Location: In grounds of Shrine of Remembrance, St Kilda Road, Birdwood Avenue and Domain Road Position: Ref: 30336 38 Mac Ford, Official guide for the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance, and President of the Catalina Club Telephone conversation 20 February 2009. There is a tree plaque ‘in memory of those Australians who served in the Royal Air Force.’
137 exhibition of G for George, the Lancaster Bomber which was flown in 90 operations with Bomber Command with no mention of EATS. The two sites that commemorate EATS were both constructed by individuals intent on making the absent present in Australian commemorative sites. The Griffith Soldier Settlers Memorial provides one mention of EATS included as part of a dedication to all who served. This memorial, financed by public subscription, was unveiled on 14th April 1990, by Mrs. Belinda Kayess, widow of an original soldier settler, and mother of a soldier son killed in1942 at the age of nineteen. The inscription, commemorating EATS appeared on one face of the memorial. The inscription partly deleted in this photograph reads, ‘Meanwhile under the Empire Air Training Scheme... young Australian air crew were trained in our own country, in Rhodesia and Canada and then sent to fly in every theatre of war.’ The cut off wording in the photo was a further illustration of how little the Empire now means in the Australian setting.
Figure 18 Commemorative Plaque, Griffith, N.S.W.39
The second site was established at the Somers Holiday Camp, which was the site of the first EATS training school. The inscription reads:
39 Griffith Soldier Settlers Memorial. Plaque on East side of Boulder www.skp.com.au/memorials2/pages/20050.htm [27 November 2008].
138 No. 1 Initial Training School This site Somers Camp was occupied by the RAAF for training aircrew under the EATS from 1940 to September 1945. The first intake was 3rd April 1940 with 48 training pilots from all states beginning instruction under the supervision of Camp Commandant Flight Lieutenant The Honourable T.W.White DSO VD. A total of 12,984 aircrew and 1271 WAAF recruits were trained between 1940 - 1945 Other RAAF units occupied the campsite until disbandment on 7.11. 1946.
The memorial was constructed by a team of volunteers, led by Frank Dimmick, then president of the RAAF Association; all of whom had trained with EATS and realized there was no commemoration nor mention of the Scheme at this site, again highlighting the exclusion of EATS from the vision of Australian war experience.
Figure 19 Memorial Plaque at Somers
At the official dedication of the RAAF national memorial on Anzac Parade in Canberra on the 1st November 2002 the Governor General, Peter Hollingworth, spoke
139 of the Australian men and women who served in every theatre of air war.40 There was no mention of Empire or the Scheme. The Royal Australian Air Force memorial honours those in the RAAF who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.41 Smaller memorials exist in country towns, and here, too, while ‘Empire’ is excluded there is evidence of the unsureness of the identity of the Australians who served. One of interest and indicating the political impetus in establishing memorials was to Leonard Waters, in St George, Queensland. As mentioned, he was the only indigenous Australian to serve with the RAAF as a Kittyhawk pilot. Following emerging recognition for indigenous people, his memorial was dedicated in 2003 but without mention of Empire connections.42
Press coverage of reunions, or individual aviators refers to the RAAF serving over Europe or in the Pacific. On June 2, 2008 a new memorial to those who served in Bomber Command was opened in the Sculpture Garden of the Australian War Memorial. Press reports referred to the RAAF, Allied Bomber Command and the memorial itself is inscribed to the Royal Air Force Bomber Command. Only the Australian included a reference to EATS in the body of the article, stating ‘of those who enlisted in the Empire Air Training Scheme 3,486 were killed in action, giving crews a mortality rate of one in three’43 Other press reports appear almost careful to exclude mention of the Empire, concentrating on the deeds of the aviators while ignoring the institution that organised their involvement.
From the inception of EATS, Australians were absorbed into the category of Empire. This is well illustrated by this small memorial (Fig. 20) in Chemnitz, Germany. It marks the grave of eight airmen, six Australians and two English. They were all recognised as English. Once again, it is important to reflect on the original negotiations that allowed for the integration of Australian airmen into RAF squadrons with little recognition for national identity. Ultimately, this would not provide material for incorporation into a national identity.
40 Peter Hollingworth, Programme of Official Opening Ceremony of RAAF in Anzac Parade. 41 Royal Australian Air Force Memorial in Canberra. www.skp.com.au/memorials2/pages00009.htm 42 www.skp.com.au/memorials2/pages/40022 [19February 2009] 43 Australian, 2 June 2008, 4.
140
Figure 20 Memorial to eight English airmen, including six Australians in Germany44
While Australian commemorations avoid mentioning EATS, Canadians embrace the Scheme. Canadian memorials indicate official government sanction and pride in the commemoration of the air training scheme. The inscription on a pair of commemorative gates recognised the role of all Dominions within the Scheme as a partnership in the united war effort. The gates were a gift to the Royal Canadian Air Force, from the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand to commemorate the partnership in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.45 The belief in unity that supported the original Canadian contribution to the Scheme is clearly expressed, acknowledging the contribution of each Commonwealth country. Adopting the plan as its own the Canadians have established memorials across the country.
44 Memorial to a 460 Squadron shot down on 5 March 1945 over Germany. http://users.tpg.com.au/adsls71d/memorials.html [11 August 2008] 45 Many reminders of the BCATP can be seen across Canada today. The airports of many cities and towns were once part of the BCATP aerodrome infrastructure. Some of these civilian aerodromes may have already existed in 1939, but they received significant upgrading and modernization such as paved runways and runway extensions to meet BCATP requirements. Many other communities entered the world of commercial aviation for the first time by taking over the RCAF training aerodromes in their areas once the schools closed. Canadian communities have been left with other permanent reminders of the BCATP's impact on their history. The BCATP was a tremendous feat in itself: more than 100 aerodromes and emergency landing fields were built and more than 130,000 airmen were trained – all in only five years. The BCATP and its contribution to the Second World War air effort and the Allied victory should be remembered not only because it was an important chapter in Canada's history, but also because of its lasting legacy.
141
Figure 21 BCATP Memorial Gates at 8 Wing Trenton, Ontario46
The Station Commander of Eight Wing, Trenton, Ontario, recorded on the occasion of the dedication of the gates in 1969:
It was just marvellously well organized, a great credit to Canada. I don't think it could have been done anywhere else but in this country. We had a tremendous mixture of people from all over the Commonwealth. I don't know how it ever got organized from Ottawa, but it's always been a marvel to me how well it worked. 47
The gates were rededicated in 2009 in memory of aircrew from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK, trained from 1940 to 1945.
Further distancing of Australia from Empire occurred in 1995 with the Labor Government’s commemoration of World War II, ‘Australia Remembers 1945-1995.’ Prime Minister Paul Keating attempted to shift the whole emphasis of Australian involvement in war to the Pacific. While Keating’s rhetoric insisted on the importance of Kokoda, and the Burma railway line, he bitterly condemned the British use of
46 www.lancastermuseum.ca/bcatp.html [2 February 2009.] The inscription reads, These gates have been given to the Royal Canadian Air Force by the governments of Britain Australia and New Zealand to commemorate their partnership with Canada in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and the service of the air men who helped to bring victory to the allied cause in the Second World War 1939-1945. The gates were rededicated in 2009. 47 Ibid. recorded on web site of commemorative gates.
142 Australian forces for her own defence.48 While it is conjecture, this image of Australian national identity in the political atmosphere of republicanism suggests there was little occasion to mention Australia’s commitment to the Empire Air Training Scheme. Joan Beaumont argued that Prime Minister Keating encouraged the distancing from Britain.49 He was the first Australian Prime Minister to claim that Australia was not a white British enclave, developing his style of aggressive Australian nationalism.50 In 1992, using the fall of Singapore, as an example, Keating denounced Britain and accused her of the Great Betrayal. Association with EATS and Empire does not fit into this image.
Historians’ reassessment
Historians are a recognized voice in contributing to national identity and culture.51 In the 1980s, after decades of silence, a small group of military historians found a renewed interest in EATS, and their interpretations were firmly linked to the development of Australia’s national identity that increasingly distanced itself from the Empire days of the 1930s.52 Several explanations can be found for this resurgence. The first was the emergence of a new generation of historians by the 1980s, where history of World War II was no longer linked to personal experience. The second influence on historians was the broader cultural theme of the changing nature of Australia’s identity and relationships with Britain and the ‘new’ nationalism, and the third was the emergence of new ways of writing history. Reviewing historians’ accounts of EATS it is worth reflecting on an observation made by Stuart Ward, that Australian historians have tended to look for easily recognizable patterns of national behavior, constructing an innate self-sufficient Australian nationalism as the primary force underlying
48 Paul Keating, Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 183, 28 April 1992, 1849. 49 Joan Beaumont in Graeme Davison, John Hirst, Stuart Macintyre ed. The Oxford Companion to Australian History, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2001 ed. 700. 50James Curran, The Power of Speech Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2004. 5. 51 Kate Darian-Smith, ‘Challenging Histories, Re-reading the Past,’ Australian Historical Studies 33 118, 1 2002 is one of many to acknowledge this. 52 These were military historians attached to the AWM or RAAF History section.
143 Australia’s ambiguous progression towards independent nation.53 Historians from the 1980s increasingly interpreted EATS following a national agenda providing a prime example of negative aspects of Empire Australian relationships during World War II. Following the directions of the ‘new nationalism’ this group of historians reduced EATS in importance depicting it in relation to an Australian centered context.
Using a voice of defensive nationalism historians reflected the struggle for both Australia and the RAAF to define themselves. Two contentions fired their criticisms: first, was a betrayal of national interests, by the government of the time, surrendering thousands of Australian air crew to the control of the RAF, and second, combined with this surrender and the over-concentration of resources upon EATS was the consequent result of inadequate national security at a time of grave national peril.54 Australian historians have attributed responsibility for failures to two institutions: the British Government for its demands and expectations on Australia, and the Australian Government for its compliance. Thus, as critics, historians took on the role of political commentators contributing to Australian collective memory, reflecting on the changing ideological and political climate. This phenomenon has been explained, as trying to escape the history of Empire and replacing it with new myths of national distinctiveness.55 The problem was intensified by the practice of Australian historians to place Australian interests at the centre of their accounts with little acknowledgement of the international situation. Accounts remained focused on the institution with no attention to the individual airman, or his sense of patriotism, or his accounts of war, or his memories.
All the historians who have written on EATS were men and employed by the Australian War Memorial by the History Department of the RAAF or the Australian Defence Force Academy. The work on EATS, apart from John McCarthy’s book, is limited to articles, published conference papers, chapters in books or brief mention of
53 Andrea Benvenuti and Stuart Ward, ‘Britain, ‘Europe, and the Other Quiet Revolution in Canada,’ Canada and the End of Empire ed. Phillip Buckner, Toronto: UBC Press,2005, 2. 54 Syd F. Wise, ‘The Empire Air Training Scheme.’ 1. 55 Deryck Schreuder, Stuart Ward. ‘Introduction: what became of Australia’s Empire.’ Oxford History of the British Empire Deryck Schreuder and Stuart Ward, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, 5.
144 the Scheme in wider military accounts. Alan Stephens noted the possible betrayal of young Australian airmen by both Britain and the Australian government.56 The Australian government, he argued, in accepting the vagueness of the terms of Article XV that was inserted to protect Australian identity, and unwilling to insist on senior command appointments in Europe for their airmen, reduced the RAAF’s contribution to that of cannon fodder.57 With the national perspective in focus, Stephens’ criticism of Britain was just as brutal. He accused Britain of pursuing powerful self-interest, viewing the Dominions’ sensibilities as mere background noise, and if they could ignore or brusquely dismiss that noise then they did.58 Even more venomous was John Robertson. He stated ‘the Scheme was a disaster.’59 In his interpretation Robertson placed the entire blame on the Menzies’ government, that maintaining Australia largely lost control of those of her trained airmen who went into the RAF. He continued with his condemnation stating ‘Australia provided thousands of airmen to fight battles, but no policy-makers to help decide what battles would be fought.’ By denying recognition to individuals, Robertson claims, ‘it seems clear that the Empire scheme was not crucial to Britain’s safety.’60 Another voice was that of Chris Coulthard Clarke, who recognized that EATS has not been universally applauded, and placed the blame on British selfishness, which extended also to the British Air Ministry as being unwilling to concede any say to the Dominions over strategic policy. EATS was, he asserts, a betrayal of national safety.61
More publicly and more loudly than any other historian, David Day has denounced the motivations behind EATS. He had a political backer in Paul Keating who sought to move Australia towards a republic.62 David Day has been particularly active in promoting the theme of ‘great betrayal’ noting the complete dependence of Australia on Britain and the fact that Australia was simply willing to rely on British solutions.63 This wider context of ‘betrayal’ was part of the national cultural
56 Alan Stephens, Royal Australian Air Force, 60. 57 Ibid. 58 Ibid. 64. 59 John Robertson, Australia at War 1939-1945, 55. 60 Ibid. 56. 61 Chris Coulthard Clarke, ‘The Empire Air Training Scheme,’ 2003 AWM History Conference. 62 James Curran, The Power of Speech, 5. 63 David Day, The Politics of War Sydney: Harper Collins, 2003. 14.
145 engineering to break the ties with Empire. For Day, EATS had the effect of transforming the RAAF into an organisation devoted to the recruitment and basic training of aircrew destined for operations in Europe. Day further commented:
Menzies announced the scheme on 11 October in terms designed to camouflage its real purpose. While ‘acknowledging its importance for the defence of Britain, he also claimed that it provided a ‘powerful deterrent to aggression against Australia’. This was nonsense and Menzies presumably realized it. But it was essential to appease those Australians who wanted the first defence priority to be, as it was in other countries, that of home defence. In a statement several months later, Menzies scaled new heights of absurdity when he justified the EATS effort with the claim that it put Australia ‘well on the way to becoming a Great Air Power’. He conjured up a vision of the mostly unnamed training aircraft that were buzzing in the skies above Australian cities, together with their partly trained pilots.64
James Curran commented that Keating sided with Day’s incredulity that Australia had been unwilling to embrace a ‘possible independent destiny’ after the failure of Britain to provide adequately for Australia’s defence during World War I. The allegiance to Britain, Keating maintained, had been falsely nurtured by conservative politicians who insisted on keeping the ties with Britain and this can certainly be seen in the early representations of EATS.
Historians’ contribution to a negative image was to increase with examination of the air war in the South West Pacific. John McCarthy directed attention to the South-West Pacific war and the obscurity of men who flew there.65 These men were also trained under the structure of EATS within Australia, but little remains in scholarly or popular literature of their efforts. McCarthy records, much of the SWPA air war failed.66He concluded it is better that such memories were later best avoided. It was a backwater war lacking purpose.67 The SWPA war was given little support by RAAF command.68 In fact, McCarthy claims, ‘small wonder that those who did not share in the supposed major RAAF effort at times felt almost second rate and behaved
64 Ibid. 35. 65 John McCarthy, ‘An Obscure War’, Paper given at RAAF AWM History Conference, 1993 www.awm.gov.au/events/conference/1993/McCarthy.htm [2 January 2008]. 66 Ibid. 67 Ibid. 68 Ibid.
146 like it.’ Coulthard Clarke directed criticism on Britain adding, ‘Australians may find it slightly discomforting to realise how quickly and closely we, as a nation, were brought to a state of near helplessness through reliance on the blandishments and good intentions of seemingly powerful and steadfast friends.’69 Centering Australia in his account Coulthard Clarke offered as condemnation ‘Churchill viewed the Pacific war as merely a side show in the grand scheme’.70
According to Alan Stephens the SWP air war exposed, like no other event, the absolutely poverty of British (including Australian) thinking between the wars.71 Stephens outlines the complete debacle of the campaign. While the government and Keating, in their critique, were changing the emphasis of the war that Australia fought, it was here that Australian airmen suffered the most humiliation. With such a reputation it would become increasingly impossible for EATS, to enter the public record. It has been argued, ‘the role of the historian as forging widely accepted stories about the past is always pertinent, but perhaps most powerfully evident in the context of military history.’72 Historians are complicit in constructing a collective memory, but in the case of EATS, a national myth of honour and chivalry was not created. With their accounts it would become a darker memory razed from the collective story.
In the construction of a public image, the Canadian perspective offers a different view of the Scheme as historians place the BCATP in a position of national prominence. The image created of the Scheme in the two countries is very different. ‘When the free world needed a champion Canada answered the call,’ became often repeated words uttered by Canadian historians.73 A commemorative history published in 1999 recognised the initial negotiations by a ‘shrewd and devious’ Mackenzie King who fought for Canada’s autonomy, and Canada’s commitment to victory.74 The Canadian airmen were referred to in terms of traditional chivalry, ‘Apprentice
69 Chris Coulthard Clarke, ‘The Empire Air Training Scheme,’ 2003 AWM History Conference. 70 Ibid. 71 Alan Stephens. ‘Remembering 1941.’ AWM Conference 2001. www.awm.gov.au/events/conference/2001/stephens.htm [2January 2008]. 72 Joanna Bourke, ‘Introduction: Remembering War.’ 484. 73 Heide Rachel Lea. The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan 1. 74 Brereton Greenhous, Hugh Halliay, Canada’s Air Force 1914-1999, Ottawa: Art Global and the Department of National Defence, 1999. 46.
147 Warriors’ and ‘Masters of the Air’. However, Canadian historians recognized, despite Mackenzie King’s efforts to enforce Canadian autonomy and the negotiation of Article XV that many Canadians were absorbed into the RAF. Rather than reach mutual agreement, this began a battle of authorities, which lasted throughout the war for Canadian control.75 Canadian historians offer constant support for the actions of their government in negotiations. This battle was tagged at the time as ‘Canadianisation’, and historians claimed Canadians were a ‘match for their crafty allies, while Australia and New Zealand readily agreed to set terms, while Canada continued to negotiate.’76 Thus the Canadian government has been represented in a positive position in its negotiations of the Scheme. While, according to Buckner, the Empire has come to be viewed as a complete irrelevance and its significance to Canada’s past almost completely ignored, representations of the BCATP occupy a place of national pride.77
The collective memory represented by historians within New Zealand also highlights the specific Australian interpretation selected by Australian historians. New Zealand authorities appear to have made peace with involvement in the Scheme. Ian McGibbon argued that no one has seriously challenged New Zealand’s decision to participate and New Zealanders hold a sense of satisfaction and pride that they contributed to the defeat of the evil of Nazism.78 McGibbon recognised the argument that New Zealand sacrificed her own interests to those of Britain. He offers a counter claim ‘this approach mistakes co-operative predilection and realistic appreciation of New Zealand’s place in the scheme of things for subservient demeanor.’79 The links with the Australian idea of British betrayal he dismisses as having been made with a poor understanding of the conduct of coalition warfare.
The previous historians’ accounts focused on the institution of EATS and its role within the national narrative. The other side of war, the impact on the individual and the memories held, has been ignored. However, following new directions in the
75 Brereton Greenhous, Stephen Harris, William Johnston, William Rawling, Official History of the Royal Canadian Air force. Vol. III, The Crucible of War. Toronto: University of Toronto, 1994, 23. 76 Ibid. 77 Phillip Buckner, Canada and the End of Empire, 2. 78 Ian McGibbon, New Zealand and the Second World War; The People, the Battles and the Legacy. Auckland: Hodder Moa Beckett, 2003. 215. 79 Ibid.
148 writing of history, Peter Stanley and Hank Nelson have undertaken the move to the integration of the individual in military history. Both have approached EATS with the purpose of defining the motivations of the Australian airmen. In a short paper, Peter Stanley outlined the duality of loyalties held by individuals: Australia and Empire. He acknowledged the difficulty in gauging the feelings and attitudes of so many men, all individuals where the evidence surrounding men living in expectation of death, often disinclined to reflection, was elusive.80 Clearly he claims ‘the men have been portrayed as the victims of war twice over. Not only were they sacrificed to the epic losses of the bomber offensive, but also were “surrendered” by Australian governments, abandoned as pawns in an aerial war of attrition of little relevance to Australian interests’.81 Nelson has provided a study of Australian men in Bomber Command.82 He does recount the individual operational experience of the men in bomber command and laments the fact that they have no place in Australian national memory. However, Nelson does not explore the link between the individual and the collective memory and identity or place the individual in a cultural or international setting.
Documentaries
A specific niche contribution to the collective cultural image surrounding EATS has been made through documentaries. Each documentary examined had its own specific interpretation, several centered around moral concerns in a story line consciously filtered by the filmmaker to form a narrative. All employed a form of oral history as veterans were interviewed, remembering events, often emotive and emotional. This, in itself, presented problems as memory was treated as history and also edited to conform to the purpose of a documentary filmmaker. Yet the documentaries and their public reception provide an insight into the cultural attitudes that become part of the country’s national identity. Several documentaries have been produced dealing specifically with EATS, or in Canada BCATP. Produced over a
80 Peter Stanley was principal historian at the Australian War Memorial for 20 years and is now the Director of Historical research at the national Museum of Canberra. 81 Peter Stanley, ‘The Roundel: concentric identities among Australian airmen in Bomber Command.’ AWM 2003 conference, The Air War In Europe, www.awm.gov.au/events/conference/2003/Stanley accessed 6/09/07 82 Hank Nelson, Chased by the Sun.
149 period of fifteen years, it is possible to trace the development of the changing cultural codes underlying the attitudes to EATS in each documentary, and the background subjectivity of interpretations that is present.
It has been argued that documentaries construct histories, which may be filtered, politicized or influenced by their relation to the system of authority.83 It is further maintained that records of historical events, whether a personal diary or a documentary newsreel, may never be considered neutral- they are usually textually processed.84 Alarmingly, now recognized is how popular print media as well as cinema and television have eroded the historical knowledge that the public once had of themselves. In the audiovisual media, ‘people are shown not what they were, but what they must remember having been.’85 Documentaries provide a very different insight into events from those constructed by historians. The term ‘theatres of memory’ indicates the fabrication of these sites of public representations of memories.86 Dynamic in their development, they add feelings and beliefs acquired after the event.87 However, these are not always accepted into the collective image. As Orwell predicted, an opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, was never allowed to remain on record. With several documentaries it becomes clear the less palatable aspects have been allowed to fade.
Wings of the Storm may be interpreted as a counter claim to the emerging Australian cultural statement that was increasingly banishing EATS from the collective narrative. It was independently produced in Australia in 1988 and screened on ABC television, and Channel 4 in Britain. The script was written by Howard Griffiths based on interviews with veterans of EATS.88 Griffiths had served as a pilot with the RAF; the narrator was Charles (Bud) Tingwell, also ex EATS, so the values
83 Hadyn White, Tropics of Discourse: Essays in Cultural Criticism, Baltimore: John Hopkins University Pres 1995, 50. 84 Dominick LaCapra, History & Criticism, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univ. Press, 1985, 34-35. 85 Michael Foucault, ‘Film and Popular memory,’ in Foucault Live: Interviews 1966-1984, Trans. John Johnson. ed Sylvere Lotringer New York:Semiotext,1996, 92. 86 Jay Winter, Remembering War: the Great War between memory and history in the twentieth century, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006, 2. 87 Jay Winter, Remembering War, 4. 88 Sound recordings of the interviews are held in the AWM. FO3457. Don Charlwood gave me a copy of the documentary. The AWM is supposed to have a copy, according to Don Charlwood, but it is not catalogued.
150 and culture of the airmen would be well understood, and emphatic efforts were presented to counter criticisms that had surfaced in the collective recollection of EATS. The story is told of young men rallying to Britain’s defence, fighting for an international cause to ‘put out a fire in Europe,’ as you would, one explained, if there were a fire on the next farm. The film depicts the devastation of war on Australian aviators with the recounting of death and the airmen as victims. The opening scenes begin with a Glenn Miller band and dancing couples, in uniform. The voice-over claims that it would be easy to depict this as a good old time but ‘this was only the tip of the iceberg of the dead.’ Emphasis on death is continued in sharp editing, ‘of the fifty five pilots I trained with after the first year there were only seven left.’ The thought was completed with, ‘I mourn for their youth.’ A military funeral with the rifles firing is filmed as a woman explains the shudder this caused to run through you and she added the memory, ‘poor father falling forward and burying his face in his hands and wanting to fall into the grave after his son.’ The women who formed attachments to the airmen recount the horrific hazards of death in emotional tones. It is the depiction of women as emotional victims in this documentary that adds to the dimension of loss suffered by those involved in the Scheme. Unlike the chivalric heroes of fictional films, several men admit to the fear which they felt and the ‘odour of fear’ just before take off when men would vomit. A tour of duty required 30 missions and the innocent question of, ‘How long does it take to do thirty?’ asked in the mess, found no response. ‘No one had completed 30,’ is the stark comment of the narrator. Commentary explains aircraft were used as easy targets for the Germans sending men on suicidal missions. Vindicating airmen and countering the moral criticisms that the air war involved attacks on civilians, the German devastation of Rotterdam, Coventry and fifty-seven raids on London is given in vivid detail. Don Bennet, leader of the Pathfinders, convincingly argues of allied bombing, ‘if we hadn’t have done so, we would have lost the war.’89 The documentary provides an uncomfortable reminder not only of the horror of war but also portrays Australian men as victims.
89 Don Bennett interview script in Wings of the Storm. The Pathfinders was a special squadron formed to fly in first and mark the target areas with flares.
151 The images in Wings of the Storm contain no material that could contribute to a national myth. Rather it contains images that are referred to as the ‘politics of regret’ and in many ways adds explanation to the official Australian response to EATS.90 The delayed onset of public debates about the meaning of negative pasts relates directly to the comments made by Wulf Kansteiner.91 He explained, small groups whose members have directly experienced such traumatic events (veterans’ or survivors’ groups) only have a chance to shape the national memory if they command the means to express their visions, and if their vision meets with compatible social or political objectives and inclinations among other important social groups, for instance, political elites or parties. Wings of the Storm depicted images that have become counter to the Australian collective vision.
A different perspective was constructed in Sea to Sky, and Black Knights produced in 2002, many years after Wings of the Storm. Both recall, through interviews and documentary footage, the stories of the Catalina aircrews, first those who flew in Britain and then those who carried out missions against the Japanese in the Pacific war.92 These Australian airmen had been trained under EATS and were then assigned to Catalinas serving from the Australian coast, yet there is no mention of the Scheme in the footage although members of the Catalina Club claim that EATS provided the basis for their training.93 This documentary is Australiacentric and any link to Empire has been excluded. The script claims these men have been the ‘forgotten heroes of our war,’ and returns to the myth surrounding the aviator hero, explaining, ‘It was their commitment and daring in accepting the long-distance challenge that was critical in turning the tide against the aggressors.’ They, too, suffered but they are represented as the heroic aviators fighting in the battle for Australia. It is claimed in one interview, ‘The Catalina crews were exquisitely good; they were flying an aircraft well beyond its capacity. They did it bravely and competently I never saw one sign at any stage of anybody shirking I never saw any
90 Jeffery Olick, ‘Collective Memory: Two Cultures.’ Sociological Theory 17, 3, 1999, 333-348. 91 Wulf Kansteiner,‘Finding Meanings in Memory: A Methodological Critique of Collective Memory,’ History and Theory, 41, 2, 2002, 179-197, 92 Both were produced by Jeremy Linton-Mann Film Affaires see web site, www.flyingboats.com.au 93 This was provided in interviews with Frank Parsons, Brian Knight, and Stanley Guilfoyle who all flew in Catalinas.
152 Lack of Moral Flying (LMF) at any stage that you can see in operations when you are up against an enemy which is much stronger than you. You may not know a lot of them but you talk the same language. It’s an experience you shared with people that you have to experience to understand.’94 Yet they have been deleted from the Australian story.95
2007 witnessed an acceptance of EATS but in a reinterpreted form in the documentary Spitfire Guardians.96 Shown on the History Channel on Remembrance Day 2007 this documentary was also narrated by Bud Tingwell. Simon van der Spoel, documentary maker, admitted to being passionate about aerial combat but as he developed his theme it was the men he was able to interview that became his focus.97 EATS is given brief mention, but the Australian experience is placed in a world context. It is the stories the men tell that distinguishes this coverage from Wings of the Storm. The men are no longer portrayed as victims, but as heroes serving to ‘protect an island continent.’ Van Der Spoel admitted these men were excited that someone was interested in their story and while they relate the horror it is overshadowed by the thrill, the love of the Spitfire, ‘you don’t fly it you put it on,’ and, now in their late eighties, their own fatalistic acceptance of life.98 The documentary ends with the metaphorical image the scrapping of the Spitfire and Van Der Spoel’s script asks ‘who knows what pots and pans would contain the remnants of a Spitfire?’ The shift from the 1980s documentary is subtle but the past is efficiently swept away as new identities are formed and these veterans are now celebrated as individual legendary air heroes.
A confronting alternative image of the Scheme in 1992, Death by Moonlight, was released by Canadian Broadcasting Cooperation, as an episode of a three part
94 Voice over commentary in Black Knights. Lack of Moral Fibre refered to as LMF was the term used in the air force to denote a fear of flying and was used as a disciplinary measue. It is given full coverage in Chapter 7 of this thesis. 95 There is no information about flying boat squadrons in the documentary series Australia at war or in RAAF’s 75th Anniversary book. As I write this the stories of these men are changing as they fall under the newly formed commemoration of the Battle for Australia. See,The Herald Sun 30 August 2010, 21. 96 Simon Van Der Spoel, Etherial Productions, available at the A.W.M. 97 Interview with Simon Van Der Spoel, www.etherealproductions.com.au 98 In the following chapters that relate to the individual images many of these themes will be explored. In this documentary the memories of interviews are treated as history with no interpretation
153 series, The Valour and the Horror, as a condemnation of war and especially the impact of aerial bombing.99 Although at ease with their relationship with Empire, BCATP entered the Canadian collective memory and was incorporated into a national myth and the national identity of Canadian contributions to the fight for freedom. I want to examine this as an example of how collective memory functions. It was not only a condemnation of war but presented the Canadians as perpetrators of war crimes. There was an emphasis on the guilt of the Canadian pilots who were part of Bomber Command. (Don Bennet, an Australian airman who had led the Pathfinder force, had explained the necessity of bombing in Wings Of The Storm, and bombing of civilians was a contentious point.) The focus of the film is on the bombing of German civilians by Canadian airmen. Two veterans were taken to meet German women who in their youth had survived the bombing of Hamburg. This documentary was attempting to force the Canadians to re-evaluate their role in the aerial combat of World War II. It presented the airmen not as chivalrous but as blemished with the stain of dishonor. This was attacking the Canadian myth of their airmen. As with all Empire airmen, they were viewed with reverence and represented the pinnacle of technology in war at the time, and the Canadian collective conscience could not face the challenges of this view.
Upon its release controversy erupted, lasting almost a year. It was taken to the Canadian Senate. Canadian historians, including Professor Reg Roy, accused the Canadian Broadcasting Commission (CBC) of having no interest in paying homage to Canadian airmen.100 Its negative tenor so enraged Canadian Air Force veterans that they sued the CBC for defamation (this was overruled by an Ontario Court which claimed veterans as a class could not claim to be defamed.) Viewed in Britain, British historian Andrew Roberts called it a ‘grossly insulting distortion, filled with monstrous inaccuracies filled with anti-British propaganda.’101 The debate surrounding Death By
99 This film can be viewed on www.onf.ca/film/death_by_moonlight_bomber_command/_58k [3 February 2009]. 100 Steve Weatherbe, ‘More tele debunking.’ Alberta Report Newsmagazine 1 July 1994 21, 34. 101 ‘Brits Despise Valour Too,’ Alberta Report Newsmagazine 10 October 1994, 21, 21.
154 Moonlight developed into a deliberation about who should control history.102 The forces of influence in media productions, in this instance, instead of reinforcing and celebrating the dominant interests of society attacked Canada’s war myth. The producer of Death By Moonlight’, Brian McKeima characterized the significance of Senate hearings: ‘They are about history and who gets to tell it. They are about truth, and who gets to interpret it. But most of all, they are about pain and who gets to speak about it.’103 The film was also shown in Australia on SBS but no comment or record can be found, although this would be more likely to reach public viewers than academic articles of historians. In this example, the way the media constructs collective memory, and the defensive interaction with accepted public myths, is evident.
Since the release of this documentary two more have appeared reestablishing the comfortable collective memory that Canadians hold of BCATP. Garden of Memories covers the opening of a memorial park in Ontario dedicated to the BCATP.104 The theme is united in a common cause between Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand for the fight for liberty. The national anthem of each country is heard as the country’s flag is raised. The second carries the title In a Common Cause and places the Scheme in a global context and again focus is on the importance of the united effort of air power in winning the war. Both documentaries firmly reinforce Canadian pride in its contribution to the war effort. Thus a powerful positive image is produced and retained in the Canadian collective memory.
The Australian Government and the Department of Veteran Affairs combined to produce the documentary series Australians At War.105 The motivation of this documentary was closely linked to the construction of the evolving Australian identity,
102 Erwin Warkentin in‘Death By Moonlight: A Canadian Debate Over Guilt Grief and Remembering the Hamburg Raids.’ Amsterdamer Beitr Gge zur neueren Germanistik, 30 March 2006, 249- 263www.ingentaconnect.com/profile/id22486120/orders [30January 2009]. 103 David Taras, ‘The Valour and the Horror: Media Power and the Portrayal of War’, Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue canadienne de science politique 28, 4, 1995, 748. 104 The Garden of Memories British Commonwealth Air Training Plan The Garden of Memories was created to commemorate the participation of the province of Manitoba in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). To a larger scale, it is intended to perpetuate the glorious tradition of the Royal Canadian Air Force and its allies during the years of the Second World War (1939-1945). 1999. 105 Produced by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Australian War Memorial, screened on ABC 2001.
155 which extolled the centrality of Australia and the dominance of the Anzac Digger. Glimpses of airmen are given in the Mediterranean, the battle of Britain and very briefly in the Pacific the airman is presented as the aloof hero. There is no mention given of EATS and Australian commitment to the united effort. Thus in reviewing the images that surround EATS we are reminded, past events can only be recalled in a collective setting if they fit within a framework of contemporary interests.’106
The Anzac myth
Two further significant developments shaping the Australian identity occurred around 1995. First, was the development of interest in what has become known as the memory boom and thus contributing to the interest in the commemoration of war, and second, was a rebirth of the concept of Anzac. These were motivational in the government funded Australians At War and watching the footage, further reason for the exclusion of EATS and the airmen from the Australian narrative emerged. The Anzac myth dominated the production. The soldiers were represented as the Anzacs, who smiled while exhausted and wounded in the ‘Battle to Defend Australia.’ Extensive focus was given to the trials of the Kokoda and links drawn to Anzac trench soldiers fighting hand-to-hand combat. The aviator was mentioned but appeared more distant, more elite. The airman did not represent the egalitarian spirit that was encompassed in the Australian identity and supported by the myth of the Australian Digger. Further marginalization of the airman in the regenerated national narrative and reformation of the Anzac myth is in the association with Empire. Marilyn Lake maintains the remoulding of Anzac within the national memory was achieved by subsidies of the Howard government and the Department of Veterans Affairs and both institutions combined to refashion the Anzac legend.107 There was no place in the
106 Wulf Kansteiner ‘Finding Meaning in Memory: A Methodological Critique of Collective Memory Studies,’ 188. 107 Marilyn Lake, lecture at the University of Melburne, April 23, 2009. ‘Has the Myth of Anzac Run Its Course?’
156 collective memory, in a country ‘with a chip on the shoulder of egalitarian tradition,’ for an Empire Scheme and men who carried an elite image.108
The Anzac hero embodied the symbolism of egalitarianism, integral to the hallowed status created by Charles Bean. Bean claimed:
For the most part the wealthy, the educated, the rough and the case- hardened, poor Australians, rich Australians, went into the ranks together unconscious of any distinction. When they came into an atmosphere of class difference later in the war, they stoutly and rebelliously resented it.109
In images surrounding airmen, there was and still is an aura of elitism. The young airman had been seduced by the myth of daring aviators. It has been claimed that in the leveling effects of modernism, aviation was the field where individuals and the machine were engaged in a fight for dominance, with one result being the synthesis of these elements to produce the myth of the airman.110 The aviator was seen as an individual and in some way in control of his own destiny, unlike the trench soldiers. The development of increasingly destructive weapons relied on association of air power. T.E. Lawrence had described airmen as lords and master of the machine in contrast to the humble soldier.111 George Mosse described the airman as the spiritual aristocracy freeing the soul of the man.112 The rigidity of technical training required hours of study and the ability to master complex skills also contributing to a sense of elitism. While the reality of combat denied such romanticized images in the collective mind, this was the image that survived. A study of the Australian Flying Corps revealed that officers and men possessed a level of professional training and education that was disproportionate to both the AIF as a whole and Australia’s working male
108 This term was used by Bruce Grant, The Australian Dilema A New Kind of Western Society Sydney: Macdonald Futura Australia, 1983. 109 Charles Bean, The story of ANZAC, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–18, vol. I, 1921; Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 45. 110 Colin Cook, ‘A Facist Memory: Oswald Mosley and the myth of the Airman,’ European Review of History, 4 2, 1997, 148. 111 T.E. Lawrence, The Mint, Doubleday, Doran &Co, New York, 1936; reprint Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1984, 101. 112 George Mosse, Fallen Soldiers. Reshaping the memory of world wars. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990, 123.
157 population.113 The aura of elitism surrounding the airman is not suited to a place in the national Anzac myth.
While elitism had no place within the newly created Anzac legend neither did Empire. This becomes the second reason to exclude EATS from Australian war commemoration that is encompassed by the Anzac image. The resurgence of Anzac Day symbolism and its power over the Australian identity began around 1995 in the commemorative occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of World War II. Prime Minister Keating’s (1991-1996) desire to refocus Australian military efforts around British betrayal has been noted. The commemoration focused around introducing yet another new form of Australian nationalism.114 It was greeted as an attempt to rectify years of neglect, and was heralded as commemorating the end of a global conflict, which changed Australia’s place in the world, forging a new alliance with the United States.115 A publication was issued by the Department of Defence to accompany the celebrations, intent in honouring the myth of a heroic war generation. The whole celebrations were misted in nostalgia and while EATS is given brief mention care is taken to obscure any criticism that surrounded its origins or administration. It is said to be introduced ‘quickly and smoothly’ with no mention of the many problems that plagued its administration.116 The presentation focused on the specific Australian contribution as a nationalist discourse, and in maintaining the myth of or the Anzac spirit. As one commentator has claimed it was a business of creating and massaging communal memories. 117 The publication, gives support to concern of the increasing influence of the Anzac myth.118
The Australian Football League, which introduced its first match on Anzac Day in 1995, has adopted the transformation of Anzac Day to encompass a larger
113 Michael Molkentin, ‘Unconscious of any distinction’ Journal of the Australian War Memorial 40. 2007. Although this refers specifically to 1914-18 the implication of a continued elitism is given. 114 See Liz Reed for her analysis Bigger than Gallipoli: War history and memory in Australia Crawley, W.A: University of Western Australia, 2004. 115 General J. S. Baker, Chief of the Australian Defence Force. Forward to Australia Remembers, Canberra: Australian Defence Force, 1995. 116 Australia Remembers Australian Defence Force Publication 1995, 313. 117 Peter Londey, Military History Section, AWM. www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev [14February 2009]. 118 Australia Remembers, Department of Defence Publication.
158 picture of national values. Announced as the Anzac Day blockbuster the players come together to pay tribute to the Anzac spirit and honour the memory of servicemen past and present. It is accompanied by an Observance Ceremony and the player of the match was awarded an Anzac medal for exemplifying the Anzac Spirit of skill, courage self-sacrifice, team work and fair play.119 Combined with the revival of memory, this introduced a new element into the commemoration of Australians at war. Commemorations as sites of collective memory became more nostalgic and more spectacular. As one scholar has so aptly observed sites of memory became confused with theme parks.120What has this to do with representations of EATS? First, it is an indication of how Australian visual memory has been colonized by the Anzacs, leaving no room for other observances, placing EATS further into the silent corner. Second, it is an illustration of how distorted collective memory can become as different strands of memory and identity enter its composition. Third, it is an example of the very overt commemoration of war time actions that guided by political interests and opportunities the collective memory can leave out what does not suit the national image. 121
Figure 22 Photograph from ‘Valuing our Veterans.’122
119 Official AFL Website of Collingwood Football Club. www.collingwoodfc.com.au [27February2009]. 120 Hue-Tam Ho Tai, ‘Remembered Realms: Pierre Nora and French National Memory,’ The American Historical Review, 106, June 2001, 906. 121 Wulf Kansteiner, ‘Finding Meaning in Memory: A Methodological Critique of Collective Memory’. 187-8. 122 Department of Veteran Affairs, Valuing Our Veterans, Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia publication 2000. 2.
159 Other veteran organizations have begun their own public recognition of Australian airmen, but after six decades representations now emerging are blurred around the edges. The Department of Veterans Affairs, while encouraging the memory of Australians at war is guilty of not telling it as it was. The image above appeared in a DVA publicity booklet, titled Valuing Our Veterans. In the entire booklet there is no mention of the RAAF, or any other service. Yet the photo of the airmen is featured. By using this image it implies the aviator hero still holds the sense of magic seduction. There is no logic for their inclusion at this point in the text of the DVA booklet but it is a glamour image placing a cheerful group of World War II combat aviators with parachutes, oxygen masks and in control of technology, thus restoring the old image. Fascination with control of the skies through technology continues into the twenty first century. The concept of Empire is carefully omitted. Only aspects of the past that are considered legitimate are used in constructing new images building on old traditions.
Air ace stories return to the myth of war
Fascination with the heroic aviator has indirectly contributed in exiling EATS from the national memory. There has been a return in literature to the established myth of heroism and the air ace as an individual divorced from the context of EATS. Profiles of Courage explicitly profiles young airmen from Scots College in Queensland who flew in World War II.123 Here is a return to the Edwardian values, masculinity exemplified in duty to serve and the glory found in war. Patriotism is emphasised, yet deleted here is loyalty to the Empire. The book is introduced as ‘a story about legends and the great fighter aces of World War II.’124 One ‘was a larger than life character who had all the charisma and personality that was part of the man he was. A Hollywood script on his life experiences would have made a fortune. He was the Roy Rover of the boyhood books and “Boys Own.”125
Another entry recreates the myth:
123 John Telfer, Profiles of Courage: a collection of short stories of the young men of The Scots College, Warwick Queensland who made the supreme sacrifice in World War II 1939-1945. Warwick Queensland: The Scots College, PGC College, 2007. 124 Ibid. 36. 125 Ibid. 36.
160 In every generation there emerges an ordinary man who does extraordinary deeds and by doing so inspires others to follow him in the pursuit of righteousness and justice. Such men are rare and are referred to as leaders who go down in the annals of history as the inspiration behind these extraordinary deeds. Such a man who espoused all the qualities of a truly courageous leader was Wilfred Stanley Arthur, who, from an early age, displayed the traits that made people say, “There is a born leader”. 126
After outlining the impressive sporting record and the worship of Arthur by the younger boys, Telfer comments on the value of patriotism as expressed by Arthur himself:
Patriotism is a strange, irrational sentiment. Why should man love above all other things the particular spot in which he was born? What is it that raises in him the unquenchable desire to protect it from invasion, even with his life blood if necessary? Yet, it is a very real sentiment; it has called forth more literary works both in prose and poetry than any other. Also, it is widely recognized and respected that we utterly despise a man who has no love of his birth.127
These are very strong sentiments for a schoolboy and provide material for recreating the myth of the duty to serve in 2007. Arthur was awarded the DSO and the DFC contributing to the remaking of the myth of the Australian hero, carefully omitting the concept of Empire.
The published work of several Australian popular writers Michael Veitch, Dennis Newton and Peter Fitzsimons have also provided representations contributing to the collective image of the aviator.128 All, as young men, became by their own admission, obsessed with the role of the aviator in World War II. They construct an image of the warrior of the sky dwelling on the individual airman in the style of aviation accounts first used by Walter Raleigh, the official RAF historian in World War I. Raleigh, as a retired literature professor, allowed his love of the classics to
126 Ibid. 147. 127 Ibid. 128 Michael Veitch, Flak, Melbourne: Pan McMilllan, 2006, Fly, Melbourne: Penguin Books, 2008. Dennis Newton, First Impact, Maryborough, Qld.: Banner Books, 1997. Australian Air Aces, Fyshwic, A.C.T: Aerospace Publications 1996. Clash of the Eagles, KenthurstN.S.W : Kangaroo Press, 1996. A Few of the Few, Canberra: Australian War Memorial 1990. Peter Fitzsimons, Charles Kingsford Smith and those magnificent men, Sydney: Harper Collins, 2009.
161 influence the way he described the pilots. To Raleigh, they revealed the ancient and majestic powers of man. As he eulogized:
let them follow the pilot out on to the aerodrome, and watch his face in its hood, when the chocks are pulled away, and he opens the throttle of the engine. No Greek sculpture is finer in its rendering of life and purpose. To see him at his best they would have to accompany him, through the storm of the anti-aircraft guns, into those fields of air where every moment brings some new trial of the quickness of his brain and the steadiness of his nerve. He is now in the workshop where tradition is made, to be handed down as an heirloom to the coming generations.129
Michael Paris in his studies on depictions of aviators has noted the influence of Raleigh on future generations. Like Graeme Dawson, Paris speaks of the Pleasures of War, and in the literature of modern writers they have returned to a popular version that clarifies in the present, the pleasures of war in the past. The aviators are represented as members of a grand profession, heroically free from earthly ties not as men experiencing treacherous skies and sacrifice. The work of Veitch and Newton portray modern air war in individual terms. In the romantic titles, Few Of The Few, emphasis falls on the individual, as part of a special breed wrapped in mythology. Listed under the Penguin category of ‘Dangerous Books for Boys,’ Vietch’s stories are rich in masculine accounts of heroism.130 The aviators are seen as actors in a drama isolated from national or Empire connections. The men appear as symbolic representations of the fictional aviator hero shown in nineteenth and early twentieth century literature, as a ‘tribute to these airmen and their fellow warriors’ where ‘you can still see the golden boy in every man who once flew.131’ Yet it is the recounting of such memories of the air ace that form part of the collective memory of Australia. The work of Michael Veitch gives an account of the aviators whom he interviewed through a filtered screen, first, the dominance of his own interaction and second, because they are presented in isolation from any cultural or social setting.
The interest of Dennis Newton was focused on the Battle of Britain and more particularly the Australians who participated. Within this context he is interested in
129 Walter Raleigh. 14. 130 Michael Paris, Warrior Nation: Images of War in British Popular Culture London: Reaktion Books 2000. 131 Michael Veitch, Fly, on the back dust cover.
162 military aviation, military aircraft, tactics of the aerial armadas illuminating the part the pilot played in this. The purpose of his books was to give ‘overdue credit’ and relate many of their stories ‘waiting to be told.’ Through his books he used extracts from diaries, letters, recollections, memoirs and combat reports to reconstruct the heroic image of the aviator. Newton claimed Dereck French, whom I interviewed and whose diaries and letters have been mentioned, inspired him to write widely about Bomber and Coastal Command boys. Like Veitch, Newton adopts an anecdotal tone with themes of the self and manhood. He gives a name to the airmen but they are presented as the stoic symbolic war hero represented by Raleigh. Such accounts are involved in hero building rather than critical analysis, and place the airman out of national context.
Conclusion
Like Hobsbawn who formulated ‘Inventing Tradition’, Benedict Arnold used the term imagined or invented communities. Both these terms describe the cultural engineering practiced in Australia, which, unlike Canada, has defined the imperial relationship as a handicap and exiled EATS from the national Australian memory.132 Ignored in official commemoration, defiled by historians, depicted too graphically in documentaries, overshadowed by the Anzac myth and deleted from stories of the aviator hero, the image of EATS has disappeared.
The marginalisation of EATS from the collective memory post 1980s introduces an entirely different problem. Halbwachs maintained that human memory could only function within a collective context. How then did the veterans of EATS respond to the changing national image. It is pertinent at this point to repeat the thoughts of Don Charlwood used to introduce this thesis:
I did not imagine that all my life I would look back on these experiences, questioning myself about it, reading critics’ opinions of it. Nor would I have believed the Empire Air Training Scheme would close its doors
132 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Revised Edition ed. London and New York: Verso, 1991, 5-7.
163 forever, much less believed that Australian generations would arise who would scorn our loyalty to the Empire.133
In these words Charlwood expressed the division that has grown in Australia between the individual image of the Empire Air Training Scheme, and the Australian collective memory. The following chapters are to explore the individual construction of images of EATS, the reconciliation with the collective image, and the development of the emotional context of self identity. It is to explore the struggle of memory against forgetting. 134
133 Don Charlwood interview, 7 June 2008. 134 Milan Kundera, Book of Laughter and Forgetting New York: Harper Perennial Publications, 1996, 3.
164 CHAPTER 6
Reconciling Contradictory Images
Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I am not the same, the next question is, who in the world am I?1
Such thoughts may have occurred to those men who enlisted under the Empire Air Training Scheme as they reflected upon their experiences in life. Conditioned to accept the cultural values of 1939 of Empire, war as a path to masculinity, as well as the seduction of the romantic image of flight, their confidence in these values would first be questioned by their own encounters in aerial warfare and then challenged by differing cultural interpretations that would transform over the decades. The memories of their involvement as the aviators have been reshaped and re-imagined as they reflect and respond to the evolving narratives surrounding World War II experiences in aerial war.
John Pettett, outlined the expectations which he held as he enlisted.2 First, his loyalty to Empire; ‘I referred to England as home. I was looking forward to one of those days growing up and having a British passport, a passport with a Union Jack on it because we were part of the British Empire. I was excited. Patriotism was part of it.’ Second, was his sense of duty to serve: ‘They put you through a physical gave you a little badge which you proudly wore to show you were waiting to be called up to say “look I’m waiting to do something I’m not just bludging on this.” Third, he expressed his masculinity: ‘The most significant aspect was testing, a sort of self-test, to see if I could do it.’ Last was Pettett’s attraction to flight: ‘I wanted to be a pilot. I didn’t appreciate the stories from World War I of the fighting in the trenches. Young fellows
1 Lewis Carol Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland London: Octopus Books 1978 ed. 35. 2 Interview with John Pettett, AWM Sound Library S00515.
165 talk about Top Gun, I was somewhat stimulated by an old film called Dawn Patrol. In the film it didn’t look dangerous. It was just adventurous. David Niven was in one. That was all very glamorous. Danger didn’t enter into it. Fancy somebody going to pay for me to go flying. That was the wonderful thing. We thought we were pretty good – the elite branch of the fighting service.’3
This chapter examines the responses of the airmen, decades later, as they found their allegiance to Empire increasingly undermined by the changing collective images. In their accounts, several themes emerged as they clarified the relationship they held to Empire. First, they confronted their awareness of the lack of public understanding of their commitment in EATS, knowing their youthful enthusiasm to serve the Empire was no longer recognized or understood. Narratives were prefaced by explaining how times had changed. Embedded in the 1939 Australian identity was an implicit understanding of answering the ‘call’ of patriotism and loyalty to Empire. Testaments of veterans refer to loyalty to the crown and love of the mother country, always spoken of as ‘home.’ As they reflected, the men who enlisted in EATS revealed their sense of commitment as part of the Empire, reinforcing their emotional involvement with the accompanying concepts of loyalty, pride and trust.
Second, their stories detailed a sense of alienation from the Australian collective commemorative response. In individual responses the sense of isolation revealed disillusionment, created by the negative reception from the Australian public, and in several, anger and a sense of betrayal was expressed as individual veterans reflected on their interaction with public institutions that questioned their allegiance. With such responses the field of emotions surfaced as veterans reflected on social and cultural transformations that impacted directly on their experiences and identity. Their beliefs had been questioned and this aroused certain emotions that confronted their sense of identity and were a visible influence in their testimonies and thus must be acknowledged. The public emotions of loyalty and patriotism, that guided initial beliefs, are said to connect an individual, with a group or set of ideas and are important
3 Interview John Pettett.
166 in forming an identity.4 This included the patriotism of the men who volunteered for EATS to Empire. In post-war decades such patriotism became contested. The same challenge was issued to the concept of loyalty. It has been claimed, loyalties, within individual values, contribute something to the self-image and offer chances of ego- enhancement with group success.5 However, when cross pressures demand a readjustment of priorities of affiliation, and a drastic reshuffling of emotional investment, identity itself is shaken.6 The redefinition of Empire within the Australian identity appeared as a ‘betrayal’ of the trust of the aviators of EATS. In their testaments, veterans addressed this issue with varying responses as they negotiated their way to new identities. In the evolution of the Australian identity and its withdrawal from Empire, the goal posts providing a framework for individual identity have been moved. In attempting to reconcile involvement in EATS with a new set of national concepts emotions influenced the stories told by the men in their later years.
Different Times
It was as part of the British Empire that Australia entered World War II. Australia went to war with Britain, the mother country. In the twenty first century, as Australia swings increasingly to the idea of a republic, the concept of swearing an oath to King and Empire could be incredulously viewed, but in enlisting in EATS this oath had been taken by each volunteer. This temporal and conceptual gap was understood by the veterans of EATS and expressed in their narratives as they justified their past actions. John McCredie began his autobiography, addressed to his daughter, ‘Let me start by saying that the Australia in which I grew up was very different from yours. We were 95 percent of British Isle stock and most of us had no problem regarding ourselves as British subjects.7 McCredie, who served with the RAF in India, also admitted that before writing, he had not discussed the matter with his family or any
4 A.F. Davies, Political Passions, Parkville, Vic.: Melbourne University: Political Science Dept. 1975,171. 5 Ibid. A.F. Davies 171-172. 6 Ibid. A.F.Davies was early in the field linking the role of emotions in concepts of patriotism and nationalism. 7 John McCredie, Survival of the Fortunate, An Airman’s Story, Melbourne: Publishing Solutions, 2004, 1.
167 one else. Yet ‘as the years pass we do seem to need less and less encouragement to strip our sleeves and show our scars.’8 Perhaps it is an awareness of lack of public recognition that motivated men to present a stable and positive self-image in writing or in agreeing to interviews. Boz Parsons confronted the problem, ‘Attitudes were very different then and we did think of ourselves as British. It is quite unfair to try and impose today’s attitudes on the way we were in 1939. There was never any question that we should fight for Empire. We were all part of the one force.’9 Parsons admitted the twinge of past commitment that was felt as he entered the United Kingdom in later years and was directed by customs to use the non-British entry. It was a harsh reminder of the end of Empire. While remembering the Second World War as a time of violence and ruined dreams, Max Roberts, acknowledged the unquestioned duty to serve. ‘It was essentially an Anglo-Saxon community and we were all orientated towards the royal family, every one considered it was home and it was their duty to serve.’10
Peter Isaacson, a pilot with the Pathfinders argued, ‘Britain was my homeland. Most of us in 1939 had an English background. Australia wasn’t even a hundred years old. We were fighting for the defence of the Empire.’11 Isaacson then made the important distinction. ‘Really you have to break it up into two sections. You have pre- Japan and post-Japan.’12 He was aware of the differing attitudes to the two theatres of war, ‘imperial defence’ and ‘Australia under threat,’ and the condemnation that fell on those who were sent to the European combat when conflict with Japan broke. When interviewed, Stan Guilfoyle declared his intention for enlistment was, ‘the right thing to save Britain and our country.’13 Guilfoyle was to serve in the Pacific theatre defending Australia, highlighting that when enlisting in EATS, young recruits had no idea where they would serve, and complicating that public understanding in the twenty-first century, of reasons for enlistment.
8 John McCredie, ix. 9 Interview with Boz Parsons. 10 Interview with Max Roberts. 11 Pathfinders was a special squadron formed to fly in first and mark the target areas with flares. 12 Interview with Peter Isaacson. 13 Interview with Stan Guilfoyle.
168 While such recollections appeared to reconcile and accept cultural changes that had deleted Empire from the national narrative, other testaments were related with nostalgia for the past where they idealized the centrality of Empire to their identity. Frank Dimmick, still a firm believer in British allegiance, proudly related, ‘We were all part of the British Empire. When Britain went in, we went in. Bob Menzies said we were at war. It was automatic.’14 Another spoke of loyalty to Empire, as ‘there is nothing wrong with putting the flag on the pole every day. Every morning we had to salute the British flag. I think they should bring it back.15 ‘It was a wild old time,’ fondly reminisced another. ‘There was still the respect and regard, or even love, for the old Empire, and our generation was brought up more or less on the deeds of the early English colonialists. And whilst I agree that, you know, it’s a good idea for the people to have their independence as they have today, I still think that was one of the great periods of British history.’16 George Hannon, interviewed at the age of 97, offered another link explaining, ‘Most people felt it was the right thing to help Britain out. They taught us to play cricket.’17
The concepts of Empire, that included the principles of freedom and democracy, extended to supporting the ideals of a way of life proclaiming the fight against tyranny and the preservation of liberty and the rights of the individual.18 Several veterans, in their memories, connected their justification to serve to a wider cause of Empire that stood for this way of life. While the original letters and diaries of EATS aviators had included little of the forces of Nazism, veterans in their testaments, offered a moral dimension of the need to combat the forces of evil as part of an international effort. In personal narratives, such ethical motivation, replaced or dominated the negative aspects of combat, agreeing it was ‘a good war.’ Philosophical in remembrances of his experiences, Harold Wright explained, ‘Ah… oh well, I became very…not only anti-Nazi, anti-Communist. I hated totalitarianism. As far as
14 Interview with Frank Dimmick. 15 Interview with Eddie Bradshaw. 16 Interview with Harold Wright, AWM, S00582. 17 Interview with George Hannon. Hannon had served with the RAN, but I knew him and believed he would offer an interesting perspective on the attitude to Britain and Empire. He was of Irish Catholic background and was later to serve as a Senator. His commitment to Empire was more guarded than those of British decent. 18 David Day, Politics of War, 18.
169 I’m concerned Nazism, Fascism and Communism are three germs of the one disease. So after the war I – oh, you know, a few years afterwards, once I’d settled down and that -I became involved in anti-communist activities and so on.19 Now, with the benefit of decades to reflect, others could say, ‘I’m absolutely convinced that war was completely justified. No doubt in my mind whatever. I’ve got a completely clear conscience of everything I did, as distinct from some of the wars today where my mind is completely different. But in the future we should never allow any one man like Hitler or anyone else to get into the position where, through his actions, he can cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of men and women. Some way must be found to stop it. Individuals, through sheer greed of power, having sufficient influence to bring about a war.’20 Dimmick was passionate with his insistence, ‘You have to look at the war as a whole. They talk about the atomic bomb and are critical of that. If we hadn’t dropped the atomic bomb Germany was researching it. If we hadn’t dropped it someone would have and we would have lost tens of thousands of troops going into Japan. They would never have laid down, and taken us with them. Dresden was another one … It was part of an out and out war. The country had to be beaten.’21 The emotional aspect of bombing will be returned to in examining aspects of masculinity.
Alienation
‘The flyer was to be a central figure, not merely in British culture during the Second World War, but in the way the war was to be remembered and commemorated in the decades that followed,’ wrote Martin Francis of the airmen returning to Britain.22 It seems this is not the case in Australia. Hank Nelson has questioned the lack of appreciation of airmen in Australia recognizing how they were encouraged in recruitment to be so promptly forgotten on return.23 While the decline and disappearance of EATS within the collective memory has been outlined, the purpose here is to focus on the impact this had on the individual identity. The individual
19 Interview with Harold Wright, Bomber Command, AWM S0 0582. 20 Interview with Bob Murphy, Bomber Command, AWM S0 0523. 21 Interview with Frank Dimmick. 22Martin Francis, The Flyer, 2. 23 Hank Nelson, Chased by the Sun, 276.
170 narrative, while acknowledging times had changed also revealed a further response to the public reaction shown towards EATS and that was a sense of alienation from the Australian narrative. The experience of the aviators remained outside Australian recognition. Early contributions to the sense of alienation appear in two underlying themes in the personal narratives. First was a general antagonism between the recruits and the institution from the permanent RAAF officers. This, in part, was due to the initial establishment of EATS and the forced subservience of permanent RAAF officers to British officers. The antagonism, between returning aviators and permanent RAAF officers was related in many narratives and John McCarthy has given public voice to the tensions this caused.24 The second source contributing to alienation was a perception that the aviators once attached to Empire, had been abandoned by Australian politicians and public, and isolated from bonding in the collective Australian war commemoration.
In their personal narratives, accounts were given of the immediate questioning on their return, by the public and permanent officers, of their motivation, especially if they had flown in the European theatre. Now in their late eighties and nineties, the ambiguous expectations they held of public acceptance, have become part of their stories surrounding EATS. In some way their reception could be equated with that of the Vietnam veterans homecoming whose capacity for social trust has been destroyed.25 While this diagnosis may be extreme, interviews supported the disillusionment with the accusation that their loyalty to Empire had been misplaced.
Boz Parsons recalled the suspicion by permanent RAAF officers, of those who had been overseas. ‘We were treated initially as if we didn’t exist.’ It was with a tone of disbelief that Parsons related the return of a Group, who had completed their full tour, to Australia and were now to be redirected to the Pacific theatre.26
24 John McCarthy, Last call of Empire, 131-132. Also discussed in introduction. 25 Jonathon Shay, Achilles in Vietnam: combat, trauma and the undoing of character, New York: Maxwell Macmillan International, 1994. Odysseus in America: combat trauma and the trials of homecoming, New York: Scribner 2002. In both these works Shay discusses at length the destruction of social trust by those who experiences combat. 26 A full tour consisted of 30 operations.
171 We were loaded onto a truck and reported to the CO. He didn’t look up from his desk and said ‘I want yoos blokes to behave yaselfs while ya are here. You can pick your palliasses out there and there is no leave.’ We just turned and walked out got a taxi straight into town and said we would be back tomorrow.
A similar example of lack of recognition from the Australian authorities was remembered by Eddie Bradshaw, also with a tone of disbelief. He read to me from a 2007, Odd Bods Newsletter, which involved a memo that is almost unbelievable in its slur against EATS trainees.27
As we are all aware the attitude and competence of some leaders left much to the imagination. One case concerning our own A.V.M. Sir George Jones immediately came to mind. It involved a memo which is almost unbelievable as a slur against the EATS trainees. I quote from Jeffery Watson’s book Killer Caldwell. The memo was signed by George Jones and stated, The Officer is an Empire Air Trainee and as such considered to be already sufficiently decorated and is to receive no more regardless of further service.28
Bradshaw analysed, ‘It is easy to be critical after the event, but there are a few of us still tottering about who feel this spiteful misuse of rank and power should have resulted in the Minister’s immediate dismissal of Jones.’29 He continued to outline the conflict between the Australian authorities and EATS:
That is where the trouble started. There was one bloke in my ground crew whose mother was dying of cancer and he said I have to get home. I said I would have to take it to the authorities. Three months later we heard he had been refused permission. He got a letter saying his mother had died. Now that is only a minor matter but it set the barrier up. We were regarded here as officially a nuisance. The officers here in Australia didn’t think we knew anything. There was one bloke who came back with a DFC and was sent back to retraining school. The CO said he didn’t know how he got through his initial training so he took him outside and belted him.30
Bradshaw chuckled at this point. Lack of support from the Australian public was a theme in narratives and Bradshaw recalled the ‘greatest shipload of unwanted’:
27 Interview with Eddie Bradshaw included the Odd Bodd’s news letter. 28 Jeffrey Watson, Killer Caldwell. Australia’s Greatest Fighting Pilot, Sydney: Hodder Australia, 2005, 66. 29Interview with Eddie Bradshaw. 30 Ibid.
172 We were the last boat out of England 300 of us and out of drinking water and rations were tight. We got around to Sydney the warfies were on strike so the Navy came to our aid. It was all politics. That was our welcome home. And when we reached the wharf they all lined up and yelled ‘get back to Churchill.’ This was our welcome home. No parade. They put us straight on a train, no meal, nothing till Albury where we changed trains. They called us the greatest shipload of unwanted. The feeling was there. There is a story I can talk for hours. So many things happened that no one knew about. They couldn’t afford to for morale.31
Jim Beckingsale had flown Catalinas out of India but he felt compelled to relate the rift that developed between EATS graduates and authorities. The service record of Jim Beckingsale, in itself, indicates the incredible diversity of EATS aviators and their sense of alienation.32 The interview took place in his study where the theme was ‘aviators.’ Framed photographs of the aeroplanes he flew and of the squadrons he served with covered the walls. Beckingsale’s medals, including the DFC, were also mounted and framed as were those of his father who had flown in the Australian Flying Corps in the First World War. Clearly the experiences of EATS featured in his identity. After initial training in Australia, he was sent to the newly established EATS training school in Rhodesia then to South Africa where, he explained, the South Africans retained their independence refusing to take an oath to the Crown of England. Finally he was posted to India, under the RAF. He voiced what seemed to be concerning him.
You see there were really two wars going on. There were reunions for the Pacific war and then the European war. Those who had been in Bomber Command knew more about war than any one. They were experts but when they came back to Australia their talent wasn’t recognized. They were treated as if they were just out of training school. It was a wealth of experience that the RAAF just wasted. They had been cut off from Australia. At the end of his tour my navigator went back to England for a specialist navigation course. He became a navigation officer on Fighter Squadron. He was so highly qualified but not recognized in Australia. So he just took his discharge. Australia had no idea. Many who had been in bomber command, many of the fellows I knew refused to come back to Australia. It was a case of out of sight out of mind.
Beckingsale had other comments that expressed his attitude towards Australia. Of EATS he explained:
31 Ibid. 32 Interview with Jim Beckingsale.
173 It was so incredibly well run. It must have been the British Air Board. The RAAF couldn’t have had much to do with it. The problem with senior RAAF officers was terrible. Jones got command but he was about sixth in line. They had no real understanding of the war. The Australians were very inward looking. I would say the Australian government was at fault. We provide the boys. You do what you want with them.
‘They had been cut off from Australia,’ reminisced Beckingsale, clearly emphasising the alienation he and other veterans of EATS experienced.33
The first Australian to be awarded the DFC during World War II, Dereck French, was hailed early in the war by the press report for the Department of Air as ‘adding prestige to a young nation already famed for its air heroes and pioneers.’34 Yet remembering his treatment on his return to Australia, which French described as being ‘like second class citizens,’ disgusted French for the rest of his life. On numerous occasions, (and I am aware I repeat it here), French mentioned the disgust of the reception in Australia, recalling the fellow Wing Commander who responded by taking his service pistol down to the beach and blowing his brains out.35 French was acutely aware of the lack of recognition given to EATS. He remarked ‘we were always fighting three enemies, the Germans, the Japanese and those at home.’36
‘Shame of the RAAF. Aussie air aces given brush –off,’ headed an article in the The Sun in 1989.’37 The anger of French found a path to the media and this was one of many articles over the years in which French was able to express his anger. When I met him only weeks before his death, the anger had not diminished.38 At 94, he was tired and rather than ask particular questions, I let him talk and his mind wandered over his memories. Although he trained with the RAAF, he was transferred to the RAF for further training. He had flown 70 operations and this was recorded in the press as he proudly showed me. He had fought all his life to present his image of EATS as a great Empire organisation and its success. His criticism focused on the inefficiency and management of the Australian government and the RAAF. French believed that
33 Ibid. 34 Found in NAA, A.930 French D.J. 35 Interview with Dereck French, The Sun 21 December 1989, 36, Herald Sun, 16 April 2001 22. 36 Interview with Dereck French. 37 The Sun, 28 December, 1989, 36. 38 Interview with Dereck French.
174 without the organisation of the British and their experience, Australia was lost. He was disparaging of the permanent RAAF officers, whom, he claimed had no experience. This was an opinion repeated by most I interviewed.39 When he asked to be transferred home as his father was dying, he claimed he was told that no-one could replace him. ‘Of course they could,’ he said, ‘They were all in the Hotel Australia.’ ‘Many officers had avoided active service,’ he claimed but ‘they don’t want to think about it. They had no experience. They are embarrassed or ashamed. They wonder if they were right or will they be criticised for what they did.’ His view on Malaysia and Singapore was it was a ‘complete cock-up.’ He believed those who fought in Europe were given no recognition by the Australian government, and here he referred to Mick Martin who was on the Dam Busters raid and broadcast about his experiences on the Pacific Service programme. ‘No one recognises him today,’ added French. On his return to Australia, French was sent to the MCG where they wanted him to go on a church parade to collect war bonds. Once again, he expressed his indignation, believing that Australians had no understanding of what war was all about. He admitted to being ‘so ashamed of Australia.’ He resigned and bought a dairy farm where he stayed for thirty years.40
A similar indignation was expressed by Geoff Magee, who also served with bomber command, and led him to publish a book of poems in 1990.41 The following in particular demonstrates the emotion of anger that hovered in accounts of EATS veterans.
THE BETRAYAL
Our government promised when we flew off to war
If killed or injured we would be protected by law
Our wives they would care for our children they’d raise
When we went off to battle we were full of their praise.
39 These included Boz Parsons, Eddie Bradshaw, and Jim Beckinsdale. 40 This was all related in interview with Dereck French. 41 Geoff Magee, Bombs Gone! And other poems, Sydney: 460 Squadron Association, 1991. Also refer to one of his poems quoted in chapter 4.
175
And for years each government used its power
To honour the promise made at that hour
Whatever the party whatever the creed
Each government met the returned soldiers need.
But now this government holds the reins
And they have altered the pledge and made it plain
Though they wouldn’t admit it and leave it unsaid
They would be happy to see the rest of us dead
Our numbers are fewer they don’t need our vote
So their vows they abandon like any turncoat
Drugs and pensions are cancelled repat hospitals closed
The things they are doing get right up your nose.
And take my word they are not finished yet
Perhaps instead of a doctor you will be sent a vet
This country of ours that we saved from the foe
They have ruined completely without striking a blow.
This sense of marginalization was related in many ways with the men whom I interviewed as they found themselves not included in the collective memory, and retreated to individual veteran organizations to find their social niche that may have aided the construction of individual identity. Don Charlwood remembered:
When a number of our fellows headed for home after they had finished in Britain they wrote back to us and said don’t come. Stay where you were. Once we came home our war was regarded as Britain’s war. There was a governor of New South Wales, I have just forgotten his name. He was a Pathfinder and he was shot down and, before he died, I heard him address a group of Empire Air Training Scheme men and he said when I
176 arrived home I realized I was in the wrong war. We had been fighting against the Germans and the right war was here.42
Listening to the veterans as they reminisced, there was often a sense of anger, not of the aggressive nature against the enemy, but one that comes from intense disillusionment through the experiences of EATS. Caught up in the immediacy of battle, the anger was not clearly conceived at the time, but as the men reflected they focused on grievances and a sense of injustice. At times this was directed at the Australian Government. Others expressed despair at the behaviour of the permanent RAAF officers towards them. Several felt themselves victims of later Commonwealth policies towards the volunteers who had served under EATS. The years of silence from the veterans of EATS could perhaps be explained by an unwillingness to admit to their contested allegiance to Empire and the betrayal of their trust. Yet in later years, as McCredie stated, some were prepared to ‘show their scars.’ Not only would the distancing from Empire silence the individual, anger expressed by men against their own country and against their own air force concerning the war conduct is not readily included in the public collective narrative.
The emotional response of betrayal is internal but the silencing of the individual and the fading of individual narratives has been compounded by the external factor of failure to find a place in the collective image. Alistair Thomson’s claim, while detailing the memories of World War I Diggers’ experiences, is that if combat experiences are not recognised and cannot be articulated through the public narratives they become displaced or marginalised within individual memory, causing alienation, silence and ‘internalised trauma’.43 Trevor Craddock claimed, when I interviewed him, that he had in fact forgotten all about EATS, until I mentioned it.44 Each of his comments brought new insights into how memories are complex and selective in their structure. ‘You know I didn’t talk about it for years. None of us did. It wouldn’t make sense to people. I have talked more about the war in the last 3, 4, 5 years than in the 50 years before it and others are saying the same thing.’ While addressing the silences that surround the construction of memories, Craddock’s next
42 Interview with Don Charlwood. 43 Alistair Thomson, Anzac Memories, 216, 220. 44 Interview with Trevor Craddock.
177 statement suggested some explanation for his response. ‘There was just no support for returned airmen for a long time, he recalled. ‘Until Ruxton came on board.’ Craddock’s interview ended as he reminisced, ‘I know Les Carlyn who wrote on World War I and Gallipoli and he said Gallipoli was a cake walk compared to France. Everything I’ve read makes me believe the First World War was far worse than anything we had to go through. To run across vacant land without a tree or anything, with them shooting at you. That First World War was scary.’45 He described the attempt of some men who ‘just like to play the hero’ concluding ‘forget it.’ The response of Craddock prompted reflection. Perhaps his attitude was an indication of the confusion resulting from the ambivalent social and cultural attitudes towards the airmen in Australia.
While the experiences of Empire were central in life stories of the men of EATS, those I listened to were very aware of their sense of the exclusion of Empire from the collective Australian image and with it EATS. In the telling of their stories, they chose what details to include, reinterpreting the meaning and significance of the past memories. These selective and subjective memories may or may not be accurate but they are linked to the individual’s personal self-image.
Here, once again to illustrate a point, a comparison with Canada may be drawn. The vivid memory of Australian Tom Fitzgerald on the contrasting receptions provides an entry to the different national stories.46 At the end of the European war he was shipped to America to pick up Liberators to fly them back to Australia for the Pacific war. Their first stop was Quebec and Fitzgerald recalled there were many Canadians on board. ‘It was a beautiful evening sailing up the St Lawrence River. The Lord Mayor was there in his robes and dignitaries and lights on and bands playing ‘Welcome home to our Canadian heroes.’ The Pacific war ended at that point and the Australians, including Fitzgerald, were shipped to Australia on a ‘very old tub.’ The contrast with the Australian home coming he recalled with a quiet laugh:
45 Trevor Craddock. 46 Interview with Tom Fitzgerald, AWM S00536.
178 We landed at Melbourne on a Saturday afternoon. There was a solitary waterside worker waiting on the wharf, to tie the rope… The first throw from the ship he missed and he yelled out ‘Come on. Don’t you think I want to go home?’ And the boys who had been away for varying periods of years gave him three cheers. And then an old covered wagon came to pick us up and take us to the Melbourne Cricket Ground to sleep on bare boards overnight. But chalked up in huge letters on the canvas of the truck were these words: Jap dodgers return!
The BCATP or the ‘PLAN’ has been hailed as ‘Canada’s greatest achievement’ and continues to be celebrated.47 For Canadians, as with Australians, their country’s involvement in the Second World War has been reinterpreted with time but, undaunted, is Canadian pride in its wartime achievements and the belief that BCATP ‘stood as a symbol of the spirit of cooperation between the countries of the Commonwealth and all like minded democratic people of the world.’48 It has been embraced in the Canadian identity. To Canadians, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan did not represent a threat to their own national story. It appears, despite myths to the contrary, Canadians believed the Empire belonged to them as well as the British who lived in the mother country and all other Dominions.49 While arguing certain areas of Empire relationships have been marginalized, Phillip Buckner also recognized core elements in which Empire has been retained as important in Canadian history.50 Their Britishness (apart from Quebec) it has been argued, was retained as it set Canadians squarely apart from their American neighbours.51 Canadian distinctiveness was rarely articulated in terms of an exclusive Canadian identity divorced entirely from its British moorings.52 The negotiations surrounding BCATP, to paraphrase Prime Minister Mackenzie King, were seen as ‘autonomous if necessary, but not necessarily autonomous.’ Canadians sought to exercise autonomy where it
47 In a Common Cause DVD produced by Sky West Productions, Canada. Also Jenny Gates, Secretary of the Down Under Club, representing Australian airmen who flew in World War II and returned to Canada. 48 Narrative from In a Common Cause. 49 See Phillip Buckner Canada and the End of Empire, Vancouver: U.B.C. Press, 2005.3-5. 50 Ibid. 51 Stuart Ward, Andrea Benvenuti, ‘Britain, Europe and the Other Quiet Revolution in Canada,’ in Phillip Buckner ed. Canada and the End of Empire, 165. 52 It is worth noting here a review of Buckner’s work by Gordon Stewart in American Historical Review, Feb 2010, 211 ‘The relationship between history and national identity is always fraught with tension; this is particularly problematic in all former settlement colonies within the British Empire.’ There is academic debate over the role of the importance in Empire ties within Canadian identity.
179 suited their national interests.53 The differences between the development of Canadian and Australian negotiations in EATS and its subsequent operation and acceptance in the cultural climate of each nation have been mentioned in earlier chapters. The different paths taken in the relationship with Empire over the following decades have impacted on the memories of the Canadian veterans who served as aviators. Canadian participation within the united Empire effort sits comfortably as recorded in narratives.54
In 2008 the Canadian Wartime Pilots’ and Observers Association held their wind-up ceremony dominated by a celebration of imperial unity. The main address was to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Queen of Canada, shown wearing her Canadian insignia as Sovereign of the Order of Canada and the Order of Military Merit. The message assured the Queen of the continued loyalty and affection of members.55The dominant theme was although Empire belongs in the past, it is embraced as part of the Canadian history56 In 1983 the BCATP was designated by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada as of ‘national historic significance and should be commemorated by means of a plaque at Canadian Forces Base, Trenton. A further plaque was unveiled in 1992 at Brandon Manitoba, where a Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum had been established some years earlier and in 1999 the Garden of Memories dedicated as a permanent tribute to BCATP was established in Winnipeg.’57
The Canadian War Museum conducted an oral history project between 1999 and 2006 recording the memories of service men including many who served in the BCATP. While, in reading the transcripts of Canadian veterans, no definitive conclusions can be drawn there were several noticeable differences in their narratives relating to Empire that draw attention to relationships between individuals and the
53 Daniel Gorman review of Philip Buckner, Journal of Contemporary History 44. 2, 2009, 342. 54 Copy of Wartime Pilots and Observers Association Wind-Up Ceremonies The ceremony, Lying up of Colours, was held in the Officers’ Mess, June 6 2008. The copy was provided by the Canadian War Memorial. 55 Ibid. 56 Lorraine Coops, ‘One Flag, One Throne, One Empire,’ in Philip Buckner Canada and the End of Empire, 251-268 covers the debate surrounding the Canadian change of flag. 57 There are many more public memorial sited dedicated to BCATP.
180 national identity. The first was the use of the term ‘Allied Air Force.’ This was not used in Australian narratives and it suggested, from the Canadian perspective, an institution of combined and supportive contributions. The sense of marginalization in Australian stories was replaced by a confidence in a shared activity. Ted Smith recalled, ‘I’d been on, all mixed up with RAF and New Zealander, Australian, Poles, whatever. I thought those were great squadrons, a lot of people did, the mixed squadrons. They were great. As far as flight commanders were concerned and squadron leaders and so on, I certainly had no… I thought they were all good, too. We did all right.’58 Another remembered, ‘We were mixed Canadian, Royal Air Force guys or Australians, New-Zealanders. And as I mentioned before, 60 percent of us served in RAF units during the war. Only 40 percent served in RCAF squadrons.’59 William Carr explained the complexity of organization, ‘The boss man was a Colonel L. A. Roosevelt, the President’s son. And he had under him two wings, an American wing and the RAF wing. And in the RAF wing we had a mixed bag of pilots, Canadians and Brit and we even had some Poles.’60 Asked to join 617 Squadron of Dambuster fame, Donald Cheney described his smorgasbord crew. ‘Mack was an Australian. My crew consisted of myself as a Canadian-- after Mack went I got another Canadian in from Calgary as my mid-upper gunner. My rear gunner was English. My radio operator was English, and the bomb aimer was Welsh. The flight engineer was a Scotsman and the navigator was a Scotsman. So, we had a great bunch. But we did get on well.’61 Held as prisoner of war, James Finnie remembered, ‘But we had Bing Crosby’s ‘White Christmas’ and some of Dinah Shore’s numbers, and you know, you’d look out the window and you’d hear Bing Crosby singing “White Christmas”, and there was snow all over it was just like Ottawa at Christmas time and search lights, machine gun towers and so on and so forth. So you know, I’m sure there wasn’t too many dry eyes in that room of ours, and the room of ours consisted of
58 Ted Theodore Smith, Sound Control No. 31D6 Smith, Oct. 2005, Interview transcript, Oral History Program, Canadian War Museum. 59 John Friedlander, Sound Control No. 31Friedlander, Dec. 2005, Interview transcript, Oral History Program Canadian War Museum. 60 William C Carr, Sound Control No. 31D 1 Carr, Oct. 2000, Interview transcript, Oral History Program Canadian War Museum. 61 Donald H Cheney, Sound Control No.31D 1 Cheney, Nov. 2000, Interview transcript, Oral History Program Canadian War Museum.
181 probably four or five Canadians, one New Zealander, a couple of Aussies and I guess the rest were made up of English, Irish, Scotch, Welsh.’62
There was also a sense of unity of purpose that surfaced in the interviews. Ultimately, all appeared to combine in an Allied Air force to fight for a common cause with a sense of duty to fight against what they perceived as aggressive nations, not only Germany. Several returned to volunteer to fight in the Pacific theatre. John Friedlander recalled first his reason for enlisting:
When war broke out, of course, I was amazed at what Hitler – the Nazi Hitler Fascist philosophy – was doing to freedom-loving nations in Europe. I had studied a great deal, of course, of John Stuart Mill and beyond. I was anxious to join up, right after the Battle of Britain in 1939- 40.63
Friedlander continued to explain the unity that was established in the mixture of nationalities as they all had the same objective and ‘pushed together.’
About sixty percent RAF guys—some of whom had been trained in Canada or the US—about I guess thirty percent or less, colonials—like myself—Canadians—mostly Canadians—Australians, some New Zealanders, South Africans—you name it. I suppose five or ten percent— doesn’t add up precisely to a hundred—of what I call free Europeans— that is, superb guys who had got out of Czechoslovakia or Belgium or Holland, when their countries were overrun by the Nazis. These guys either had money or connections or the moxie to be able to find a way to get out, and they did, through Spain or whatever; then, trained in England or in the B.A.C.P.—training plan in Canada—and gone back.
Friedlander admitted, ‘At times, the Canadians willingly recognized themselves as colonials. Crews were a mixture of English, South Africans, Australians and what not, with a nucleus of trained RAF pilots who had done about 20 trips of a 30-trip tour. And if you were a Canadian, you were a colonial.64 Ross Baroni serving as the only Canadian on a Pathfinder squadron related some antagonism, ‘If he called me a Colonial again, I’d smash his head in. I was so mad! Of course, the Skipper
62 James Finnie, Sound Control No. 31D1Finnie, Dec. 2000, Interview transcript, Oral History Program Canadian War Museum. 63 John Friedlander Interview transcript Oral History Program Canadian War Museum. 64 Arthur Wahlroth, Sound Control No. 31D 2 Wahlroth, Interview transcript, Oral History Program Canadian War Museum.
182 jumps up. So, I said, “You tell him for me, that I don’t give a damn where you sit in the aircraft, if he says something about me being a Colonial, I’ll slug him. I’m just getting so fed up with it.” I was, because what the hell were they doing? And what would they do without us--supply them with the aircraft and people.’65 Jim and John Maffre recalled initial ‘attitude,’ but claimed once in a squadron it was different you were accepted as part of the family.66
One theme that did not emerge in the narratives of Australian men was the memories held of discovering the concentration camps.67 John Friedlander recalled:
one of the memories I have – in fact, the only one that I can still remember clearly after all these years – and what I have been telling you up to now really is recollections and some rather faded and probably not all of them entirely accurate. But I remember this one well. That is, near the end of the war—very near the end of the war—the last days—when we were in one of the German airfields .I think it was Lubeck, but I’m not sure – right up near the Danish border. I think it was—we, a few of us pilots took a jeep and went up to see one of the German concentration camps, and I think it was Belsen, that had just been liberated a week before that by, I think, the British Army. That memory has stayed with me today. I can still smell it. What the German people did to the Jews is unbelievable. I don’t know how they did it. They’re civilized people.
Friedlander then detailed the images he carried of the camps and in his conclusion was found the explanation for his actions in combat.
When you’re dealing with a group of people who are capable of doing that, you don’t sit back and negotiate with them. Do you remember— who’s the—Chamberlain, coming back from Europe? They’re waving that piece of paper.’I’ve got his agreement that he won’t.’ You know, eight days later, he invaded Poland. Now, Chamberlain meant well, but you can’t negotiate with a dictator, who has got there by power and fear. The only thing that will budge him is a superior power and a superior fear. You don’t—you can’t negotiate. But we know that—all the talks from Machiavelli—but we never seem to understand that lesson.
65 Ross Baroni, Sound Control No. 31D4 Baroni, Interview transcript, Oral History Program Canadian War Museum. 66 Jim and John Maffre, Sound Control No.1999 31D 5 Maffre Interview transcript, Oral History Program Canadian War Museum. 67 An explanation offered for this was at the immediate end of war in Europe Australian airmen were posted to fly in the Pacific war, while the Canadians continued in Europe.
183 Anyway, that’s one of the things I remember. I’m sorry I lectured to you at the end of the thing, but…[laughs]68
Ted Smith recalled, ‘And before the war ended, some of us went up to Belsen concentration camp and went through it, and that had a profound effect on the rest of my life, that thing. Yeah. It was a horrible thing to see, and, well, that’s enough. [tape pause]69 William Clifford added to the image:
‘We were much closer to Belsen, the concentration and extermination camp. We entered the camp April 21st.I can never begin to describe any aspect of the total picture there. Typhus was rampant and we had to be fortified by additional anti-typhus powder pumped into our clothing, all of our clothing, and camp cots. For many years after the war my view of the holiday, beach crowded, frolicking sun-bathers was superimposed by the indelible picture in my mind of all those poor camp victims. Mostly naked, skeletal bodies still staggering about, falling and crumbling up like a pile of bones. And in the background, asbestos clad German SS prisoners under guard, of course, pulling corpses from an unending line of flat bed trucks and pitching them into long bulldozed pits. When that pit was full a quick ceremony for the deceased, by each in his turn, a Rabbi, a Minister and a Roman Catholic Priest. All the time bulldozers were gauging out the next interment pit. Anne Frank had died here a month before at Camp Liberation.70
To witness such circumstances is horrific in its own right. To focus and relate such memories in part offers a moral justification for the violence these airmen have themselves inflicted on civilian population. In their own minds it appears to make their actions less contested and unified within the Empire these airmen were fighting for the values it supported
The futility of the experiences endured by some Australians was also 82 Colon added before block quote.expressed by Canadians. The four Maffre brothers had enlisted in BCATP and only John and Jim survived. The following story was begun by John.
68 John Friedlander Interview. 69 Ted Smith, Sound Control No. 31D 6 Smith, Interview transcript, Oral History Program Canadian War Museum. 70 William C Clifford, 4 August 2006 31D 7 Clifford Interview transcript, Oral History Program Canadian War Museum.
184 I borrowed my own aircraft, and flew down to near Mastricht where Gerry was buried, and landed at a U.S. Air Force station. They were much intrigued to see this little Spitfire there. They provided me with a Corporal, and an escort on a jeep, and drove to find Gerry’s grave. I had not seen it before. I haven’t seen it since. And then, the last day I ever flew was when we—the whole squadron—in July, I guess—’45—flew over to disband at Dunsfold, in England. And I was allowed to take an aircraft up north to Birch in Newton, and visit Ken’s grave.
Jim: Here’s something that struck my ears.[There were] British and Commonwealth people buried in the cemetery here. Across the road are German burials.
John: Luftwaffe men.
Jim: Airmen or seamen, you know. Isn’t it funny? Nothing wrong with it.
Interviewer: No.
Jim: But struck you strange.
Interviewer: Young men from different countries would…
Jim: Yes.
John: Yes.
Interviewer:…collide together…
Jim: And would be buried together, almost…
Interviewer:…in their lives, and would be buried together. Almost gives you a sense of futility almost, really.
While other aspects of their identity would be brought under scrutiny in the role of Empire, supported by their country’s continued recognition of the Canadian contribution to air war 1939-45, Canadian aviators were able to represent in their narratives the BCATP as a ‘symbol of co-operation between countries of the Commonwealth and all like minded people of the world.’71
71 Peter Marshall, ‘The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan,’ The Round Table, 354, 2000, 275.
185 Conclusion
The hypothetical question has been asked, why is it that some ‘pasts’ triumph while others fail? Why do people prefer one image of the past over another?72 In examining the response of the social images set up around the same institution by Canada and Australia it can again be asked why is one image accepted and another rejected. Answers appear to be found in the differing relationships of each nation to the concept of Empire. Embraced as part of the Canadian past, yet estranged from the Australian identity has impacted on individual identity and responses to the concept of EATS. This chapter has tried to articulate the impact of the collective memory on the individual identity. The narratives of Canadians were united in the shared national image of the past. The Australian airmen related their narratives with a sense of disquiet and a sense of absence, lacking a sense of patriotic belonging. The occurrence of such a process has been recognized in other circumstances as the past is pushed away from the present. Since the time of the French Revolution, it has been noted, in a study of nostalgia, the melancholy feeling of dispossession that is the result of pushing away, reveals a sharper sense of temporal identity in both public and private lives and it thereby contributes to the history of memory and to the knowledge about the historicizing self.73 Such uncertainty as to the role of Empire in the individual Australian identity gave way expressions of alienation, justification and at times anger towards their role in contributing to the Scheme.
The next two chapters examine further destruction of identity of Australian aviators as concepts of masculinity and the freedom and romance of flight were brought under question and responses to lift these losses from obscurity and establish identities in a constantly changing world.
72 Alon Confino, ‘Collective Memory and Cultural History,’ American Historical Review, 102, 1997, 1389. 73 Peter Fritzsche, ‘Specters of History: On Nostalgia, Exile and Modernity,’ American Historical Review, December 2001, 1589.
186 CHAPTER 7
The Masculine Image Challenged
‘Come on. Be a man’ was and remains the call often used for recruitment including that for the institution of EATS. John Pettett had expressed the importance to the individual of proving masculine worth and his own internal affirmation of his masculinity; ‘the most significant aspect was testing, a sort of self-test, to see if I could do it.’1 To others the unquestioning compliance with the social expectations of the masculine role was clearly articulated. ‘It was something that us young fellows had to do.’2 In every interview the acceptance of the role was apparent, ‘Nobody thought of not enlisting. And the few people I know who didn’t certainly suffered a stigma in not having enlisted.’3 The continuing belief that war offers a way to ‘be a man’ finds expression today. Stan Guilfoyle was adamant, ‘it certainly made a man of me.’4 Others followed: ‘It makes men out of people who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity,’5 and ‘the war got me out and made men out of us.’6
In 1939 the experience of war offered the opportunity to ‘be a man’ based on the Edwardian terms of stoic endurance, physical courage, and the claim of glory through sacrifice. In this cultural environment, where the warrior was the dominant male, the airman was seen as the elite. Men could not admit to sensitivity, introspection or self-doubt. Official studies of air force veterans have indicated that, characteristically, they do not allow their emotions to cause significant social or occupational impairment. They came from an era that encouraged ‘the stiff upper lip’ and this distinguishes them from the emotionally less inhibited veterans from recent
1 Interview John Pettett, AWM S00515. 2 Interview Jack ‘Snow’ Simmons. 3 Interview John Piper AWM S00577. 4 Interview Stan Guilfoyle 5 Interview William Deane-Butcher AWM S00559. 6 Interview Reg ‘Slim’ Moore.
187 conflicts.7 However, in aerial combat, every concept of masculinity would be challenged, fragmenting the identities of air personnel. While war had been glorified the concepts of killing and being killed were not given consideration. The confrontation of this reality would evoke strong emotional responses that revolved around fear and guilt. The purpose of this chapter is to chart the reaction of the air men to the challenges which they faced in their masculinity and the different perceptions that filtered through their minds as decades later, they attempted to make sense of their experiences.
The literature covering the history of masculinity continues to grow, especially the area examining the impact of World War I on the development of masculine identities.8 The study of masculinity in the Second World War is less substantial.9 While this thesis examines only the specialized military environment of the Australian airmen, it reflects on subjective experiences and the negotiation through the emotional challenges to masculinity, and thus it may illustrate the much broader issues of gender, emotional life and the creation of a national myth.
The testaments of the men referred to in this chapter are retrospective and offer an explanation attached to the horrors of war. Perhaps as has been observed in the responses of men to World War I, combat is a journey made from naïve optimism of early training days to become increasingly skeptical and, finally, disillusioned civilians in post-war years.10 The challenges to masculinity and changes in cultural values encountered over time, evoked emotional responses in the aviators, and thus this chapter engages with the structure of emotions, charting the influence of these emotions in the minds of the individual and how they negotiated them in constructing their memories and their life stories. Traditional narratives of air warfare have not
7 Wing Commander Leigh SA. Neal, ‘Commentary.’ Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 14, 1998, 218. Neal was Officer Commanding in the Defence Medical Services Psychiatric Center and Tr- Services PTSD Unit, Duchess of Kents’ Hospital, North Yorkshire. 8 See for example Michael Roper and John Tosh, ed. Manful Assertions: Masculinities in Britain Since 1800. London: Routledge, 1991. Joanna Bourke, Dismembering the Male Body. 9 This has been recognized by, Mark Wells, Courage and Air Warfare, Martin Francis, The Flyer, Sonya Rose, Which People’s war? National Identity and Citizenship in War Time Britain 1939-1945, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2003. Joanna Bourke, An Intimate History of Killing. 10 David Taylor, From Fighting the War to Writing the war: From Glory to Guilt?’ Contemporary British History, 23 3 2009, 305.
188 represented the individual human dimension. Accounts have followed the codes regulating the expression of private feelings. Graham Little in, The Public Emotions, has argued that we are still afraid of emotions and the emotional life is something that simply cannot be engaged with.11 In his appeal to have emotions recognized, he claims that the world still defines itself by lack of emotion enforced by public events.12 The complexities of the subjective masculine identity of the aviator, as the individual negotiated between the competing concepts of reality and expectations, producing paradoxes and contradictions, provide the subject of this chapter. What did become clear, in following accounts, is that the concepts of masculinity, despite being seriously challenged, remained deeply embedded in the identity of the aviators interviewed.
It became increasingly evident that certain values and core beliefs cannot easily be extracted from the sense of identity formed in youth. While some scholars argue that the experience of combat results in a rejection of the collective cultural values, it has been alternatively suggested that in ‘focusing on the loss of innocence and growth of disillusionment, historians and literary critics alike have failed to appreciate the significance of the continuity and strength of traditional values and motifs.’13 Precisely because of the unprecedented destruction, it was essential to retain and restate the importance of values that had given meaning to their lives in the past and were needed to preserve self-respect and sanity in the present.’14 The power of the masculine image survived in later decades.
Seduced by the images of a militarized society that presented the glory of war as a rite of passage to male adulthood, young Australian volunteers to EATS responded to the added attraction of the aviator as the new knight of modern war. While the impact of combat is recognized as destructive on the individual identity resulting in a sense of personal discontinuity, air war brought with it new areas of
11 Graham Little The Public Emotions: from mourning to hope Sydney: ABC Books for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1999, 43. 12 Graham Little, 19. 13 Refer to Samuel Hynes, A War Imagined: the First World War and English Culture, London: Bodlley Head 1990, ix, who argues veterans rejected the ideas of society that had sent them out to war. Erik Erikson in Childhood and Society, also claims war destroyed identity. 14 David Taylor, ‘From Fighting the war to writing the war: From Glory to Guilt?’ 303.
189 confrontation that were completely unexpected, causing different emotional responses that need examination. In Chapter 3 the initial responses to combat for the aviators were examined but the stories related decades later provide reflective memories that have been filtered through the external collective images and responses and their own internal emotional reconciliation that, ultimately, saw the formation of a comfortable identity and a niche in society. Involvement in combat elicits intense emotional responses that infiltrate the construction of later memories and images of each individual. This was revealed in the following interview with a veteran of EATS.
Q. Is it fair to say that you’re divorcing yourself emotionally from this? That you’re not letting it… that you’re becoming a bit cold, a bit emotionally cold, about it, about other people?
A. Oh, you are, sure, you are. Yes, you sort of… It’s no good getting into hysterics or anything like that, because it’s not worth it, because it’s sort of… it’s happening every day, and you just go and have a few beers and sort of front up the next day for flying and away you go.
Q. Do you get a sort of fatalistic attitude? Or… I mean, you must think about it.
A. Probably, yes. Well, you know, it’s many years ago now, I’m sort of… And you’re young, and you think you’re invincible, or… (laugh) in those days.15
Acknowledging the control of his emotions and, in his hesitant avoidance of a clear response, Geoffrey Coombes revealed the impact of the emotion on memory and the instinct to conceal attacks on masculinity, exposing the consequent complexity, it imposes on the construction of individual images. While emotions may be nebulous, contradictory and complex, they are the very stuff of human action and agency.16 In considering the experiences encountered in EATS, as recalled in the stories of veterans, emotions provide an insight into the individual response of those who flew the machines of war. In listening to the stories, there is reluctance on the part of the narrator to reveal private emotions, but to understand the stories, it is necessary to search behind the public codes of emotion that govern the narratives.
15 Geoffrey Coombes, Flight Lieutenant RAAF and RAF and POW in Germany, 466 Bomber Squadron. Interviewed AWM S00551. 16 Joanna Bourke, ‘The Emotions of War: fear and the British and American military 1914-1945.’ Historical Research 74 2001, 315.
190 The historical culture surrounding masculinity and emotions finds its origins in the mid-nineteenth century as the prescription of standards and ideals ‘that govern endorsement, the expression and ultimately even the acknowledgement of emotions.’17 From this time mastery of fear combined the emotional control men should learn with a ‘willingness to face up to moral obligations, qualities boys could be expected to acquire in their progress to adulthood.’18 Boys were told to face fear and conquer it. Such Victorian emotional formula continued into the twentieth century surrounding boys with a culture related to the manly ability to master fear. R.W. Connell has recognized that the cultural construction of masculinity is based on the very suppression of emotions and their denial of any vulnerability.19 It has also been noted that the history of the emotional life of men is surprisingly stifled as we tend to cling hard to some of the most well entrenched truisms about masculinity: that it connotates total control of the emotions, that it mandates emotional inexpressivity and that it entraps in emotional isolation that boys in short, don’t cry.20 A further observation claims, men try to control themselves and when feeling too pressured, they attempt to escape.21 It is the impact of emotional states evoked in negative emotions, fear and guilt, that men do not want to reveal, on the memory of veterans of EATS, and the subsequent imposition on the images produced that I examine in this chapter. Most veterans continued to present their testaments in the role expectation of emotionally controlled stoicism. Thus, the interpretations of the complexity of the emotions experienced both during air combat and in the way it was filtered and reformed according to role enactment in the following decades, places a dependence on extrapolation.
Fear
‘We always maintained that anybody who wasn’t afraid on operations was one of two things: a liar or a moron’, declared Harold Wright, Squadron Leader, DFC and
17 Peter Sterns, ‘Girls Boys and Emotion: Redefinitions and Historical Change,’ The Journal of American History, 80, 1 1993, 48. 18 Ibid. 47. 19 R.W. Connell, The Men and the Boys, St Leonards, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2000, 5. 20 Millette Shamir and Jennifer Travis ed. Boys Don’t Cry. Rethinking narratives of masculinity and emotion in the U.S. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001, 1. 21Michael Kimmel, Manhood in America: a cultural history. New York: Free Press 1996, 9.
191 a member of the Pathfinder Force.22 A sense of fear was alluded to in many interviews and it is recognized as the most dominant emotion in combat.23 The focus on fear and shell shock has been extensively explored in its effect on medical and military ideas of manliness in World War I.24 There is little evidence of literature surrounding the emotional experiences of the aviator in World War II. It is overshadowed by the image of the mythical knight of the sky. Yet the development of air combat brought different responses to fear, revealed in both medical, and military sources. Attitudes to fear and courage were intimately linked to the culture of the era of pre-war ideals of masculinity and have continued to be reinforced in cultural, military and medical contexts.25 While emotions were experienced, it was, as one airman admitted, culturally taboo to give them expression.26
Cultural Reaction
The post-war military, and political establishments who have clung to pre-war codes of masculinity, or at least elements of it have countered the call of several academics, for changes in the understanding of masculinity in war.27 One influential and early example continuing support for war as a way to prove masculinity was The Anatomy of Courage, published in the final year of the Second World War by Lord Charles Moran, Winston Churchill’s physician. Using traditional concepts of character and good education, Moran claimed war was the ‘supreme andfinal test if you will — of character.’ He insisted that cowardice was a failure of will and that the only manly course open to those experiencing ‘wind-up’ was to stick it out.28 To express fear became a direct attack on man’s concept of himself as possessing stereotyped
22 Interview with Harold Wright AWM S00582. The Pathfinders was considered the elite of the elite and the most dangerous of all occupations in war. 23 Joanna Bourke, ‘Fear and Anxiety: Writing about Emotion in Modern History,’ History Workshop Journal, 55, 2003, 114. 24 Joanna Bourke, Fear: A Cultural History, London: Virago 2005,199. 25 See Michael Roper, ‘Between Manliness and Masculinity: The War Generation and the Psychology of Fear in Britain 1914-1950,’ Journal of British Studies, 44, 2005, 343. 26 Interview with Jack Donald AWM, S00952. 27 Michael Roper, ‘Between Manliness and Masculinity.’ 344. Kirsty Muir, ‘Idiots, Imbeciles and Moral Defectives: Military and ‘Government Treatment of Mentally Ill Service Personnel and Veterans’ Journal of Australian Studies, 73, 2002, 41-47. 28 Lord Moran, The Anatomy of Courage, London: Constable, 1945.
192 masculine qualities.29 The dominant narrative surrounding courage and air warfare maintains the prevailing philosophy in Britain during the Second World War was that soldiers or airmen who broke in battle were innately weak or cowardly.30 Military authorities, especially those traditionalists who believed courage was a function of background and breeding, were especially inclined to accept the characterization. Men of strength and character were judged immune from emotional disorder.31
The cultural code surrounding the presentation of masculinity in war has been maintained in Australia. Michael Tyquin, writing of Australia’s experience in the Great War, explored the response of the Australian public to the expression of emotions in war.32 Literature, he claimed, has ignored the role of the individual in war, to fight in it and suffer from it in a very personal way, and the psychological casualties are largely overlooked.33 In manufacturing the Anzac Digger, Tyquin suggests Charles Bean had encapsulated the myth, considering those who succumbed to mental illness had no part of this world and subsequent generations of unquestioning Australians have been largely content with this view.34 The mentally scarred men could not therefore enjoy a sanctioned place in the young nation’s idealized archetype of bronzed hyper–masculine warrior.35 Embedded in our national history, the glory of war and national honour depends upon the stoic warrior myth of national identity. Driven by a desire to uphold the Anzac legend of stoic bravery during the conflict, the subject of fear in combat has become taboo. It is this image that carries into the twenty first century preventing veterans of EATS from expressing any emotional horror as society wanting to forget and move on has deliberately orchestrated the omission of emotional impact on the individual.
Recent historical research in Australia sees scant recognition of emotions. Conflict has been depersonalized and sanitized versions given. There is little concept
29 John McCarthy, ‘Aircrew and Lack of Moral Fibre in the Second World War,’ War and Society, 2, 1984, 87. 30 Mark Wells, Courage and Air Warfare, London: Frank Cass 1995, 74. 31 Michael Tyquin, Madness and the Military: Australia’s Experience in the Great War, Loftus, Australia: Australian Military History Publication, 2006. 32 Michael Tyquin, ix. 33 Ibid. 2. 34 Ibid. 35 Ibid.
193 of real horror of war and no concept of fear or guilt. Much of Australian writing about war concentrated on the nation’s participation with little attention to human dimensions. It is only within the last decades that historians have begun to examine the impact of the post war legacy on the veterans and their families. Such work examines the impact of war on the home front, of grief, commemoration and memory.36 This has recently extended to an interest in the emotions of men in combat and to Australian prisoners of Japan in World War II.37 Of the little written on Australian aircrew during this period there have been only muted suggestions of the impact on the individual sensibilities and experiences. My intention, in searching for explanations of the images created of EATS, is to place the memories of veterans within this cultural context
Institutional Understanding
The cultural attitudes to masculinity found reflection in the policies adopted by air force authorities. There was no precedent for the new dimension of the power and destruction of aerial warfare and little knowledge of the impact on the individual airman. The task of air force officials was to keep the planes in the air and towards this aim they instigated the policy known as Lack of Moral Fibre (LMF.) It is claimed, that senior air force commanders deliberately introduced the policy, to stigmatize men who refused to fly without medical reason.38 In 1940, Air-Vice Marshall Gossage, initiated the policy for disposal of members of the air crew stating there was ‘a residuum of cases where there was no physical disability, no justification for granting of rest from operational employment and in fact nothing wrong, except lack of moral fibre.39 It was based on the cultural concepts of masculinity also suggesting that moral fibre was almost a physical quality. It was also believed by RAF authorities that fear was contagious, so those suspected of LMF were quickly sent to assessment centres where they were shamed by loss of rank.40 The term was an administrative one and medical officers were not consulted in its design. Air Vice-Marshall Sir Arthur Harris opposed any suggestion that medical officers should decide. ‘For them to make a classification
36 See works by Stephen Garton, Joan Beaumont, Joy Damousi, Alistair Thomson. 37 See for example; Rosalind Hearder, Keep the Men Alive: Australian POW doctors in Japanese captivity, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2009. 38 John McCarthy, Allen English, and Mark Wells support this view. 39 Edgar Jones ‘LMF: The use of Psychiatric stigma in the Royal air Force during the Second World War,’ The Journal of Military History 70, 2, April 2006, 439. 40 Mark Wells, Courage and Air Warfare 192-3.
194 would offer an outlet and encourage the weaklings and waverers (who are otherwise sound) to express conditions which it is intended to guard against.’41 It was believed fear was within the man not in the circumstances. The term was deliberately designed so it would not attract any sympathy and it was also used to discourage air crew from expecting nervous symptoms and giving them an escape from the hazards of operational flying without loss of privilege or honour.42
At the outbreak of war the RAAF medical section was still under the direction of the Army Medical services and did not establish independence until April 1940 and then policies followed those of the RAF. In the operation of EATS uniformity of medical standards for all air crew was adopted throughout the British Commonwealth and RAF standards were wholly adopted by the RAAF.43 Research has concluded that in the policy of LMF the Australian Air Board also followed the RAF.44 Directions to the Australian Air Board were forwarded from Overseas Headquarters concerning the disposal of aircrew who had forfeited the confidence of their Commanding Officer.45
The willingness or necessity of the Australian Air Board authorities to follow British policy finds one explanation in Allan Walker’s history covering the medical aspects of World War II in Australia. Walker maintained the standard of psychiatry in Australia was much below that in British, Canadian, American or German forces, and was only slowly established in the Australian Services during the war owing to the paucity of trained staff.46 The reason for this he explained was in Australia there has been some mistrust of psychiatry because its basis was largely empirical, because its influence might dangerously affect manpower during the war, and because its work was still confused with archaic notions of the madhouse.47
41 Edgar Jones, 446. 42 Edgar Jones, 444. 43 Allan S. Walker Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Series 5 Medical, Vol. 4, Canberra: AWM 1961, 211. 44 See John McCarthy, ‘Aircrew and Lack of Moral Fibre in the Second World War,’ who also notes that it is still only possible to arrive at a tentative estimation, as details are cloudy possibly to avoid publicity. 96 45 National Archive of Australia A2217 1137/19/P1 46 Allan S. Walker, Australians in the War of 1939-1945, Series 5 (Medical), Vol. 4, Canberra: AWM 1957-1961, 211 47 Allan S Walker, Australians in the War of 1939-1945, Series 5 (Medical), Vol. 1, 674.
195 Medical Concepts
The origins of military psychiatry began in World War I with the recognition that in the trenches soldiers had suffered traumatic experiences resulting in the diagnosis known as ‘shell shock.’ The adoption of this label by the press, military doctors, soldiers themselves, politicians and the literary fraternity from 1915 onwards, demonstrated that it had finally been acknowledged that war could exercise a powerful effect on a soldier’s mind.48 Yet, during World War I, this concept remained firmly linked to the social constructs of masculinity suggesting breakdown in soldiers was linked with that of individual constitution and hereditary predisposition.49 Shell shock, it was argued in the Southborough Report of 1922, was a disorder that could be eliminated by screening, training, good leadership and esprit de corps.50 Thus medical beliefs remained linked to the concept of the manly ability to master fear.
By the time of Second World War, there was a greater degree of psychological sophistication amongst soldiers and the population in general as well as the psychiatrists who were treating them. Social expectations of psychological distress had changed admitting the notion of stress and fatigue and nervous breakdowns could take place in ordinary people without invoking the notion of major mental illness or insanity.51 The British Consultant Psychiatrist introduced the term ‘exhaustion’ or ‘campaign neurosis’, which had no implications of a mental disease and was more acceptable to line commanders. The social and medical acceptance of the term ‘breaking point’ now meant that stress could overwhelm any one; that it was normal behaviour and that acknowledging and accepting fear was part of combat.52
48 Ben Shepherd, ‘Pitiless psychology: the role of prevention in British military psychiatry in the Second World War,’ History of Psychiatry X, 1999, 493. 49 Chris Freudtner, ‘Minds the dead have ravished. Shell shock, history and the ecology of disease systems.’ History of Science xxxi 1993, 386 50 The notion that all soldiers, even those that were well led and highly trained, could break down in action, was not accepted by the military authorities until the Second World War. The Southborough Report (War Office Committee of Enquiry into ‘Shell-Shock’, 1922) concluded in 1922 that regular units with high morale were virtually immune from such disorders as shell-shock. 51 Hans Binneveld, From Shell Shock to Combat Stress: A Comparative History of Military Psychology. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 1997, 94. 52 James Martin, Linette Sparacino, Gregory Belenky ed. The Gulf War and Mental Health, London: Praeger 1996, xii.
196 While several Australian psychiatrists recognized the complexity of reactions to stress in combat others such as Dr Lyle Buchanan expressed the view that predisposition to mental unfitness was largely a matter of hereditary and family.53 Admitting ‘soldiers behaviour under war stress will be determined to a considerable extent by the personality pattern laid down in early life,’ A.J.M. Sinclair included that a ‘history of family neuropathy may be said to be significant only in the presence of other unfavourable factors, and unsuccessful school and work record were good indicators.’54 The treatment for combat stress invited debate among Australian psychiatrists one questioning the statement, ‘the prevailing sympathetic attitude to mental illness should be replaced by a sterner attitude; in other words it appeared some element of disgrace should attach to a discharge from the army on such grounds.’ This it was claimed would be ‘a retrograde step.’55 One enlightened and sympathetic voice was that of Reginald Ellery who recommended that for men in combat ‘the psychological needs are just as urgent more so, in fact, because they are less obvious.’56
Acceptance of psychiatric conditions in aerial combat took a different focus restricted by the views of the RAF officers who culturally defined courage by class and character.57 Early investigations during World War I concluded that flying stress was a new disease linked mainly to the lack of oxygen resulting in nervousness, insomnia, lack of confidence and disinclination to fly.58 It was concluded this was often linked to personal background.59 Research in the interwar years was based on the work of Frederick C Bartlett, a founding member of the Flying Personnel Research Committee, and one of Britain’s most eminent psychologists.60 His argument
53 Dr Lyle Buchanan in paper given by W.S. Dawson ‘War Neurosis’ Medical Journal of Australia October 1941, 398. 54 A.J.M.Sinclair, ‘Psychiatric casualties in an operational Zone in New Guinea,’ The Medical Journal of Australia, December 1943, 455. 55 See paper and discussion W.S.Dawson ‘War Neurosis The Medical Journal of Australia October 4 1941 398 56 Reginald Ellery, Psychiatric Aspects of Modern Warfare, Melbourne: Reed and Harris 1945, 33. 57 Mark Wells has examined this view in detail. Chapter 8. 58 C.P.Symonds, ‘The Human Response to Flying Stress’ British Medical Journal Dec.4 1943, 4326, 705. 59 Ibid. 60 Allan English, ‘A predisposition to cowardice: Aviation and the genesis of Lack of Moral Fibre.’ War and Society 13 1995, 19.
197 maintained certain ‘weaklings’ were unable to exercise personal will to resist breakdown. He returned to the Edwardian images of the need for men to fight vigorously against fear.61
It was such emphasis on breeding and experience in childhood and early adolescence that framed the attitude to fear encountered in aviation combat. There was little reliance on the new field of psychology. In 1939 the Air Ministry issued a note for medical officers dealing with fear. The ‘most basic instinct of self- preservation, often involving flight from danger, was governed by controls acquired during education and training and comprised a person’s character. Those with ‘strong characters were able to display patriotism, tenacity of purpose and self-sacrifice while those with weak characters were described as vacillating, undependable and ineffective. It was all due to their own inability to control fear. 62 It was added, in all of this, breeding was important. Another medical report issued in 1941 recognised an identifiable group of men who, by virtue of their genes and family background were unfit to be air crew and thus should be treated with no sympathy. One Australian medical officer serving in Bomber Command commented, ‘The question of background is really important …Breeding very definitely is of great importance. It is unlikely that the son of a coward would himself become a hero, for it is remarkable how heroism runs in families.’63 Towards the end of the war there was some movement to recognize the impact of external stress but the focus was based on the accepted culture of masculinity.
In Australia in 1943 it was recognized that in the field of military psychology ‘we know little,’ and concerning the Air Force there has ‘been scant opportunity for thorough and long continued studies in this new environment.’64 In his analysis of flying personnel, D.F. Buckle combined the belief of those more likely to break down
61 Ibid. 19. 62 Air Ministry Papers, 100. Air Ministry Pamphlet, 1939 cited in Allen D English, ‘A predisposition to Cowardice? Aviation Psychology and the Genesis of Lack of Moral Fibre,’ War and Society 13, 1995, 21. 63 Victor Tempest, Near The Sun: The Impressions of a Medical Officer of Bomber Command, Brighton: Crabtree Press, 1946, 49-50. Cited in Mark Wells 12. 64 D.F.Buckle, ‘The Prevention of Psychiatric Disorders in Flying Personnel’ The Medical Journal of Australia August 1943 124.
198 under conditions of stress, as ‘those who have an unusually protective family environment, intimately related to the Oedipus fixation,’ with the admission, ‘the psychiatric disorder that can be caused by long-continued flying, exacerbated by physiological exhaustion, fear, anxiety or strain, the morale of the group as well as the personality of the subject.’65 Thus he recognized the need for careful selection as well as the ‘need to encourage positive factors such as heightening of group spirit, with release of energy into group goals and the setting and encouragement of positive ideals which come under the headings of propaganda and fighting spirit.’66
Implementation of Policy and Success
The implementation of the policy was intended to inflict the ultimate public humiliation. One veteran recorded witnessing the event: ‘The whole squadron was formed into a square and this sergeant-pilot was brought in under guard, the verdict read, ‘Cowardice in the face of the enemy’, and his rank was ripped from him there, by the flight sergeant, and he was then literally drummed out. I thought it was an awful thing. I’ve got to admit that I’d have sooner got killed than gone through that.’67
It is difficult to find official records or mention of LMF in historians’ work, and Edgar Jones in his study suggests this is probably due to the controversy it aroused among aircrew.68 The National Archives of Australia has two files listed under LMF.69 They are titled ‘Disposal of aircrew. Lack of moral fibre cases.’ And ‘Disposal of aircrews who forfeit the confidence of their C.O.s’ Nineteen names are listed in the file. While records are difficult to find it is generally estimated those accused of LMF were few, thus attesting to the effectiveness of its deterrent role suggesting some men stayed in combat because they were afraid of what might happen to them if they did
65 D.F. Buckle 124. 66 D.F. Buckle 126. 67 Cited in Mark Wells 199. 68 Edgar Jones, ‘LMF: The Use of Psychiatric Stigma in the Royal Air Force.’ 455. 69 NAA. Series Number A2217 Control 1137/8/P1, 1137/19/P1.
199 not. One veteran recalled that the ignominy and humiliation of going LMF was so feared that some men continued to fly long after their nerves were in shreds.70
Exclusion of LMF from the Public Narrative
Mention of the term LMF evokes anxious silences.71 To expose the policy surrounding LMF threatens the cultural myths that surround national identity, war and masculinity. To admit publically to the fear encountered in war, is to expose the dramatic disparity between the reality of combat and the romantic myths of aerial war. It also reveals the pernicious nature of discipline in war that is covertly enforced to maintain the public image of courageous masculinity. The notion of masculinity was one of the social controls used to continue the militarization of society, sanctioning the actions of heroism.
The Vietnam War while questioning attitudes did not completely dispel the stigma surrounding expression of fear. Medical diagnosis of fear in aircrew during World War II had considered men constitutionally weak and the blame was ascribed to their personal response. By contrast, the diagnosis of PTSD carried the implication that the traumatic exposure was the primary cause of any symptoms of fear. However, it has been argued there was a continued marked reluctance on the part of Australian psychiatrists to admit that the experience of fighting could cause or even precipitate a psychiatric disorder, in order to resist any challenge to the legitimacy of war.72 Military psychiatry has faced resistance from traditional military morality determined by broader social ideas about courage, fulfilling one’s duty and a sense of self sacrifice.73 As Hans Binneveld has so clearly concluded, military psychiatry has come to question the deeply cherished traditional morality of the military. Heroism, a mentality of determinism and self-sacrifice, the foundations on which this morality
70 Mark Wells, 201. 71 This was a reaction observed on several occasions, in interviews and when talking with serving members of the RAAF. 72 Anne Marie Conde, ‘The Ordeal of Adjustment: Australian Psychiatric Casualties of the Second World War’ War and Society 15, 2, 1997, 64. 73 Hans Binneveld, From Shell shock to Combat Stress 103.
200 was built, have been relativised and reduced to human proportions. It is perfectly understandable this has evoked considerable resistance. 74
Fear in Narratives
‘Anyone who said they were not terrified would be lying,’ adamantly stated Boz Parsons in our interview.75 After years of reflection Boz Parsons had acknowledged fear.76 At 93, Parsons still had his pilot’s licence and flew regularly. He kept referring to books which he had collected and, as if anticipating a question, he voluntarily offered a pragmatic explanation of his role referring to emotion. By pre- empting the question he remained in control and he neutralized the impact on his narrative:
People often ask me what did you feel like dropping bombs on people and I said well if you were up there you wouldn’t have asked that question because you were more concerned with doing what you had been ordered to do and get the hell out of it as fast as you can because you were frightened. You are terrified, but you just keep going.
Dereck French, in assuming his public mask of stoic masculinity, as he recalled his experiences, did not want to admit to fear. It was when his wife began to enter the conversation that the impact of emotions was revealed. Unlike French, his wife was intent to expose the stress and fear which he suffered. With her entry into the interview, she explained the distress that French felt at the AWM when he saw the simulated bombing of Germany. She said she had never seen him so upset. In the interview he looked drawn and distraught at the memory of it and said only, ‘It was so real.’77 This led to a discussion of fear and in an interesting series of contradictory associations French remembered LMF. He began, ‘We knew nothing about it.’ Then as he reflected, ‘They just used to disappear. We didn’t talk about it.’ He changed to admitting, ‘I knew one man who was accused and that was terrible. He didn’t know
74 Ibid. 199. 75 Interview with Boz Parsons. 76 Interview with Boz Parsons. 77 Interview with Dereck French.
201 what to do.’ He finally disclosed, ‘I used to chew gum and sometimes my mouth was so dry I couldn’t.’ Jack Simmons was more direct with his answer. ‘Fear was something you kept to yourself. It would have been a sign of weakness, cowardice if you want. I can’t remember any of the blokes showing signs of outward fear that we must have been feeling.’78
Max Roberts began by referring to Hank Nelson’s book.79 Roberts related the case of the fellow who lost his nerve on takeoff claiming ‘he would have blown up the whole drome if he had taken off. There was no turning back,’ Roberts continued. ‘He was put in restraints which we had on the aircraft.’ Roberts introduced the term LMF, explaining it was seldom used, ‘but it was there, they had the capacity to do that.’ Then Roberts’ thoughts returned to what was required of the men and the constant presence of fear.
Some of the crews, you have to admire these blokes they would vomit every trip on takeoff and they would front up the next time and the next time and the next time. They would endure that and you have to pat them on the back for that.
Roberts brought two documentaries that he had recorded from television to the interview. He said he had saved them locked up so his wife never had to see them. Death by Moonlight was the Canadian documentary that had exposed the bombing of German civilians and Wings of the Storm, which commented on Australian involvement in EATS.80 The inability to include concepts of fear in individual narratives appears guided by the pressure of cultural expectations. As many men whom I interviewed read books or poems as a way of conveying emotions, Roberts referred to these two documentaries that conveyed the horror of war and the fear he had endured, without him having to speak of it. While the emotion of fear may surface, it more often remains hidden, increasingly eliminated from the individual image related to EATS. The inability to include concepts of fear in individual narratives, guided by the pressure of cultural expectations of masculine behavior in combat, becomes one element adding to the modification of the image of EATS.
78 Interview with Jack ‘Snow’ Simmons, AWM S00756. Air Gunner on Catalinas. 79 Interview with Max Roberts. 80 Both of these Documentaries were discussed in chapter 5.
202 Despite arguments that social values have been redefined, recognizing and accepting the role of emotions and stress in war, the strength of the culture of military ethos and the dominance of masculine heroism still exists in the minds of EATS veterans, contributing to reticence in discussing fear.81
Guilt
The influence of cultural values on the attainment of masculinity through war has been well documented. Yet involvement in war means killing and the violence in this act must overwhelm other prior cultural values that shooting at other human beings is irrational and barbaric.82 In civilian life, killing was forbidden and suddenly engaged in war, the recruit must find techniques of repressing the form of guilt and the accompanying strain.83 The apocalyptic scale of devastation released as a result of the bombing of civilians, in both Germany and Japan, is one of the most dominant of collective images of aerial warfare. It is surrounded by a debate of the morality, and the actions and those who flew fall within the shadow of the controversy. Following the call to ‘be a man’, aviators were, in post-war decades, subjected to the question of morality in their actions. The interest in the impact of aerial bombing has created a world division on the ethics associated with terror bombing as the world confronts the horror of the past. It has also been noted that the ‘high technology and moral ambiguity resulting from its use against civilian populations, has limited its potential for celebratory mythology.’84
It is the impact of the actions on the individual veteran of EATS that is examined here. Boz Parsons has already revealed the question of his response to bombing was frequently asked, and his reply was, ‘If you were there you would never
81 For a brief discussion of re-evaluation of social values see Ben Shepherd, A War of Nerves Soldiers and Psychiatrists in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001, 397. 82 George Fletcher, Glory and Guilt in the Age of Terrorism, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002,12. 83 Eric Leed discusses this point in ‘Fateful Memories: Industrialized War and Traumatic Neuroses’ Journal of Contemporary History 35, 1, 2000. 84 Joan Beaumont, ‘ANZAC day to VP day: arguments and interpretations,’ Journal of the Australian War Memorial, 40, 2007.
203 ask that question.’85 The emotional reaction of the individual must be placed within the cultural context, and in the post war debate veterans have become aware of the controversy in which unwittingly they played a central role. During the war it was fashionable to compliment aviators, but as soon as peace reigned, the association with bombing, became an unpleasant part of the war that politicians and historians felt convenient to forget. It has been frequently suggested that involvement in the death of civilians through bombing is a major reason why aerial war has not entered the mainstream of commemoration.86
Nicky Barr, a fighter pilot, articulated the problem faced by airmen as they confronted guilt.87 In his observations he was clear in the way airmen justified their actions:
A lot of pilots say they didn’t shoot down men they shot down aircraft. Air war was cleaner than hand-to-hand bayonet or machine gun. But how deeply do you think people believed that? How much of it was rationalization. Here again, I think it is difficult to generalize because people’s reaction, like their emotions differ so much that in my experience it was easy for a fighter pilot to almost con himself into a depersonalized war because it was remote from the reality of war. They don’t really think they have killed somebody. They haven’t got that feeling; they haven’t seen a man die.
Barr commented on the general training propaganda that established attitudes to the Italians, Germans and Japanese. He said he had learned he could depersonalize his feelings and the hatred which he felt was not for the individuals but what they stood for. To Barr the most difficult aspect of his war experiences had been the basic philosophical inconsistency between fighting for peace and hating individuals.88
Direct reference to guilt was never mentioned, yet in their reflections veterans constantly justified their actions, or as Barr observed, ‘rationalised’ actions. The training officer for volunteers at the Shrine of Remembrance, observed that all
85 Interview with Boz Parsons. 86 Hank Nelson, Chased by the Sun. 87 Interview with Nicky Barr, AWM S00939. 88 Ibid.
204 veterans including airmen, claimed World War II was a ‘good war.’89 The reflective memories of veterans decades after the war were constructed around a highly selective process of a ‘good war.’ The construction of memories is explained in the words, ‘We remake our past by remembering and forgetting but it is not simply events which we recall, for the past we recreate becomes a repository of our defences, emotions, desires and fantasies.’90 The argument in the testaments of veterans can be seen as a defence against their own emotions of guilt. Veterans, in their interviews, defended their actions as a global crusade against the evil and aggressive regimes threatening our free democratic way of life.91 Asked of the moral dilemma surrounding the death of civilians in aerial bombing, Arthur Doubleday replied, ‘Well it didn’t worry me. I was briefed on lots of targets where I knew civilians would be involved. The workmen were round the factories and it was the factories we were after… The whole future of civilization was at stake. So I had no qualms about it. I know a lot of people did, but I didn’t.’92 In many interviews the claim to be fighting for a cause became an established mantra. Guilt was the elephant in the room. Don Charlwood shuffled a pile of papers before he found a page which he had been working on using in part the writing of Chester Wilmot and asked if he could read.93
In the summer of 42, 400 million people in Europe hung under the yolk of German rule: The Empire of Adolf Hitler. This stretched from the Mediterranean to the Arctic from the English Channel to the Black Sea and almost to the Caspian. Singapore and the Far East had long since fallen and New Guinea had just been occupied. Some of us in our training in Canada had family members who were involved in the Pacific war, myself included. My twenty-year-old brother Ian was there with the militias, 39 battalion. Small wonder that when our training was over we would want to be close to home. Our feelings on reaching England were ambivalent. We had been stationed for some weeks in Bournemouth and tended to be exaggeratedly Australian as we marched around that beautiful town with trainees of the RAF and RCAF. We were given leave and gravitated to London and it was there that I an awakening it was not
89 Conversation, Steve Gome, Education Programmer, Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne 19th June 2008. The justification of the morality of war continues to evoke debate, most recently in Michael Burleigh, Moral Combat: A History of World War II, London: Harper Collins, 2010. 90 Joan Wallach-Scott ‘Introduction’ in Luisa Passerini, Autobiography of a Generation: Italy 1968. Middletown Conn. Wesleyan University Press xii. 91 See Carl Bridges, ‘Fighting the Good Fight: Australia and the Second World War,’ Quadrant, May, 1995, 17. 92 Interview with Arthur Doubleday AWM S00546. 93 Charlwood was still in the process of writing about his experiences. Chester Wilmot was an Australian war correspondent during the Second World War often stationed with air force crews.
205 so much that we could see the bomb devastation around us and the Londoners continuing around their daily work or even those bombed out sleeping in bunks on the underground platform It was the sight of different nationalities among the service men in the street Poles Norwegian, Free French, Czechs, Belgians. It struck home that these men had made perilous escapes by leaving behind family members who must now be hostages to Nazism. There were men too of British Regiments who had escaped from Dunkirk and many men of the Canadian army and also the first of the Americans. And there were uniformed young women, which we had never seen. It was a remarkable feeling of bonding between us. A feeling in the air that these people would eventually prevail, undoubtable, the spirit was heightened by Churchill’s speeches. For us it was humbling too to be thanked by civilians for what we were doing before we had done anything at all. Our excessive nationalism began to seem of small account.94
In choosing to read this, Charlwood distanced himself from immediate involvement in the destruction of aerial bombing. Central in his memory was the fight against ‘the evil force of Nazism,’ where he was united in a universal league of protecting civilians. He addressed the guilt he felt knowing he was far from defending Australia from another evil. This he justified by being united in a cause that made Australian excessive nationalism ‘seem of small account.’
Reflections and memories recorded their reasons for enlistment over sixty years ago as the fight against aggressive nations. To Peter Isaacson, ‘We were looking to defend Britain and the monarchy and everything that went with being a member of the British Commonwealth.’95 Another recalled, ‘I think any war is regretted, and I think everyone realises this but in my day and age we felt, as I still do now, that that war had to be fought whether you liked it or not because the consequences could have been quite drastic for everyone in Australia and everyone in the Commonwealth as it was in those days.’96 The influence of the changing cultural environment was also reflected in the use of the word ‘Commonwealth’.97 A further reflection explained:
94 Read in an interview with Don Charlwood. 95 Interview with Peter Isaacson. 96 Interview with Jack Doyle AWM S00923. 97 While a matter of terminology it is symbolically significant. The change from Empire to British Commonwealth became official in the 1942 Statute of Westminster Adoption Act, although the exact transfer remains vague. It is clear from these events, and recognition by the world community, that at some time between 1926 and the end of World War II Australia had achieved full independence as a sovereign state of the world. The British Government ceased to have any responsibility in relation to matters coming within the area of responsibility of the Federal Government and Parliament, Volume 1
206 People forget what a war was really about. The United Nations was established after the war and it established principles on which countries could achieve some form of happiness despite everything. And it’s all written down in a little book you can get from the United Nations and it involves freedom of speech, freedom of religion, an education, freedom to work, where you want to and the type of work you want to do, a fair trial and so on. There are various principles and we tend to forget that a lot of people have shed a lot of blood for many years to get that going and we’d better watch out we don’t lose it.98
Again in retrospect a justification was found, ‘you read history and since the war I’ve read a lot of it, and when you see what was actually happening, what Hitler was doing, we had no alternative.’99 Commenting on actions of bombing, David Leicester recalled, ‘Well, I had mixed feelings about that. I still do. I can recall walking around London and seeing the damage that was done there, with the blitz, and subsequently seeing what happened to Coventry. I don’t know; it shouldn’t be a feeling of “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”, but, well, that’s how you felt about it in wartime, that’s the way you were brought up, you were given a job to do and you obeyed the command’100 It was in picking up the prisoners of war and returning them to England that Reg Moore justified it was all worthwhile. ‘When you read of what Hitler was doing there was no alternative.’101
Frank Dimmick confronted the issue, suggesting he was very aware of the accusations made about the moral side of aerial warfare.102
You have to look at the war as a whole. They talk about the atomic bomb and are critical of that. If we hadn’t dropped the atomic bomb, Germany was researching it. If we hadn’t dropped it someone would have we would have lost tens of thousands of troops going into Japan. They would never have laid down they would have died and taken us with them. If there hadn’t been an atomic bomb someone would have done it somewhere. Again Dresden was another one. I had nothing to do with
of the Final Report of the Constitutional Commission 1998. The report was forwarded to the then Attorney General of the Commonwealth. Canada had made official use of the term British Commonwealth since 1931 and thus used the title British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, not Empire Air Training Scheme. 98 Interview with William Deane-Butcher AWM S00559. 99 Interview with Reg ‘Slim’ Moore Interview for Video Wings of the Storm AWM F03457. 100 Interview with David Leicster AWM S00524. 101 Interview with Reg ‘Slim’ Moore AWM S00987. 102 Interview with Frank Dimmick.
207 Dresden but Dresden was destroyed and the allies have been criticised terribly for that bombing. It was part of an out and out war. The country had to be beaten Butch Harris Oh, that’s my memory today! It worries me. Butch Harris, he made some terrible decisions, but he had to. He helped us win the war. 103
In the situation nearly seven decades later, Frank confronted the moral criticism. Also of interest is, in interviews, that guilt was never mentioned directly, nor did I ask about emotional responses to combat, but to each veteran it became central, as they reflected upon their actions to place their experiences in a context that would be culturally accepted reflecting the values and expectations of ‘now’. This process was re-enforced in the words of Siegfried Sassoon as he commented on the art of reminiscence when writing Sherston’s Progress vowing to ‘show myself as I am now in relation to what I was doing in the war.’104
In several accounts actions were justified as the result of moral indignation of what was portrayed to them as ‘absolute evil’ evoked by the actions of the ‘enemy’. An often recounted story was the atrocious fate of Bill Newton. He was shot down and beheaded by the Japanese in New Guinea. Details of his execution were recorded in a Japanese diary and reported in Australian newspapers in October 1943. Newton was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross and became a legendary figure of heroism among Australian airmen.105 Interviewees referred to the ‘Newton Affair’, and while not directly expressing abhorrence, it was implicit in an attitude to the ‘Japs’.106 As one veteran confessed, ‘I don’t think any Australian had any regrets for killing Japanese. I think our feelings were, after what they’d done in Malaya and Singapore to our fellows, and with the treachery of Pearl Harbour, the one particular thing that was in our mind was that… one of the Boston pilots of, I think, 20 Squadron, might be 22 Squadron, Flight Lieutenant Newton – Bill Newton – whose aircraft was hit by enemy on beaches north of Milne Bay, he crash-landed in the water and he was taken ashore and beheaded there. These atrocities gave us no regrets whatsoever in killing every
103 Air Marshall Sir Arthur Harris was the head of Bommber Command. His usual nickname was ‘Bomber Harris,’ but obviously some chose to call him ‘Butch,’ Harris possible short for Butcher. 104 Siegfried Sassoon, Sherston’s Progress, London: Faber and Faber 1936, 37 cited in Watson, J.S.K. Fighting Different Wars: Experience, Memory and the First World War in Britain Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, 231. 105 Alan Stephens, The Australian Air Force 165. 106 See Interview with Arthur Tucker AWMS00701.
208 one of the buggers we could see.’107 Such circumstances would influence the actions and emotional responses of fellow airmen. This was not hatred of a specific individual but group hatred of an impersonal enemy. The tumultuous storms of hatred that marked twentieth century conflict, while examined on the public level have received little attention as impacting on the individual.108 One veteran explained, ‘You’ve got to take in the fact of what hatred can do. To see Poland overrun was horrendous.’109 Bobby Gibbes admitted to hate. Interviewed by the AWM in 1990, he insisted on disclosing an insight into the image he formed of around his experiences as a fighter pilot, far from the glamour of the public image.
I think we started off at least I started off without any great feeling about it. I wanted to shoot down the airplanes. Later, I definitely wanted to kill them. I think I built up a hatred. I think, if you are going to be successful and be able to kill people, you have to learn to hate. I managed to get it out of my system fairly soon after the war, but I just wonder at myself now. How did I feel that way!110
Killing, by another was described as quite impersonal. Athol Wearne recalled ‘I think for the crew it was quite an impersonal thing. On the first occasion there were no feelings of regret rather jubilation. Good luck to us.’111
The dispersal of guilt was continued in another account and this reply also recognised the moral condemnation that is placed upon the airmen of World War II by today’s society. It was Wilfred Arthur who gave his response to the guilt attached to aerial bombing:
‘I am now and then very surprised and very shocked at some comments made by younger people and so on, that equate some of the things that happened in the war that I am referring to. There is big emphasis always on the Hiroshima stuff, which of course, had the Americans not done that then somebody should have been shot for not doing it. That is, the situation then was that there was only one consideration and that is: save the lives of other people and destroy the Japanese. You get now, in Darwin especially – perhaps not especially but I know about it more – candle burning for Hiroshima. And you get items in the paper now and
107 Interview with Colin Linderman, AWM S00548. 108 See Niall Ferguson, The War of the World London: Penguin Press, 2006. 109 Interview with Tom Russel AWM S00945. 110 Interview with Bobby Gibbes AWM S0938. 111 Interview with Athol Wearne, AWM S00755.
209 then that refer to the sort of strong moral position the Allies were in until the destruction of Dresden. Well, that’s the most terrible thing I’ve ever heard of, of course, the Dresden attack was of course done with the intention of demonstrating what would happen to Germany itself if they didn’t pull out. In other words, it was a perfectly clear, not! Nothing terrorist about it, nothing but a determination to avoid the mad loss of life there would have been with a determined army fighting. You demonstrate in one go – not to the army –but the nation to do something that’s understandable, horrifying and probably you get the same bloody thing happening.112
Guilt of survival emerged in the reflection of several veterans. Such internalized guilt at the response to the death of others added a further dimension to be filtered in memories.113 The response to the death of others in the squadron emerged in many accounts and, while the associated guilt may never be forgotten, the aviator found ways of dealing with it in public discourse. Working as a medical officer with aircrews, Stafford-Clarke noted the reaction to death of friends was ‘one of supreme realism, of matter of fact acceptance of what every one knew was perfectly well inevitable.’114 In diaries and letters, their regret was deep and sincere but not much displayed. It was in reflection in later years that internalized emotions were revealed.
Even the most complex, nuanced, and contextualized history of the air war presents the historian with the difficult challenge of evaluating the morality and legality of strategies employed in air combat. Debates continue to surround the issue in both European and Pacific theatres of war. Some have justified it as barbaric and efficient while others flatly condemn such civilian destruction.115 The debate was highlighted on the release of the Canadian documentary Death by Moonlight which revealed the destruction to German cities but also added another dimension that had previously been silenced. Several aircrew were asked to confront their ‘guilt’ as perpetrators of the destruction. There exists no exploration of the individual emotional life of Australian airman who were involved in such destruction, but their testaments suggest, as with the emotion of fear, that those involved had been victims, with the
112 Interview Wilfred Arthur, AWM S00731. 113 See Cathy Caruth, ‘Violence and Time: Traumatic Survivals’ Assemblage 20, April 1993, 25. 114 D.Stafford-Clarke, ‘Morale and Flying Experience: Results of a war time study’ Journal of Medical Science, Jan. 1949, 15. 115 An outline of the recent continuation of the debate is given by Mary Nolan, ‘Air Wars. Memory Wars.’ Central European History 38, 1, 2005, 7-40.
210 predominant feeling of powerlessness, as cultural and ethical questions are brought under public scrutiny.
Martin Francis has offered some insight into the omission of the negative emotions of fear and guilt, suggesting it was possible that ‘some historians believed that essentialist arguments about men’s innate capacity for violence rendered the study of male subjectivities during war time superfluous. Alternatively, acknowledging men’s participation in fighting and killing may have been embarrassing to those who had sought to use a gendered history of men to recover the more sensitive and reflective dimension to men’s lives.116 It is this particular group of men who enlisted as part of EATS who have been completely excluded and often silenced in the Australian narrative.
Silences
It becomes understandable in the cultural environment surrounding the review of aerial war, first, in maintaining the Edwardian ideals of masculinity and control of emotions, and second, in the public condemnation of aerial bombing that aviators would choose silence. The challenges to masculinity in the emotions experienced by the aviator appear deeply unfathomable and were not easily expressed, especially where there is no pleasure in recalling the images.117 Apart from those who were still not prepared to talk, the men whom I spoke with and those who wrote their autobiographies around EATS, there were discernible silences. Silence has been defined as a socially constructed space, with three impulses behind silences. Each finds application to the stories of the veterans of EATS.118 First, silence is part of the public understanding of war and violence and not speaking enables the individual to engage with the event in his own way and time. Second, it becomes a political or strategic silence by not referring to events associated with uncomfortable memories. Third, silence carries with it a privilege for those who have the right to speak.
116 Martin Francis, The Flyer, 3. 117 Paul Ricoeur, Memory, History and Forgetting 413. 118 Efrat Ben-Ze’ev, Ruth Ginio, Jay Winter, ed. Shadows of War: A Social History of Silence in the Twentieth Century Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
211 Two life journals were given to me to read with the understanding they were not for publication and had been written only for the information of the individual families. The authors of these memoirs had both trained in EATS and completed many operations over Germany and I expected their recorded stories would outline experiences and give indications of emotional responses to their combat record of decades ago. Training in Australia and the excitement of Canada and arrival in Britain was recorded and, then as if pages were missing, one wrote ‘I spent six months as a pilot with 466 Squadron. I was still two months off my 21st birthday when the war in Europe ended.’119 That was the short entry. A photograph of the crew of these two men holds a position of honor on the walls of a well-known Carlton wine bar, silent witness to their masculinities as chivalric aviators.120
According to many psychologists, silence stems from our need to avoid pain.121 As a form of denial, silence certainly helps us avoid pain. The fact that something is considered ‘too terrible for words’ indeed often makes it literally unspeakable. That explains the heavy silence that usually surrounds atrocities. As one might expect, what we ignore or avoid socially is often also ignored or avoided academically and conspiracies of silence are, therefore, still a somewhat under-theorized as well as understudied phenomenon.122 Such has become the case with EATS. Politically and culturally images of EATS have been excluded and perhaps the individual veteran has been obliged to adopt an informal code of silence governed by such cultural rules.
Max Roberts claimed that although he didn’t like being interviewed, and this was the first time he had even spoken about it, he would help me now. Max was uneasy during the interview and nervously drank water as we spoke complaining of his mouth being dry. He said his son
119 The texts were supplied by Terry Maher journalist and associate member of the Odd Bods. The two unpublished private memoirs were of Anthony Battanta, and Frank Doak both of 466 Squadron. 120 The photograph of a crew from 466 Squadron hangs above the bar in Jimmy Watsons, Carlton. 121 Evita Zeurbavel, The Elephant in the Room Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006, 5. 122 Ibid. 13, also see Herbert Fingarette, Self Deception London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969, 39-51 Alina Kwiatkowska, ‘Silence across Modalities,’ in Adam Jaworski ed. Silence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyer, 1997, 330. Dan Bar-On, The Indescribable and Undiscussable: Reconstructing Human Discourse after Trauma Budapest: Central European University Press, 1999, 165.
212 ‘didn’t even know I was in the war. I didn’t want him anywhere near the thing at all. Every time I was going to tell him, the opportunity was just not there. I just couldn’t do it. They are the facts of life. I didn’t want him involved.
I asked if it was because it was so horrific and Max replied:
No, the whole concept of it really. Lots of civilians got killed. Let’s face it, they were nowhere near the targets and when I stopped and thought about it years later, I thought of the whole futility of the whole blooming thing and when they started another rash of wars, Korea and Vietnam, I thought to myself, what is the purpose of this?
Despite years of silence after 1945, there is considerable evidence to suggest that, in their later years, many men did want to talk about their experiences in EATS.123 In interviews conducted by the Australian War Memorial in 1989-90 several of those admitted they would not have agreed to an interview ten years earlier.124 With the passing of time, it has also been recognised that it is possible to open up on past experiences and this is attested to in the number of memoirs published in the 1990s.125 While my own interviews were all through personal contacts several were still unwilling to talk. One veteran airman replied, ‘I am sorry dear, but some things are better left in the past.’126 It was a reply that made me very conscious of how difficult it may be for some men to recall experiences. Another replied, ‘I really don’t know if I would have anything of interest for you.’127 On another occasion, in an early interview with an old friend I mentioned historians’ criticism of EATS. He became so outraged that we decided to terminate the interview. 128
A biography of David Mattingley was written by his wife.129 Like Roberts, Mattingley revealed in an interview, he had not spoken of his experiences for over half a century, until his wife went through his old records. He taught for over forty years at Prince Alfred College and in the interview, Steve Gower, Director of the Australian
123 Keith Russi’s opinions were outlined in Chapter 4. 124 Interview with Ken Gray AWM S0539. 125 The SLV lists 112 published works between 1989-2005 under Australia Royal Australian Air Force Biography. The National Library of Australia has 148 catalogued. 126 Tony Martin contacted by telephone 20 July 2008. 127 M. Sands Meeting at RAAFA organization, 28 April, 2008. 128 Interview with Alan Hammer, 2 April, 2007. 129 Chrisobel Mattingley, Battle Order 204, Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen and Unwin, 2007.
213 War Memorial, who was a student of David’s said ‘I had no idea he was a decorated Bomber Command veteran.’130 The ABC interview concluded, ‘And sadly, in Australia, their story is not known.’131 The silences and what they conceal are bound up with individual identity. Frank Parsons admitted there are some things you would never speak of, and I add, especially when it combined with public criticism of their actions. The immediacy of their own emotional experience was compounded by public condemnation or silence. In recalling memories after seventy years the emotions of fear and guilt had made their impact causing a form of anguish that favored reticence. The social construction of masculinity in private and public spaces would not make it easy for a veteran to admit either his fear or his guilt.
Conclusion
The purpose of this chapter was to chart the reaction of the airmen to the challenges which they faced to their masculinity and the different perceptions that filtered through their minds, formed and reformed by the surrounding external influences, as decades later, they attempted to make sense of their experiences and establish an identity. Specific challenges to the masculinity of airmen came in several ways evoking intense emotional responses. The first of these was the concept of fear conceptualized in the air force as LMF, a term that is still, in the twenty first century, designed to evoke cultural condemnation. The second was the guilt that emerged immediately at the end of World War II, specifically associated with aerial bombing of civilians. While not all EATS veterans were involved with such devastation guilt followed through public association. To admit fear and guilt was in complete contradiction to the ideals of masculinity contained in courage and fulfilling one’s duty and a sense of self sacrifice, determined by the broader social, military and cultural environment. It has been noted that ‘we tend to cling hard to some of the most well entrenched truisms about masculinity: that it connotates total control of emotions, that it mandates emotional inexpressivity, that it entraps emotional isolation, that boys
130 Steve Gower interviewed in 7.30 Report ABC 2, 02 May 2007. 131 David Mattingley, 7.30 Report, ABC 2, 02 May 2007.
214 in short, don’t cry.132 R.W.Connell in recognizing the power of cultural script has promoted the term 'complicity' as the process by which men who do not fully match the tropes of hegemonic masculinity nevertheless collude with it in order to receive the dividend accorded to men by patriarchical systems of authority.133 Concepts that do not contribute to the central Australian myth of the stoic and heroic warrior have been sifted through a cultural filter as they enter the images created by the veterans of EATS. The cultural re-evaluation of the importance of these concepts, Empire, masculinity and glory of war, introduced new tensions in the post-war decades, that, although they infiltrated all sections of society, have specific relevance in emotional responses of the veterans of EATS surrounded by silences.
The public representation of courage was important to all veterans when they recalled their experiences as aviators and integral to their identity, and it was necessary that it be maintained. How masculinity was understood and represented and then reconstructed, combines masculinity, emotions and memory. How masculinity was refashioned with the cultural shifts of post war culture and post war mutations becomes a dialogue between reality and the imagination, between combat and culture.134 The veterans of EATS did not reject masculinity but reconfigured it and, as they did, concepts related to EATS were re-written indicating the power of the dominant public narrative and the control of private experience and its articulation. Many veterans returned to the image of the chivalric knight of the air and this provides the basis of the next chapter.
132 See for example, Milette Shamir, Jennifer Travis, ed. Boys Don’t Cry? Rethinking Narratives of Masculinity and Emotion in the U.S. Jo Goodey ‘Boys don’t cry: masculinities, fear of crime and fearlessness,’ British Journal of Criminology, 37.3 1997, 401. 133 R.W Connell, Masculinities, 79-80. 134 Martin Francis, The Flyer, 7.
215
CHAPTER 8
Reinventing The Image
How quickly has flight, this age old and precious dream, lost every charm, lost every meaning, lost its soul. Thus one after another of our dreams are realized to death. Can you have a new dream?1
These words, used by Robert Wohl in reviewing the impact of World War II, reflect the changing image of flight from a symbol of a new age, to one of morbid destruction. As the concepts of Empire and masculinity were challenged, so too, was the glamourised image of the knight of the air. As aviators, the Australian men of EATS, had known the thrill and the dread of a world in which ‘all that is solid melts into air.’ Shattered identities, committed to concepts held in the 1930s, now needed to be restructured so that veterans could make sense of their experiences and adjust to a constantly changing world. Solutions to the initial sense of isolation followed different paths, found in the responses of the aviators of EATS as they created their memories and identities, which interacted with the myth of the glory of the aviator. The values that had attracted men to aerial warfare had changed substantially both during the experience of combat and in the following decades, as their memories were filtered through surrounding cultural responses and their own internalized negotiations. The purpose of this chapter is twofold: the first is to chart the responses of the aviators to changes in images of aerial combat in their memories and which presented, I would argue, a complex dialogue between reality and imagination, culture and combat.2 The second purpose is to follow the actions of veterans responding to their disenfranchisement from the Australian commemorative tradition, as they searched for
1 Elias Canetti, Die Provinz des Menschen: Aufzeichnungen 1942—1972, Munich: Carl Hanser, 1973, 10. In Robert Wohl, The Spectacle of Flight Aviation and the Western Imagination, 277. 2 These terms were used by Martin Francis in The Flyer, 7.
217 a socially accepted narrative in which their identities could be composed and integrated into the national story.
Challenges to the romance of flight evoked responses in the Australian veteran, which are made complex by several cultural and emotional influences, forcing the image to assume different dimensions. The strength of the image of the power of flight continued to influence the cultural presentation of the aviator hero. While the gloss of the romance of flight had been tarnished, sections of the universal public narrative continued to mythologize the role of the aviator, depicting promises of adventure, freedom and escape and exhilaration of flight. The duality of the image, encapsulating the reality of destruction and the myth of the romance of flight, resulted in paradoxes and contradictions in the narratives of the aviators. The destructive power did not so often find expression to confront the glamour and exotic attraction. Even in the twenty first century the attraction of thunderous ‘fly overs’ is the centre of public demonstrations of national power.3 In exploring the response of veterans to the challenges of air adventures, many accepted the dominant public narrative, allowing it to influence the shape of the private experience and its articulation.
A further influence imposed on the post-war image of the Australian aviator in EATS, was its expanding antithesis to the Australian concept of egalitarianism. Diminished by the association with Empire, it was further compromised in the Australian context where the image of the elite airman did not fit comfortably with the stereotyped image of the Australian war hero, dominated by the egalitarian concept. It was Manning Clarke who asserted that ‘the aviators blotted their copy books in the minds of the people by flirting with political movements opposed to the people’s belief in equality. Airmen spoke and acted like followers of the Australian version of Vitalism and Nietzschism. Songs composed to celebrate their triumphs did not live on as did the songs about the heroes of the mighty bush.’4 This view remains a significant feature of the Anzac myth, thus marginalizing the airman. There were differences that distinguished airmen from the other services in the substantial level of professional
3 Fly ‘overs’ are a central feature of Anzac Day and an added attraction to events such as Australian Grand Prix held in Melbourne. 4 Manning Clarke, ‘Heroes,’ Daedalus, 114, 1, 1985, 67.
218 training, requiring both higher education and physical coordination such as muscle control and night flying vision.5 Yet the strength of the image was constructed through the myth of Air Force elitism had been promoted in popular culture depicting the aviator as an individual and a special kind of hero.6 The belief that they were going into the elite force was a theme that appeared in interviews.7 Bob Pit recalled; ‘After we graduated we started getting around the town wearing our wings. We did consider ourselves above the ordinary.’8 While the image of exclusivity and glamour of the air force continued it was not always so in reality, but it would provide the basis for future myths that would not necessarily fit with the Australian national image.9
Further complicating the stories of the veterans were the challenges faced by them in negotiating and reconciling the subjective and emotional conflict between the initial attraction of ‘the chance to fly,’ fueled by the public passion for flight, conflicting with his internalised emotional encounters, and the potential destructiveness of aerial warfare witnessed. Those who gave public voice to the disillusionment found in aerial warfare, which replaced their initial enthusiasm for flight were few, and their disturbing accounts provide the initial focus to explore the images formed around EATS. The brutality of aerial war and the form of devastation possible through its use and the emphasis on the singularity of the highly skilled airman continued to provide stories that did not sit comfortably within the Australian identity that celebrated the egalitarian foot soldier and the shared experience of ‘going over the top’.
Sources examined in this chapter are based on memories of the airmen in both oral testaments and autobiographies recorded when they were in their eighties and nineties, and they have been used, not as records of the facts, but as providing insights into the way memories have been shaped as a highly selective experience organized to contextualise a sense of oneself. Significant in the stories of airmen is their exclusion
5 Alan Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force. 68. A minimum IQ of 110 was required to enlist. 6 Michael Paris, ‘The Rise of the Air Man: The Origins of Air Force Elitism 1890-1940,’ Michael Molkentin, ‘Unconscious of any distinctions? Social and Vocational quality in the Australian Flying Corps 1914-1918,’ Journal of the Australian War Memorial 40 2005. 7 Allen Hulls letter and telephone conversation. 8 Bob Pitt Interview, AWM S00581. 9Martin Francis in The Flyer has explored the myth of elitism attached to the RAF.
219 of what is not socially acceptable in creating a legitimate voice. Their testaments also reveal how cultural and psychic themes interact with memory. While the majority of accounts which some men were willing to reveal, were dominated by a return to the romance of flying and the traditional celebration of an adventure culture; several voices fought outside the socially sanctioned narrative, and it is here I will begin.
Responses challenging the glory of aerial war
Almighty and all present Power,
Short is the prayer I make to thee.
I do not ask in battle hour,
For any shield to cover me.
The vast unalterable way
From which the stars do not depart
May not be turned aside to slay
The bullet flying to my heart.
I ask no help to shake my foe
I see no petty victory here,
The enemy I hate, I know
To thee is also dear
But this I pray – be at my side
When death is drawing through the sky
Almighty God, who also died
Teach me the way that I should die.
‘Does that show the glory of war to you?’ Don Charlwood asked. His reading of the poem began our interview; it seemed his intent was to express his perception of the individual experience of the airmen, representing the terror of war in his
220 narrative.10 By initiating the interview in this way Charlwood established ownership. The poem was typed on a small piece of aging paper, written by a fellow crewman of Charlwood’s in 1942, and saved for over sixty years.11 The poem reflected Charlwood’s experience, yet avoided the direct expression of his own emotions. The interview was interestingly crafted as Charlwood sat surrounded by books and pages to which he constantly referred. The narrative which he constructed was a coherent and reflective description of the emotional experience of aerial war. The content of Charlwood’s story and the way it was related provide insight into the complexity of images formed around individual memories, especially when the focus is on the disturbing experience of aerial warfare. This same technique of reading or referring to texts was used by several of the airmen whom I interviewed, enabling them to indirectly reveal their subjective responses as they countered or reiterated the myth of war. It is a technique that enables men to remain in control, especially in the highly charged response to the emotions evoked by war. It becomes a form of self-censorship offering access to selective perspectives, although perhaps never exposing full insight.
I first encountered Charlwood through his diaries in the State Library of Victoria.12 I spent several days absorbed in his experiences as he trained and flew as a navigator under EATS, and in his love affair with Canadian, Nell. Now, in his nineties Charlwood is still determined to depict the reality that confronted the young airmen. His humility and honesty as we spoke could quite justify a claim that he had written the ‘Airman’s Prayer.’ He gently stripped away the romantic recollections that dominate the memoirs of many airmen as he presented stories that reinforced my naivety in this investigation. Only the man who was there knows. Don was explaining to me the unexplainable that I had pretensions to understand.
His technique was skilful in that he read to me several pieces he was currently writing which he claimed, wryly referring to his age, would never be published in his life time. Unobtrusively, his stories evoked the images of chivalry and heroism,
10 Interview with Don Charlwood. 11 Sgt. H.R. Brodie, RAAF Melbourne. A poem kept in the papers of Don Charlwood. 12 Don Charlwood, Private Papers State Library of Victoria Box 3804/2-7.
221 qualities that underpinned the stories and characters of aviators, yet still emphasized the horror of aerial war. Charlwood began to read from his latest book.
We still saw no crew reach the age of 30. Our flights were the hellish target. We were bringing, terror, destruction by night on combatants and non-combatants alike. Sometimes it chanced weather conditions joined our onslaught and a fire-storm was created. Only on Ruhrtide had we much chance of accuracy. For ourselves, violent death was a probability. Nazism had paved the way for Gotterdammerung beyond Wagner’s imagining.
Again Charlwood countered the collective image of ‘the glory of aerial war.’13 Charlwood was aware of the impact of his depiction of aerial war, and claimed he had been told by younger relatives of airmen it was only in reading his work that they understood what it had really been like. Charlwood was not alone in wanting to explode the image of flight as empowering to the aviator. A report of 451 Squadron described air combat like a Dante’s ‘Inferno’. ‘Courageous males were killed outright, others were maimed with fearful injuries. After each raid, burials, courage, sacrifice and tears. The very soul of 451 Squadron was being revealed. There were no trumpets blowing just a great reverent silence then back to our job.’14 Ian Morgan, who trained in EATS, served with the RAF for four and a half years. His memoirs become a reflection on the perpetuation of the violence of the century and man’s inhumanity to man.15 He admitted to the events and experiences of those days as ‘deeply ingrained upon the memories of the few survivors who participated in them. In the exercise of memory, sorrow for the loss of so many of those with whom one trained, flew, got to know personally, is not diminished with the passing of time.’16
13 Read from Don Charlwood’s private papers. 14 Leonard Barton, Bankstown to Berlin with 451, Sydney: Committee of 451 Squadron Association 1996,1. 15 Ian Morgan, Into the Valley of Death: an autobiographical account of the experiences of the writer as a pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, with an analysis and solution to the problems of our time. Launceston, Tas.: Sprinta Print, 1996. 16 Ibid. 2.
222 Bobby Gibbes, awarded both the DFC and DSO, was another intent on challenging the public script.17 He recollected, in his autobiography, his response after a particularly horrific dog fight.
My morale was at bedrock and I thought that I would not be able to take it any more, and I spent the whole morning mooching around in a state of funk and dreaded being asked to fly again. I was ashamed of my fear and frightened that my friends might see it. I kept to myself as much as possible, but occasionally I would go to the operations tent, pretending that I wanted to have another go at the Huns, but frightened that if I was given a job I would not be able to force myself into getting into my aeroplane.18
While also addressing the strength of fear experienced by the airman, examined in the last chapter, and in making a public statement, Gibbes does not attempt to present himself as the fearless masculine hero, or to follow a tradition in adding to the mythology of the Australian air ace. He confronted the horror found in aerial war.
The admission of experiencing disturbing emotions of hate and rage as he ‘came across an Arab mounted on a camel. I lined my gun sight on him and when about to pull the trigger, my sanity returned. If I had fired, it would have lived with me always. I will never understand what devil entered into me on that occasion.’19 Such admissions reveal the brutality of war providing a contrast to the positive affirmation of war so often encountered in memories of war that locate national inspiration. Gibbes’ last published comments on war were taken from his personal records pasted on 3 Squadron web site titled, There is no glory in warfare.20 This is an unrelenting depiction of the horror experienced by the fighter pilot revealing ‘what it is to live for days, weeks, months, and even years with violent death gnawing at your very guts…a mass of spitting, twisting, deadly death. You have seen your comrades die in ones and twos, watched them plummet earth ward, balls of molten fire and mangled bodies.’21
17 Commanding Officer of No. 3 squadron in the Middle East later transferred to England, then served in the Pacific theatre flying from Moratai. 18 Bobby Gibbes, You Live But Once: an autobiography, Collaroy, NSW: R. H. Gibbes, 1994. 19 A further interview with Gibbes was recorded in 1993 by the AWM S01646. 20 www.3squadron.org.au/indexpages [29 June 2008]. 21 Ibid.
223 While certain veterans of EATS have expressed private emotions ‘with the authority of direct experience,’ the emotional dread, and the helplessness, and the brutality of aerial war, such stories have not readily been accepted into the national narrative.’22 Robin Gerster has detailed the Australian dependence on the war myth and how such ‘bondage to an obsolete image is now applied to different military conflicts.23 Graeme Dawson has also acknowledged that adventure narratives of war veterans are composed as being ideally powerful and free from contradictions, to function physically and socially as positive images to set against the fragmenting and undermining effects of anxiety. To identify with heroes meets ‘the wish to fix one’s own place within the social world to feel oneself coherent and powerful rather than fragmented and contradictory.’24 It is the reshaping of the identities around heroic images that this chapter now turns to examine.
Compliance with the Myth of the Glory of the Aviator
An alternative voice emerged in other individual memories of Australian veterans. Rather than challenge the myth, the narratives related by some veterans were intent to maintain the image of the chivalrous aviator, complying with current cultural identity. It was in such narratives that a disquieting sense of alienation fell as a shadow, as aviators searched for a script that would establish identities and give meaning to their war time experiences.25 The inability to articulate the emotions linked to the devastation of their aerial war, and their own emotional responses to the destruction of the concept of the knight of the air has been reinforced by the Australian reluctance to admit emotions into the cultural scene.26 Attempts to overcome the ambivalence between reality and imagination, and the sense of alienation from public
22 Joan Beaumont has mentioned aerial bombing as difficult to include in war commemoration in ‘Anzac Day to VP day Arguments and interpretations,’ Journal of the Australian War Memorial 40 Feb. 2007. Joan Scott, ‘Evidence as Experience,’ in Women , Autobiography, Theory, ed. S Smith and J Watson, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin, 1998. 23 Robin Gerster, Big Noting; the Heroic Theme in Australian War Writing, 256. 24 Graham Dawson, Soldier Heroes: British Adventure, Empire and the Imaginings of Masculinity, 283. 25 Shadow could relate to Freud’s concept of melancholia as the loss and inability to relinquish an object, place or ideal. They have an ambivalent attachment to a devalued object and have become a marginalized group. See David Eng ‘ Melancholia in the late Twentieth Century,’ Signs, 25, 4, 2000 1275. 26 Graham Little, The Public Emotions: from mourning to hope, 4.
224 commemoration, involved incorporating several themes into the stories of veterans. The first theme of these narratives reflected the dominant myth, the idealised masculine warrior, referred to by Gerster in the Australian context as ‘Big Noting’.27 The universal appeal of aerial war, while undermined by World War II experiences still provides the basis for modern heroic myths that frequently appear in war memoirs.’28 Constructed around the thrill of war providing positive affirmation of experience of aerial combat, these alternative accounts provided a sharp contrast to the memories of men such as Gibbes and Charlwood. Airmen had been presented in popular culture not only as the heroes of modern warfare, but as ‘the ultimate technical warriors. Their image was of the elite, the guardians of empire and international order.29
This, combined with a second theme observed by Jay Winter, ‘in the aftermath of war, there is a tendency for those who create representations of the conflict to wear the mantle of consolation. Tolerable or sanitized images of combat and violence against civilians are seductive and politically useful, since they present the observer with elements of hope. They make war thinkable, even in the midst of terrible carnage.’30 It is also what the uncritical social audience wants to hear. A story of national heroes is easier to accept than the reality of the horror of war. On this point Gerster observed the tendency of Australians, in writing or telling of war stories to serve the interests of the community.31 He argued, Australian stories of war were propagandist in promoting nationalistic sentiment and ideals. The national interests were not compatible with retelling stories of serving the Empire or the horrors of war, but were willing to encompass Australian heroes.
A third complexity for the Australian airman in retelling his story was how to centre it in the Australian context. A subtle shift had occurred. No longer encouraged to identify with Empire, masculinity in war became linked to the Australian national
27 See Robin Gerster, Big Noting; the Heroic Theme in Australian War Writing. 28 Jay Winter, Remembering War: Between Memory and History in the Twentieth Century, Michigan: Sheridan Books 2006, 116. 29 Michael Paris, ‘The Rise of Airmen: The origins of Air Force Elitism 1890-1918,’ Journal of Contemporary History, 28, 1, 1993, 158 30 Jay Winter, Remembering War: Between Memory and History in the Twentieth Century, 238. 31 Robin Gerster, Big Noting; the Heroic Theme in Australian War Writing, 21.
225 image, in a patriotic interplay between nationalism and masculinity. Thus, in representing themselves, the problem for the EATS veterans was to reconcile themselves with the myth of Australian nationalism epitomized by the Anzac hero, the infantry man, unsupported, without training, surviving only because of his innate combat prowess. Scholars have recognized that the national mythology of Anzac has influenced, and is continuing to influence, the proper assessment of military history. Inspiring narratives all contain symbolic meanings of some sort, often serving social and /or political purposes.32 Anzac represented a distinct set of values both imagined and real. It has grown into an inescapable social force increasingly tied to the national identity. The following selections are not complete narratives but snapshot images which illustrate individual memories of aerial combat. Unable to find expression through national narratives, it often became possible for veteran aviators to create national fantasies for themselves.
The desire to represent the experience of flying as one of transcendence and release was a popular theme used by those who maintained that the myth of flight was a symbol of human progress. The pleasure of aerial war represents the alternative image to the horror of war perpetuating the pleasure culture of war, which does not just belong to Australians. It was well illustrated in the scrapbook of Keith Dunstan as he recorded the daily progress of the aerial action of World War II.33 In joining EATS, Dunstan achieved the goal of his young life. Fourteen, when the war broke out, Dunstan assembled his own version of the pleasure culture of war. Reflecting in his autobiography, Dunstan admitted to an obsession with flight and a dread that the war might finish before he could join in. In his fascination with the power of air warfare, he joined with many others young boys mesmerised by the concept of flight. In his scrapbook Dunstan recorded the progress of the Battle of Britain and the loss of planes like cricket scores. His collection of newspaper cuttings centred on air combat and he underlined headings such as, Brilliant Work by RAF, Flying Fortress, Now on Way to Britain, RAAF Smashes Jap Air Attacks.
32 Craig Stockings, ‘The Anzac Legend and the Battle of Bardia,’ War In History,17, 2010, 86. 33 Keith Dunstan, Papers State Library of Victoria, MS 10469 This scrapbook was also referred to in his autobiography.
226 Dunstan recorded that his early training gave him ‘ecstasy beyond belief.’ He wrote ‘IM FREE! I’M FREE! I’M GOING SOLO.’34 Another high spirited account began:
One day when I was flying at 600 metres. I spotted the crack Victorian streamlined train, the Spirit of Progress. ‘This is Cobber Kane, DFC, swinging to the attack!’ I peeled off in the best Spitfire manner, went into a shallow dive on the Spirit’s tail and dived and dived and dived. The spirit was moving at over 110 kilometres per hour. There was a headwind of at least 50 kilometres per hour. Slowly the train pulled away, the easy victor. My DH82 never had a chance. It was another of my little flying humiliations.35
His pride in becoming a pilot was expressed as he recounted, ‘My wings had to be sewn on my tunics and on all the summer rig shirts. What a pity they could not also be worn on pajamas. For a week there was a tendency to walk with the left breast slightly in front of the right.’36
The account of Gus Officer is one of many autobiographies infused with thrill of flying and adventure romanticizing the heroic spirit. Shot down and captured by the Germans, he spent four years in a Stalag. Details of the technical prowess of aeroplanes featured and to Officer, ‘the Kittyhawk certainly packed more punch than the Hurricane. It could accelerate more quickly in a dive and after a pullout and climb it held its speed for a much longer time.’37 The account of being shot down is scripted carefully on past narratives empowering Officer with stoic masculinity.
Christ! Don’t panic. Stay calm or it’ll be the end of you. Wriggle, wriggle, wriggle. Suddenly I’m thrown clear, but have enough sense to count to five or maybe four. At any rate the ‘chute opened and there I was in a clear blue sky – and as silent as silent – no sound at all. But then a loud bang! A great gout of flame and black smoke as FR218 buried herself in the desert. I had probably got free of my aircraft with a mere five seconds of life left– very bloody lucky.
34 Keith Dunstan, No Brains at All: An Autobiography, Ringwood: Viking, 1990, 42. 35 Ibid. 87, It must be recorded, much to his regret, the war ended before Dunstan saw combat. 36 Ibid. 37 George John Officer, Six O’Clock Diamond: The Story of a Desert Harrasser, Northcote, Vic.: Woodhouse Press. 2008. What is interesting is the autobiography was published by his sons after his death, placing a further dimension on the construction of images and memories.
227 Talking of blood, as I floated down I noticed I was dripping a fair bit from both thigh and elbow, and a pair of very sore eyes caused by the white smoke or fumes. Engine coolant the cause, so the bastard must have bracketed my kite nicely. Rather an expert shot I’ve always thought.38
The whole incident must have been physically and emotionally horrific and yet it is described in ‘the stiff upper lip’ tone of the strong heroic male involved in the pleasure of aerial combat. The last comment pays a compliment to his opponent as would be done in a cricket match, emphasizing war as an extension of a sporting code.
It is not difficult to join the dots between sport, masculinity and war, and sport and war have long been synonymous with Australia’s national identity.39 Both activities, it is claimed determine how Australians see themselves.40 In Australian culture sporting interests and prowess have become understood as creating an equalizer. Sport has the ability to link aspects of Australian life that are otherwise irreconcilable.41 Crucial to this effect was the fact that sport gained a reputation as an egalitarian and apolitical agency, which alone transcended the normal sectional divisions of the colonial social order.42 The activity of flight had been considered as an extension of sporting prowess in the interwar years.43 Although given an elite image a way to re-establish an egalitarian base, the airman resorted in his memories to reinforce the Australian sporting image.44 In interviews encounters with Australian sportsmen often became a centre point of the story and by association, the veteran in his memories, suggested sharing some of the sporting qualities. Even Don Bradman enlisted in EATS on 28 June 1940 I was told by several.45 His progress remains the subject of various folk narratives.
38 George John Officer, 45. 39 Dale Blair, ‘Beyond the Metaphor: football and war 1914-1918,’ Journal of the Australian War Memorial, 28, 1996. www.awm.gov.au/journal/j28 [10June 2010]. 40 Preface to AWM Travelling Exhibition Sport and War S.L.V. June 2008. 41 Simon Caterson, ‘War in the time of football.’ Quadrant, June 2004, 20-27. 42 Brian Stoddart, ‘Sport, Cultural Imperialism and Colonial Response in the British Empire,’ Comparative Studies in Society and History, 30, 4, 1988. 43 See Rober Wohl The Spectacle of Flight Aviation and the Western Imagination 1920-1950, Melbourne: University of Melbourne Press, 2005. 44 Michael Paris, Warrior Nation: Images of war in British Popular Culture 1850-2000, London: Reaction, 2000, 45. 45 Alf Batchelder provided insight in conversation and his two publications: Only Yesterday: Don Bradman at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Printing 2007. From
228 In cultural tradition, war had been characterised as the supreme test of physical fitness and wearing the image as the elite warrior, the airman, resorted in his memories to reinforcing this image.46 Many had stories about Keith Miller, ‘the cricketer’ they assured me, most about some larrikin prank of answering back to British officers.47 Another organised the games, ‘a football match, air force against army blokes, and I played against Lindsey Hasset. He had been sent over to England. One of the most famous cricketers, he captained test cricket. Ian Johnson was another one he taught me to fly in Bennalla. Nugget Millar was another. He was a funny one.’48In one conversation it was confided that the memories formed around Keith Miller were all legendary and cast doubt on the validity of his claim ‘you don’t know what pressure is till you have a Messerschmitt up your arse.’ It was revealed that Miller only flew ten hours and mostly in England but the Australian public would not allow the legend around the Australian sporting hero, Miller, to be destroyed.49 The association of sporting heroes and the air aces combined the physical prowess with technical skill providing the basis for a future heroic Australian narrative.
An extensive legend has been built around Bluey Truscott, acknowledged as both Melbourne footballer and a DFC winner, and a true ‘aussie’ larrikin.50 His presence boosted the morale of 76 Squadron when he joined them making it a ‘pretty happy time’ recalled Colin Lindeman.51 The Melbourne Football club celebrates Truscott today, illustrating his qualities first as a footballer then as an air hero. ‘This was the boy who put a wreath on the steps of the Collingwood Town Hall to celebrate a Melbourne premiership win over the old foe. This was the boy who could clear a change room by making sure the water in the showers was set to freezing, who scared with his erratic driving, and who rolled watermelons down footpaths.’ As an air hero, his links to the Club also remained undoubted and lasting, as he wore ‘a “Red Demon”
Bradman to Cordner. The Melbourne Cricket Club and its ground 1939-1946, 2004. Copy provided by Alf Batchelder, also an Official Guide RAAF Museum Point Cook 26 June 2008. 46 Michael Paris, Warrior Nation: Images of war in British Popular Culture 1850-2000, 45. 47 Interview with Trevor Craddock. 48 Interview Colin Linderman AWM S0548. 49 Conversation with Alf Batchelder. 50 Images of Truscott are well represented within the MCC sporting museum and honour boards and on the Melbourne Football Club web site. 51 Interview with Colin Linderman AWM S00548
229 as his mascot.’ He excelled in both football and cricket, and playing alongside future Test cricketer and St Kilda footballer, Keith Miller. He played his final match while on leave in 1942, having been in the country for only two days at that stage. He wore the No. 1 guernsey, and was named captain for the day. The match at Punt Road Oval, the shelter during wartime MCG exile, was an emphatic loss for Melbourne on the scoreboard, but it was a victory in so many other ways. Around 20,000 attended the match, guaranteeing record gate takings in wartime conditions, and all were given the chance to pay tribute to Truscott.52
Recalling anecdotes of sporting heroes in accounts has characterized many Australian war memories. Simon Caterson has written several articles that are enlightening in examining the accounts of EATS veterans, revealing sport is a chief agent of Australian conformity.53 He has noted the link between football and war runs very deep in Australian culture and this has been attested to in the link to the Anzac legend. He pithily observed, the folklore of football overlaps with the boys from the bush who went to war.54 The AFL itself institutionalized this dubious connection by introducing the Anzac Day football match. Seen as a symbol of hegemonic masculinity like war heroes, great football players usually experience extensive and serious injury, suffering pain that the exceptional player carries throughout the game, demonstrating the essential quality of physical courage making him a hero. War, it seems, must be understood and discussed with reference to football.
Turning to cricket, Caterson concludes sport has played a pivotal role in the creation of a national identity. Cricket enabled Australia to assert its independence on its own soil, even as it confirmed its sense of British-ness, and still does.55 The Ashes Test series continues to be the perpetual, low-level, seemingly endless war of independence minus the shooting. Cricket was the therapy by which Australia overcame its early inferiority complexes and, like other forms of self-therapy, the course of treatment has no definite end. Caterson also noted that the recent appearance
52 Lynda Caroll, Melbourne Football Club site www.melbournefc.com.au/tabid/7415/ [31July 2010]. 53Simon Caterson, ‘War in the time of football.’ 25. 54 Ibid. 55 Simon Caterson, ‘Towards a cricket history of Australia,’ Quadrant, Nov. 2001, 26.
230 at Gallipoli of the Australian team wearing slouch hats in some bizarre re-enactment of the landing suggests the confusion as to the distinction between sport and war that led to the expense of lives in the first place.56 It appears that in using constant reference to sporting heroes, the EATS veterans attempted to place themselves firmly within the Australian context from which they had otherwise been excluded.
It is the larrikin images associated with Truscott that are found in current obituaries reflecting the attempt to mould the image of the airman to Australian values. It was written of Clive Caldwell, ‘with all the aggressive spirit, dash and skill of the traditional fighter ace, plus a brash and cocky confidence which made him the very spirit of Oz.’57 Of Bobby Gibbes it was said he was a true Australian larrikin.58 Like many veterans, airmen retold stories highlighting the larrikin element associated with the Australian Digger, which took on a new dimension in the air force. Typical of such stories was one included in a collection of memoirs from 451 Squadron. Veterans of this Squadron were asked to submit a recollection of their time in combat. One recalled,
George O’Neill was told to take a Hurricane fitted with a new 90 gallon belly tank, fly to Cyprus, get the belly tank filled with Keo Veo Brandy and fly back. George had been given a considerable amount of cash to purchase the grog, and when five or six days had passed with no sign of George, we began to become anxious – not for George but for the grog. At any rate George O’Neill finally arrived back at Daba with only half the belly tank filled, and a hang-dog expression on his face. After blasting him for his long absence I asked why he had only brought back 45 gallons of brandy, and his explanation was – When I landed at Nicosia (Cyprus) I contacted the bootlegger and asked him to fill the tank. He said he would only do so when I paid him. As I wanted to spend a bit of time with a friend in Nicosia I prevailed on him to half fill the tank, and when I was ready to fly out he could fill it right up, and I would pay him for the 90 gallons then. Unfortunately I was a bit longer in the town, and when eventually I wanted to fly back I’d run out of my money and also the Mess money, so I virtually had to streak onto the strip and takeoff without the bootlegger knowing. Sorry Steve, and I’ll reimburse the Mess!! what he was doing in the 10 days on Cyprus – I knew!59
56 Ibid. 57 Peter Wykeham, The Independent, Thursday 1 September, 1994. 58 Sydney Morning Herald, 13 April, 2007. 59 Leonard Barton, Bankstown to Berlin with 451 (RAAF) Squadron, 1941-1946. Sydney: Committee of 451 (RAAF) Squadron Association, 1996, 61.
231 The point is not in the story but why this was chosen as the memory. The image is one of the larrikin escapades of grog and suggestions of women, supplying fuel for the masculine ego and it portrays the fun of war and male bonding. As Winter suggested, perhaps the story provided a mask for hiding the horrors of war. As a memory, it has been constructed to align itself with the Australian cultural narrative.
Brian Knight recalled, ‘I just knew everyone was going to the war and I had to and I didn’t know what I was going to. I was a kid. We were 18 or 19, and that was pretty young to be taken away from family life.’ He as many others chuckled over the drinking stories remembering the mischief they got up to. ‘The war was on and we were fighting it and when we came on leave we did what we wanted to do. I never drank until I was in the airforce.’60 Lured to ‘come and have one of these’ and he had an advocaat and cherry brandy and ‘that was the first alcoholic drink I had. Anyway that bloke went overseas and was killed over a raid on Germany. We were all kids.’
Despite the horror of war many nostalgically recalled it as the most fortunate time of their life. The lure of adventure that had attracted so many recruits to EATS is also dominant in reminiscences. Perhaps as Eric Leed observed, the actualities of war necessitated a movement towards fantasy and myth.61 Leed also identified war as being like sport, as organised forms of conflict function to discharge drives which are blocked from expression in normal social life. Others, he claimed, enjoy the risk and the spectacle of destruction.62 Various scholars have viewed war as ritual of passage liberating men from constraints of bourgeois life.63 EATS veteran, Nat Gould confessed, ‘Well, it may sound absurd but I enjoyed the war… I had always wanted to fly. The war gave me that. I flew all the most wonderful aeroplanes that I think have ever been built. I think I am very lucky. I don’t think people will ever, ever have that opportunity again. I feel rather sorry for a generation that hasn’t had war.’64 Tom Fitzgerald claimed, ‘It was a wonderful trip. I fulfilled several ambitions of my life. I
60 Interview with Brian Knight 1July 2008. 61 Eric Leed, No Man’s Land: Combat and Identity in World War I, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1979, 118. 62 Ibid. 11. 63 Ibid. 17. 64 Interview Nat Gould, Interview AWM S00578.
232 saw Paul Robeson play Othello in London. I saw Olivier, Richardson, Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft. And the paintings in their great National Gallery…So you had this marvelous conjunction of the highest pleasure with the other job.’65 ‘I think that it sounds a dreadful thing in relation to war, but it was an experience I don’t regret having had… It was a wonderfully broadening experience.’ were Ken Gray’s thoughts.66 To Geoffrey Coombes ‘It was all a big adventure really.’67 Further glowing memories of comradeship and common endeavour are acted out in veterans’ groups attempting to ritualise and preserve those who enjoyed sense beyond social categories. The pleasures in warfare, and joys associated with combat have been recognized in research.68 Men speak of these things, satisfaction and excitement outweighing distressing experiences and in the example of EATS the one joy felt was in the love of flying. Attracted by the lure of flight in 1939 this same exhilaration remained in the memory of many. There is abundant evidence for what George Mosse has aptly called the ‘myth of war experience’ – from combatants on all sides, in many modern wars, in many places. Returned soldiers were active promoters of the ‘divine’ and ‘transcendent’ significance of war, an experience that set them apart from ordinary citizens. The excitement it had brought to the life of Frank Dimmick was recalled as ‘the best time in my life.’69
Dimmick’s story was memorable for the delight in his voice as he reencountered his adventures.70 Dimmick was just eighteen when he enlisted in EATS, nineteen when he reached England, and home with the war over for his twentieth birthday. He considered himself lucky to make the war, and lucky enough to be a member of the crew that got a ‘direct hit on the SS barracks next to Berchtesgarden. ’His active service included several food drops over Holland after that. Here, Frank showed me a book, The Flying Grocer, outlining these adventures and explained ‘there is a tendency to write a little bit of the hero into it.’ He continued, ‘we
65 Interview Tom Fitzgerald, Interview, AWM S00536. 66 Interview Ken Gray AWM S00539. 67 Interview Geoffrey Coombes AWM S00551. 68 Joanna Bourke, ‘Effeminacy, Ethnicity and the End of Trauma: The Sufferings of Shell-shocked Men in Great Britain and Ireland, 1914-39,’ Journal of Contemporary History 35 1 2000, 57. Also ‘The Pleasures of War,’ in An intimate History of Killing. 69 Interview with Frank Dimmick. 70 Ibid.
233 personally got in on the tail end of things. There was no feeling of fear or anything like that. It was a thrilling era and we enjoyed it. It was our first taste of war. I had come straight out of school and enjoyed it. It was a wonderful era.’71 In his expressed memories war and flight offered nothing less than freedom, exhilaration and power to Dimmick. Dimmick’s script supports Graeme Dawson’s argument that stories about male heroism in battle or in other arenas that test men’s strength and fortitude, are, in a sense, training manuals for masculine identity. 72
‘If it wasn’t for the killing, war would be fun’ concluded one veteran I interviewed.73 Writing about World War I, George Mosse noted war provided a sense of freedom from the burdens of everyday life. For many veterans, not only airmen, this sentiment is credible and the ways in which memories are constructed are filled with ambivalence as other, later influences intrude.74 The extension of aerial war in the Second World War introduced a new perspective that did provide men with a ‘heady experience.’ Stan Guilfoyle remembered, ‘What it did was make a man of you. Once you had the responsibility for yourself and others, you feel you can do anything in life.’75 Another, a member of the Pathfinders recalled, ‘Well, there was a certain excitement to life, of course, and generally speaking, I guess the Pathfinders were recognized as the elite of the bombing force, or the RAF. You were looked upon as a bit of a hero. You had a special badge to wear on the tunic which shows that you’re a Pathfinder and I guess there was a certain pride in wearing that and knowing that you probably took risks that others didn’t take, but it was a duty to be done – it’s war – a duty to be done. ‘You’re young and as I said before, hurrah for the next man that dies. I think it’s just camaraderie and good feeling and a job to be done. We’re trained for it.’76 To another, the whole experience was a very worthwhile experience. ‘I’d just turned twenty-four a week before the war finished – and so a sort of feeling that you had probably during that period, more – in many ways – more power over important things than probably ever had since, strangely enough. I don’t think would have been
71 Ibid. 72 Graham Dawson, Soldier Heroes, 4. 73 Interview with George Hannon 74 George Mosse, ‘Two World Wars and the Myth of War Experience,’ Journal of Contemporary History 21, 4, 1986, 493-494. 75 Interview with Stan Guilfoyle. 76 Interview with David Leicester AWM S00525.
234 anything like as great if it had not been for that experience. I think I would have been a much narrower person had it not been for that experience.77
Athol Wearne remembered it ‘as a bloody good war they shouldn’t have stopped it. I’d been lucky I’d had wonderful postings I’d had wonderful experiences and I just thoroughly enjoyed my war time experience.’78 The impact of the cultural narrative on memories was summed up in the words of Peter O’Connell:
Well, I think like many young fellows of my era at the time we thought we were going to be Biggles. You know, we were young, we were going over there, like the chaps did in World War I, and save the world for democracy. We were very young and we had this rather romantic idea about the whole business.79
Peter Isaacson spoke of the opportunity to fly and he ‘grabbed it.’ He had a self assuredness about him as I asked him about his flight under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, ‘I thought it would be fun so I did it They wanted to court martial me, but they didn’t they would have been pretty unpopular.’ This was one of the stories significant in masculine heroism and adventure recounted by men in interviews that signified the fun of war. He was a national hero one woman remembered. ‘We all thought he was wonderful.’80 The joy in flying and the liberation which this brought from constraints of social life was expressed as a way of self realization, perhaps a romantic vision, to counter the horror of war link. The words of Richard Hillary, ‘it is only in the air that the pilot can grasp that feeling, that flash of knowledge, of insight, that matures him beyond his years; only in the air that he knows suddenly he is a man in a world of men,’ were often echoed in interviews.
Creating their own narrative
While the experiences of aerial warfare is central in life stories of the men of EATS, they were aware of their marginalization in the Australian memorialisation of war that centred on the self reliant egalitarian Anzac hero with mythical links to the
77 Interview with Ken Gray, AWM S00539. 78Interview with Athol Wearne, AWM S00755 79 Interview with Peter O’Connell, AWM S00521 80 Interview with Dr. Majorie Tipping.
235 bush. The airman symbolized the age of modernity, and human progress, and with it the destructive aspect of aerial war, ‘the uncompromising instrument of righteous vengeance against the enemy.’81 The result has been as Wing Commander Peter Scully commented:
Even today most Australians do not realise the enormous contribution the RAAF made to final victory in Europe, nor the associated great sacrifices made by the personnel involved. Kokoda, El Alamein, the Coral Sea battles are well known, but the RAAF’s phenomenal contribution is not and still to this day is barely recognised by our media either through ignorance or dare I say it ‘modern political correctness’ which seems to deny any legitimate relationship between Australia and the UK.
Historians and sociologists have insisted on the importance of collective reinforcement for sustaining individual identities.82 Dawson has argued for the need to fix one’s own place within the social world, to feel oneself to be coherent and powerful rather than fragmented and contradictory.83 Yet, the members of EATS have been left to their own rituals of remembrance. In their testimonies, the veterans indicated the various ways which they found to contextualize a sense of themselves in a public forum. Rendered largely invisible from Australia’s public commemorative traditions, veterans have negotiated their own network of support. Feeling disconnected and out of place, veterans have forged several avenues where they can connect shared experience forming a sense of identity.
Not Anzac Day
Despite nostalgic reminiscences, a sense of alienation from the Australian collective cultural commemoration haunted the stories of some of the men, especially in their attitude to Anzac Day.84 While there is a presence of the RAAF in Anzac Day marches, many of the men I interviewed had not marched. Eddie Bradshaw claimed he had little time for Anzac Day marches. In one interview, David Mattingly explained
81 Martin Francis, The Flyer, 153. 82 Joanna Bourke, Introduction ‘Remembering War.’ 83 Graham Dawson, Soldier Heroes. 84 This is based only on the interviews which I am aware were limited in number.
236 that he chose not to march on Anzac Day as ‘to me it would be ostentatious.’85 Frank Parsons related that he had marched once on his return and he felt very isolated; ‘I didn’t know anybody else. He claimed that it was different for those in the army they all joined at the same time and went to Egypt together and they were at war together.’86 Whereas, Frank continued his explanation, ‘air force postings were individual, particularly air crew so circumstances didn’t develop of looking forward to seeing all these blokes because they weren’t there.’87 Another veteran felt that he was encouraged to march in the Anzac parade to provide publicity for the bank he worked for. It was diabolical,’ he concluded. ‘I was just not interested.’88 Boz Parsons related an interesting account of Anzac Day. As a boy in the 1930s, he and his friends believed it was a lot of rubbish and now, in the present, he felt it was a very manufactured occasion. In all, there appeared little contact between veterans of EATS and Anzac Day. Those who did participate found a different motivation and centred on their individual squadron. Both ‘RAAF Europe’ and the ‘Odd Bods’ were formed as a response to having no other formal recognition in Anzac Day commemorations.
Squadron Associations
Australians have rewritten scripts often carefully excluding the part of EATS. Alienated from Australian collective memory, the importance of associations emerged. Frank Dimmick formed his own niche in society. Believing that there was ‘always a feeling that the blokes who went to Europe were being overshadowed by the mass of blokes who stayed and fought in the war here.’ His enthusiasm for the organization he founded was infectious as he explained:
We always felt we would like some identification of our group and Perce Rudda came up with the idea RAAF Europe, representing all the groups, who had served together. He and I started it. We wrote to various groups Odd Bods, 461, 455, all the groups who had been over there and we started RAAF Europe. We have a dinner every year on Grand Final Eve. We get 300 or 400 or we did, along to these dinners. This year we had
85 David Mattingly ABC 2 Interview 2 May 2007. 86 Interview with Frank Parsons. 87 Ibid. 88 Interview with Trevor Craddock.
237 120. We are down because we are all over 80. We have fantastic blokes.89
I was shown the invitations to every dinner and given accounts of the guest speakers. Frank was very much establishing his identity around EATS. Frank unfurled the banner that he explained was a history in itself and said they all marched on Anzac Day and it was a wonderful occasion. Yet it seemed his participation in Anzac Day was very much under the identity of RAAF Europe, as distinct from the national myth. He had his own dream.
The formation of the Odd Bods Association reflects the sense of marginalization in society experienced by so many veterans of EATS. They have recorded:
In 1946 in the lunch room of the Mail Exchange Building in Spencer St, Melbourne, three disconsolate men sat listening to others prattling on about the regimental and unit reunions they had attended during Anzac Day commemorations and the three were wondering how they could fit into that reunion business.90
The result was the formation of the Odd Bods, an association of blokes who had served outside Australia. Still active today, their current newsletter expresses ‘lasting friendship with comrades who endured with them the horrors of the battles overseas when Australians rushed to aid their Allies in overthrowing dictatorships and tyrannies every where.’91
Most squadrons have written their own histories. Number 3 Squadron echoes these sentiments expressed in many: ‘pride, courage, youth, in the constant presence of death’, build the image of the heroic airman. They don’t mention the personal hardships, sacrifices or dangers but ‘speak proudly of the Squadron's accomplishments ... of the part it played in beating an enemy which threatened the freedom of their families and their country.’92 Those who lost their lives are endowed with
89 Interview with Frank Dimmick. 90 Odd Bods website http://www.theoddbods.org/history.htm7 October 2008. 91 Odds’n Ends The Official Journal of the Odd Bods, July 2010. 92Neil Smith, History of 3 squadron, Part 4, also published as a Video History, 1989, www3squadron.org.au/history [31 July 2010].
238 ‘unconquerable spirit’ from which ‘rises a heritage of camaraderie and respect that every 3 Squadron member regardless of rank or time and place of service, can carry forward in perpetuity for as long as the Nation lives.’93
In his analysis of the Soldier Hero, Dawson recognized that a story actually told is always the one preferred amongst other possible versions, and involves a striving, not only for a formally satisfying narrative or a coherent version of events, but also for a version of the self that can be lived with in relative psychic comfort – for, that is, subjective composure.94 He continued that ‘they not only exist in the imagination of the storyteller, but resonate with the experience of others, as shared, collective identities and realities. It is such a role model story that was created around Nicky Barr.95 Although this account was published in 1945 and had its reasons for following the myth of the aviator super hero, it features prominently on the 3 Squadron web page.
It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that there came into their camp one night in the desert a magnificent young man with laughing blue eyes, mounted on a camel, and clothed in the flowing robes of a sheik. And as they looked wide-eyed and unbelieving he smiled and said: "There is no god, but the God! God is most great!" Then they knew 'twas he and they fell to great rejoicings. . . . And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say. Squadron-Leader Andrew William Barr, D.F.C. and Bar, hereinafter called "Nicky", inevitably impels thoughts of the Arabian Nights.
If, jinn born, he had set out with happy smile and eager blue eyes to court adventure in the air, he could not possibly have gone through a more remarkable series than what befell him almost as a matter of course riding fighter planes in the Middle East.
To be reported missing four times in six months, to shoot down 12 enemy aircraft in combat, to be shot down three times and wounded, to force land in enemy territory and escape, and finally to be captured and to escape over the snows from a German train after 17 months as a prisoner of war in Italy - who could ask for more?
93 Ibid. 94 Graham Dawson, Soldier Heroes, 23. 95 J.C.Waters Valiant Youth: The men of the RAAF, Sydney: F.H. Johnston 1945.
239 Thus, in squadron histories airmen are given the identity of heroes fighting for ‘freedom’ to protect families and the ‘Nation.’ Silence surrounds the concept of empire and these men are projected into their dreams of the heroic airman.
Internationalism: Recognition in London
It is in the role of flight, its lure and almost supernatural quality, that the veterans of EATS have found an internationalist vision of the power of modernity, in conquest of the air and this united them with not only other members of EATS across all dominions but also all those who took part in aerial warfare. Frank Dimmock proudly related that his greatest draw card to the reunion of Air Europe, which he organized was General Lieutenant Adolph Galland, Knights Cross with Diamond, one of the highest ranking air aces of the Luftwaffe in World War II.96 It was for his flying ability that he was guest speaker. His role as an aggressor was irrelevant to the ex- airmen of this organization. Reflecting on the power of flight, in 1987 to unite men, Michael Sherry saw the international implications:
The airplane was the instrument of flight, of a whole new dimension in human activity. Therefore it was uniquely capable of stimulating fantasies of peacetime possibilities for lifting worldly burdens, transforming man’s sense of time and space, transcending geography, knitting together nations and peoples, releasing humankind from its biological limits. Flight also resonated with the deepest impulses and symbols of religious and particularly Christian mythology – nothing less than Christ’s ascension. Its realization, then, served as a powerful metaphor for heavenly aspirations and even, among the literal-minded, as the palpable vehicle for achieving them.97
It was suggested by one RAAF historian that the history of EATS belongs more with British history, that EATS was formed to provide manpower to the RAF and in recent years recognition has been awarded to Australians who served.98 Several other points were made in this conversation, including the importance of Japan in
96 Interview with Frank Dimmick. 97 Michael S. Sherry, The Rise of American Air Power: The Creation of Armageddon, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987, 2. 98 This was a telephone conversation held with an officer in the history department of the RAAF Air Power Development Center, June 5 2009 (0262661436) He also stressed his views did not represent the official view.
240 causing the Australian population to realize there was a war, and focusing Australian attention on the Pacific. The fact that material does exist on EATS but there is no encouragement to look for it, and lastly anything to do with Empire has been relegated to ‘history.’ Each of these points offer what could be considered a valid explanation for the paucity of information on EATS, but offers little recognition of the individual and the formation of identity.
It is perhaps for these reasons that many EATS veterans are drawn to commemorations in London. The centre of RAF commemoration in London is St Clement Dane Church. In March 2009 a group of Australian ex-Spitfire pilots headed for London and a ceremony to mark their contribution to allied forces during World War II.99 Now in their late eighties and nineties, and sixty four years after the occasion, the Australian government provided only limited funds for them to attend this service. David Lowy, owner of the Temora Aviation museum, provided the major part of the funds. Lysle Roberts, one of the veterans, in an interview on Channel 2 said ‘It means a lot to me and my association… on behalf of all ex-spitfire pilots who are still alive, to have got this opportunity to make this gesture, this dedication in London.’ Another added ‘See there’s so many of the boys who have passed on, so many boys killed in the war. Veterans like myself must remind people that this was the price of freedom.’100 Sid Handsaker was one of the veteran pilots to travel to the London commemoration in 2009, and I was given a copy of the diary which he kept for this trip. His last words recorded, ‘Highly emotional. A trip I would not like to repeat.’ In a post-script he added, ‘Admitted to Newcastle Private Hospital 27th October 2009 for 16 days diagnosed with crushed vertebrate, pneumonia and Severe Post Traumatic Depression- Not Jet Lag as Supected.’101 Decades after the experience, Hansaker’s memories had surfaced in flashbacks of events that were previously not assimilated in his view of the world.102
A further ceremony was held at St Clement Dane, on the 26th March this year. Association members were invited to attend a dedication of RAAF plaques for 454,
99 ABC 1, News coverage Monday March 23 2009. 100 Ibid. 101 Ibid. 102 See Cathy Caruth, Unclaimed Experience, 3-4.
241 459 and nine other squadrons. It was reported, ‘The badges join other Australian squadrons that flew in the European, Middle East and African theatres and are in recognition of the outstanding service and sacrifice made by those men and women.’103 In the squadron web site, it was recorded: The ABC news ‘reported that, after sixty four years, a tribute was paid to Australian squadrons that for too long and for reasons varied, they have been a neglected part of history.’104
Personal bonding
Bonding within the individual squadron and shared experiences helped find a legitimate narrative that can place the individual within a convincing identity. This was often spoken of. After the disaster of the Pacific experience, Bruce Brown recalled:
The only thing I’ve always said was there was a tremendous comradeship came out of… out of Milne Bay, in particular, and that’s why those that are still alive today, still get together occasionally and whilst we don’t throw a lot of lead around the place, we like seeing how old we may have gone as the years have gone on and sit down and have lunch or a chat together and I believe we respect each other very I much. Yes.105
Brown continued:
In attending several squadron functions the close bonding of these airmen … civilian friendships seem, in the mind, pale copies of what we knew as "comradeship". Some of us were hardly shining specimens of manhood, as Kipling said, you wouldn't look in barracks for plaster saints, but whenever we had looked around for courage, we could be sure that the profane drunkard we had got to bed many a time would be there - no matter what was flying - at our shoulder. After a few decades you miss him, because no civilian ever quite filled his great clod-hopping boots.106
Sid Handsaker was to write on the gathering of aviator veterans in London in 2009:
103 Ibid. 104 ABC 1 News Friday March 27, 2009. 105 Interview with Bruce Brown AWM, S00583. 106 Ibid.
242 I remember writing once that I considered all the EATS members as being brothers. I felt that having made the acquaintances of so many … I was astounded to realize that with these strangers I had so much in common with them and it dawned on me that we had all our lives regulated by the EATS and we were all moulded the same- we appeared to think and act alike.107
Conclusion
The purpose of this chapter has been to place the Australian airman in the national cultural setting. First, to chart the responses of the aviators to changes in images of aerial combat in their memories and this presented a complex dialogue between reality and imagination, culture and combat.108 In examining the testimonies of veterans, the complexities of the interaction between memory and identity, especially as seen in oral history, emerged. Again, I cite the words, ‘it is not simply events we recall, for the past we create becomes a repository of our defences, emotions, desires and fantasies.’109 Key myths about the flyers already in place long before 1945 and pilots obliged to negotiate these stereotypes, often finding them simultaneously compelling and repulsive.110 Reactions to the reality of aerial combat were internalized and rewritten combining both psychic and cultural influences at times recreating the dreams they had lost. The second purpose was to follow the actions of veterans responding to their disenfranchisement from the Australian commemorative tradition, as they searched for a socially accepted niche where their identities could be composed. Individual areas of commemoration were found outside the national areas of remembrance that prevented the articulation of the narrative surrounding EATS. These are slowly disappearing, indicating the ‘perishability’ of certain memories.111 This was reflected upon by Max Roberts, ‘I don’t know why EATS has slipped out of people’s memory. There are a lot of books, but nothing in the
107 Sid Handsaker letters and diaries written in 2010. 108 These terms were used by Martin Francis in The Flyer 7. 109 Joan Wallach Scott, ‘Introduction,’ to Luisa Passerini’s Autobiography of a Generation. Xii. 110 These terms were also used by Martin Francis in The Flyer. 111 Perishability was a term used by Peter Fritzsche, ‘The Case of Modern Memory,’ The Journal of Modern History, 73, 2001, 102.
243 press. I don’t talk about it very much. But sometimes people bring in some thing about the air force and they are so surprised I was there. It has drifted into oblivion.’112
112Max Roberts interview
244 CONCLUSION
The ‘I’ now and the ‘I’ then
Figure 23 Commemorative Ceremony Somers
On May 1 2010, this small group gathered at Somers, site of the No.1 Initial Training School on the Victorian peninsular, to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the beginning of the Empire Air Training Scheme. There were 18 former Somers trainees present, together with airmen of other Initial Training Schools, seated in front of the Memorial Plaque set amongst some of the original huts. The official address was given by Wing Commander Peter Scully whose words
245 encapsulated the fundamental complexity contained in the development of the images around EATS, that I have followed in this thesis. Scully articulated ‘the Empire Air Training Scheme was so enormous in its scope, that looking back now it seems incredible that such an endeavour was even suggested, let alone that it should achieve the success that it did, yet most of their achievements were not recorded in Australian history.’ ‘Even today,’ he lamented, ‘most Australians do not realise the enormous contribution the RAAF made, nor the associated great sacrifices made of the personnel involved.’1
Scully’s reflections reiterate the initial motivations behind this thesis. These were: first, to determine the key components surrounding the marginalisation of EATS in the Australian narrative. This aspect focused on public representations. The public position automatically led to a second line of inquiry, which was to follow the responses of the individual aviators and their adaptation to changing circumstances. The images from the public and the private coexisted in the progress of the transformation of social and cultural values from the 1930s, through post-war decades to the present day. For both the nation and the individual, values and expectations were brought under scrutiny, unsettling their place in society causing the renegotiation of identity for both the nation and the airman.
While the starting point of this thesis was to discover why EATS had become marginalized within the Australian narrative and the response, which this evoked in individual veterans, this led to broader considerations of how we invent and possess the past. I have asked why we tell the stories we do when we do. This has involved an examination of the encounters between the present and the past in both the public and private spaces. It has also been a study of how the world and the Australian cultural identity have changed, and in the process both nation and individual discarded the past and then donned new cultural outfits. It was in the broader cultural framework that I positioned the investigation.
1 Speech by Wing Commander Peter Scully, May 1, 2010.
246 Following the transformation of the Australian national identity and the positioning of EATS within its framework provides a forceful case study of a national ‘invention of tradition.’2 The collective Australian narrative followed a process of continual renewal between 1939 and the present, and two themes emerged that impacted upon the evolution of the image of EATS within the Australian story. The first followed Australian relationships with Empire. From occupying a central place in Australian identity in the 1930s, the allegiance to Empire crumbled in the post-war decades. Australia increasingly sought to define itself free from British connections. Reminders of Australian subservience to Britain were uncomfortable in the national narrative and selectively suppressed. Involvement in EATS provided a particular rendition of the past that did not correspond to the declared emerging ‘new’ Australian nationalism.
Embedded in the emerging Australian national identity was a second influence that would further diminish recognition of EATS. This was the Anzac myth whose power in the national memory is now indisputable; to the extent it has the ability to keep other pasts and other renditions from articulating themselves.3 Australian academics have expressed some concern at the dominance of Anzac mythology as overshadowing all other stories in the shaping of the Australian nation.4 While also military in content, the institution of EATS and the men who flew, has not found inclusion in Australian war commemoration. The absence was once again encapsulated in the words of Peter Scully as he reiterated, ‘Kokoda, El Alemain, the Coral Sea battles are well known, but the RAAF’s phenomenal contribution is not and still to this day is barely recognised by our media, either through ignorance or dare I say it “modern political correctness” which seems to deny any legitimate relationship between Australia and the UK.’
2 Term used by Eric Hobsbawn and used as the basis of many ideas in this thesis. 3 Rudy Koshar, Germany’s Transient Past: preservation and national memory in the twentieth century, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998, 313 322, made these observations about the strength of national memory. 4 See especially Marilyn Lake and Henry Renyolds, What’s Wrong with Anzac? The Militarisation of Australian History Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2010.
247 The focus of Anzac commemoration is on the values and the attitudes of the foot soldier who sacrificed himself for Australia not Empire. Following the bush heritage, the Anzac embodied the egalitarian nature of Australian society. Anzac dominates the legend of the Australian nation’s coming of age to the exclusion of all other military involvements. The image of the elite airman, master of advanced technology, inflictor of civilian deaths, although apocryphal, is the myth that surrounds the aviator and stands in complete antithesis to the ‘Digger’. Following the history of the image of EATS as it is positioned in the reconfiguration of the Australian collective imagination, the increasing dominance of the Anzac myth and the departure of the centrality of Empire offer an explanation why public stories were told and when they were told. Such changing realms of national identity remain a central topic for scholars linked to collective memory and the selectivity of establishing sense of tradition.
While the ongoing change of society and culture reshaped the national response to concepts surrounding EATS, the interaction between the public and private memories, seemed to flow inevitably in the investigation, centring on the implications that this contained for the nature of individual identities. I found literature on the aerial operations of World War II focused on technology, tactics and doctrine and that the responses of the individual, the human dimension, have been ignored. An examination of the human, aspects of the individual aviator covered the realms of private subjectivity that contribute to the individual versions articulated around images of EATS. This was a review of the upheaval faced by individuals as they confronted the ever-changing world. To follow the expectations and experiences of the aviators was to listen to testimonies that claimed ‘everything has become so different.’ As young recruits, they had begun with beliefs in Empire, the attainment of masculinity in war, and the glamour of flight. Each belief, in different ways, had been brought into question.
The first challenge to be negotiated was prompted by the failure of the national identity, as it silenced ties with Empire, to authenticate personal subjectivities or to privilege their narratives. The initial belief, motivating their enlistment, where they were acting as part of the Empire in a united air force, was dismissed in the following decades. Witness to the sense of alienation was heard in the words of EATS
248 veterans, beginning with those of Don Charlwood at the opening of this thesis, and followed by lack of collective commemoration in Australia for those who served with EATS. Much has been written on the interdependence of the public and private script in the development of memories and the relationship between these two spheres plays a critical role in the construction and preservation of images. This becomes especially relevant to EATS, where the presence of a collective context has become moot. It has been recognized that exclusion from the national narrative can lead to a sense of displacement causing, ‘alienation, silence and internalized trauma.’5 The narratives constructed by veterans in their later years validate this claim, as they offered justifications for their actions aware of the lack of public empathy.
The second aspect of the human dimension, which influenced the voice of the individual story, was the emotional intensity that was present in aerial combat, and the way in which aviators dealt with the physical and mental demands, not only during the experience but in the following decades. Emotional responses, especially those of fear and guilt challenged the social expectations of masculinity. It was not only the direct lack of support from the national narrative that contributed to the individual response. The individual story was made even more complex by emotional responses that needed negotiation. Articulating or writing about the emotions of those involved in the Second World War has been avoided, and yet an understanding of the real terror of aerial combat is crucial if the individual images presented around EATS are to be defined and interpreted. Emotions passed like shadows through stories confronting the displacement of ideals of their youth, the disconnection from the remembrance of society, and the creation of the more personal and the narrative of self.
It is to place the emotional experience of the private life within the cultural context that makes it possible for people to reflect on their sense of self, to fashion their own interior spaces, and to speak for themselves, that I have attempted to develop, in interpreting the diaries and letters of those involved in the Scheme and in hearing so many of their later accounts. The veterans of EATS were faced with finding a legitimate narrative, which could place the self in a way that is both coherent and
5 Alistair Thomson, Anzac Memories, 216, 220.
249 convincing. Responses of veterans were not uniform and the stories follow myriad personal journeys manifesting expression in making oneself ‘at home in a constantly changing world.’6
I have argued that historical space is shared by both private and public agents. The social interaction between the two has implications for the identity of the individual and the community. The ‘self,’ the identity, of veterans of EATS has become intertwined with the historical period and cannot be seen outside this cultural context. This argument has been supported by the notion that historical change applies not only to the larger narrative, but it is linked to the lives of individuals who are absorbed in the inevitable passage of change.
In the way which individuals seek to understand their experiences in the changing world and in the process of creating a personalised space, many veterans of EATS, complying with the strength of the national image, have developed the ability to silence the image of EATS. It is only in moments of nostalgia and reflection that they allow defensive mechanisms to be lowered, as they did at the commemoration at Somers on May 1 2010. More often, in exploring the private, subjective realms of the men of EATS the masked responses, combined memory with imagination, reflecting a desire to return to an ideal of masculinity defined in terms of the stoic, unreflective warrior of the sky. While reports of dispossession, and a sense of being cast off, entered some accounts, reflecting the historical discontinuity of the national narrative the process of self-renewal in finding a place in society, was asserted as veterans presented their interpretation of the past. In following the interplay between the national cultural narrative and the individual voice, I have opened the way to some understanding of the Australia ‘now’ and ‘then’ and the ‘I’ then, and the ‘I’ now in the stories we tell and when we tell them.
6 Marshall Berman, 6.
250 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Sources
INTERVIEWS Batchelder, Alf. Melbourne, 26 June 2008. Bradshaw, Eddie, Melbourne, 2 June 2007. Charlwood, Don, Melbourne, 18 July 2008. Craddock, Trevor, Melbourne, 23 June 2008. Dimmick, Frank, Melbourne, 29 October 2008. Dupleix Tony, 21 June 2009 French, Dereck, Melbourne, 30 June 2008. Gnomes Steve. Melbourne 9June 2008 Guilfoyle, Stan, Melbourne, 20 June 2008. Hammer, Alan, Melbourne, 2 April 2007. Hannan, George, Melbourne, 26 July 2007. Hulls, Allen, Melbourne, May 2010 Isaacson, Peter, Melbourne, 17 April 2007. Knight, Brian, Melbourne, 1 July 2008. Oezer, Yvonne. Melbourne, 4 May 2008. Parsons, Boz, Ocean Grove, 6 June 2007. Parsons, Frank, Melbourne, 6 July 2008. Roberts, Max 11August 2008 Robinson, Jane 10 July 2009. Rossi, Keith, Melbourne, 8 September 2008. Tipping, Marjorie. 3 April 2008.
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The following interviews were made available from the George Metcalf Archival Collection, Oral History Program, Canadian War Museum.
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AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL INTERVIEWS
Transcripts of the following interviews were available from the AWM web site in the Keith Murdoch Sound Archive of Australia in The War of 1939-45.
Wilfred Arthur, AWM S00731 Nicky Barr AWM S00939 Bruce Brown AWM S00583 Geoffrey Coombes, AWM S0 0551 William Deane-Butcher AWM S00559 Jack Donald, AWM S00952 Arthur Double Day AWM S00546 Jack Doyle AWM S00923 Tom Fitzgerald A.W.M. S00536 252
Bobby Gibbes AWM S0938 Ken Gray AWM S0539 Nat Gould, A.W.M. S00578 David Leicster AWM S00524 Colin Linderman, AWM S00548 Reg ‘Slim’ Moore Interview for Video Wings of the Storm AWM F03457 Reg Slim Moore AWM S00987 Bob Murphy, AWM S00523 Peter O’Connell, AWM S00521 John Pettett, AWM S00515 Bob Pitt, AWM S00581 John Piper AWM S00577 Tom Russel, AWM S00945 Jack ‘Snow’ Simmons AWM S00756 Arthur Tucker AWM S00701 Leonard Waters AWM S01652 Athol Wearne, AWM S00755 Harold Wright AWM S00582.
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256
Centenary of Federation, the series will be broadcast over eight consecutive weeks on ABC Television commencing on Anzac Day, 25 April 2001
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258
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Minerva Access is the Institutional Repository of The University of Melbourne
Author/s: Evans, Suzanne Jillian
Title: The Empire Air Training Scheme: identity, empire and memory
Date: 2010
Citation: Evans, S. J. (2010). The Empire Air Training Scheme: identity, empire and memory. PhD thesis, Arts, School of Historical Studies, The University of Melbourne.
Persistent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11343/35831
File Description: The Empire Air Training Scheme: identity, empire, and memory
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