Members of the Royal Australian Air Force in World War II

Formation of the RAAF

The Central Flying School (CFS) was established at Point Cook (now RAAF Base Point Cook) outside Melbourne in February 1914. The first official Australian military flight was performed at the CFS in a Bristol Boxkite on 1 March 1914. Flying training began on 17 August, just 13 days after the start of World War I.

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During World War I, the Australian Flying Corps served in Mesopotamia (now Iraq), Egypt and the Western Front. After World War I ended, in 1919, the Australian Flying Corps disbanded, leaving its aircraft with Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF). In 1920, the Australian Air Corps was formed as an Australian Army unit.

The Australian Air Force was officially formed on 31 March 1921. It was an independent service and the third part (after the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army) of Australia's military. On 13 August 1921, the Governor-General signed an order on behalf of King George V authorising the use of 'Royal' in its name.

In 1922, the first aircraft for the RAAF was built in Australia, the British-designed Avro 504K trainer.

Recruitment and training in World War II

Point Cook remained the centre of RAAF development in the years before World War II. Nos. 1 to 5 Squadrons RAAF were formed there in 1922. The Central Flying School was renamed the No. 1 Flying Training School. Until 1925, when RAAF Base Richmond was established north-west of Sydney, Point Cook was the only Australian air station.

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Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, with Australia quickly following. According to Air Commodore Deryck Kingwell, CBE, DSO, a pilot, World War II veteran, and military historian, at this time the RAAF had just 310 officers and fewer than 3,179 airmen across 12 squadrons. It had 246 aircraft, including 164 that were operational rather than training aircraft. Many of the squadrons weren't operating at full strength, and many of the aircraft were obsolete.

After war was declared, Point Cook greatly expanded its training program to cover:

• flying
• navigation
• reconnaissance
• signalling
• armaments
• operations
• instruction.

Point Cook was also home to new units and squadrons that were stood up under the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS).

In 1940 and 1941, several new RAAF bases were established, which are still in use today:

• RAAF Base Darwin (Darwin, NT)
• RAAF Base Amberley (Ipswich, Qld)
• RAAF Base Wagga Wagga (Wagga Wagga, NSW)
• RAAF Base Townsville (Townsville, Qld)
• RAAF Base Williamtown (Newcastle, NSW).

Also in 1941, the Women's Australian Auxiliary Air Force (WAAAF) was established to fill ground staff positions.

By November 1944, the RAAF had reached its peak size in World War II, with nearly 184,000 serving personnel:

• 90% were men in the RAAF - 20,690 male officers and 144,670 other ranks, including 3,470 listed as missing or prisoners of war
• 10% were women in the WAAAF - 660 female officers and 17,800 other ranks

Nearly 500 nurses were also serving in the RAAF Nursing Service.

Europe

Under the EATS, the RAAF trained and sent tens of thousands of personnel to Europe to serve in RAF units. Many also served with units under other Allied commands. These veterans became known as the Odd Bods because they didn't have their own Australian units.

The only fully Australian unit to serve in wartime Britain was No. 10 Squadron RAAF. Based in Wales, the squadron flew Short Sunderland flying boats as part of RAF Coastal Command. Their tasks included:

• hunting German submarines (U-boats)
• conducting reconnaissance of enemy positions in Europe
• transporting dignitaries.

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On 17 June 1940, a Sunderland flying boat captained by Squadron Leader Charles Pearce made the squadron's first attack on a German U-boat, off the coast of Portugal. The RAAF aircraft dropped 6 bombs, but the submarine sustained only superficial damage and escaped. For his leadership and gallantry, Pearce was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the first awarded to a RAAF member since the service was formed.

Some Australians were involved in air operations over Germany before RAAF personnel started serving in RAF Bomber Command in 1941.

Wing Commander Ivan Cameron, an Australian serving with No. 110 Squadron RAF, was killed while on a reconnaissance flight over Germany on 28 September 1939. Originally from Bealiba, Victoria, Cameron was 31 when he died. His Bristol Blenheim bomber, serial number N6212, was shot down in the Münster area.

Cameron was one of the first Australians killed on operations in World War II. He had joined the RAAF during the interwar years and then transferred to the RAF. At the outbreak of World War II, he was commanding No. 110 Squadron RAF, flying Bristol Blenheims. Cameron and 2 others from the crash are buried at Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.

RAF strategic commands

Australians seconded to the RAF mainly served with the RAF's 3 biggest commands, all formed in 1936.

Fighter Command flew fighter aircraft in air-to-air combat and became famous for its role in the 1940 Battle of Britain.

Coastal Command was responsible for defending Allied shipping traffic against German submarines (U-boats), as well as reconnaissance, minelaying and other maritime roles.

Bomber Command was a strategic bombing unit that bombed factories, military installations and cities in Germany and occupied Europe. Bomber Command made up only 2% of all Australian enlistments in World War II, but it accounted for 20% of Australian deaths in action.

Australians who died while serving with the RAF and other Allied units in Europe are commemorated on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial.

Middle East and North Africa

Out of the 17 Australian Article XV squadrons, 6 served in the Middle East and North African campaigns. These were:

• No. 450 Squadron RAAF
• No. 451 Squadron RAAF
• No. 454 Squadron RAAF
• No. 458 Squadron RAAF
• No. 459 Squadron RAAF
• No. 462 Squadron RAAF.

In addition, No. 3 Squadron RAAF was assigned to the Desert Air Force (DAF), an Allied tactical air force in North Africa under RAF Middle East Command. The DAF was made up of squadrons from:

• RAF
• RAAF
• South African Air Force
• US Army Air Force (USAAF)
• other Allied air forces.

Its purpose was to support the British Eighth Army in its fight against the Axis forces in Libya.

Other Australians trained under the EATS also served with RAF squadrons. Australian squadrons also served in the Mediterranean theatre.

Read Flight Lieutenant Tony Tubbehauer's story of flying Martin Baltimore aircraft with No. 203 Squadron RAAF over the Mediterranean from their base in Benghazi, Libya.

Middle East

The RAAF's involvement in the Middle East stemmed from Australia's strategic interest in keeping the Mediterranean sea lanes open. This allowed ships to travel between Britain and the Pacific.

The Middle East was a strategically important region for Britain, and had been for centuries. Britain's interests included:

• maintaining control of the Suez Canal
• maintaining access to British India
• accessing Middle Eastern oilfields
• keeping the Mediterranean sea lanes open
• maintaining control of its colonies.

In 1939, the British colonies in the Middle East were:

• Palestine (now Israel and the Palestinian territories)
• Transjordan (now Jordan)
• Kuwait
• Bahrain
• Oman
• Aden (now Yemen)
• the Trucial States (now the United Arab Emirates).

Britain had controlled Iraq until its independence in 1932. British and Free French troops also occupied Syria during World War II - it became independent in 1946.

There was already significant tension between Britain and Italy in the lead-up to World War II. Britain assumed Italy would eventually stop being neutral and declare war, so it started building up the RAF in the Middle East and Mediterranean. In June 1940, Italy entered the war on Germany's side. Together, they were known as the Axis powers.

The Syria-Lebanon campaign, known as Operation Exporter, was one of the major campaigns in the Middle East theatre. British, Australian and Free French forces fought the Germans and Vichy French. No. 3 Squadron RAAF and the ground crew of No. 250 Squadron RAAF both took part. The campaign ran for roughly a month in June and July 1941, before ending with the signing of an armistice between the 2 sides.

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North Africa

Italy had had colonies in North Africa since the 19th century. These included the territories covering present-day:

• Eritrea
• Ethiopia
• Somalia
• Libya.

After the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini came to power in 1922, he tried to expand the Italian Empire. In 1940, after Italy allied itself with Germany, it also occupied:

• British Somaliland
• western Egypt
• Tunisia.

In September 1940, Italian forces invaded Egypt with the aim of taking control of the Suez Canal. This began the Western Desert Campaign in Egypt and Libya. Major battles in the Western Desert Campaign included:

• Battle of Bardia
• Battles of El Alamein
• Siege of Tobruk.

After the success of the Allies' Operation Compass, Germany sent troops under General Erwin Rommel to bolster the Italian forces. These included aircraft from the Luftwaffe.

During the Siege of Tobruk, a detachment of 2 Hurricanes and crews from No. 451 Squadron RAAF conducted reconnaissance flights and made reports about enemy forces. Several aircraft were shot down by Axis forces. The rest of No. 451 Squadron RAAF was attached to the British Army's XIII Corps and later took part in Operation Crusader, which aimed to end the siege.

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Navigator and bomb aimer Mick Ey, of No. 454 Squadron RAAF, flew in Blenheims and Baltimores over the Western Desert from 1941 to 1944. He survived 5 crashes, including one in 1942 that involved trekking 225 km across the desert over 11 days to safety. Read Mick's story.

The Pacific

The war in the Pacific officially began in December 1941 when Japan bombed the US Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. But Japan had been expanding its territory across North-East Asia since 1931, and in 1940 it had invaded French Indochina. This expansion also threatened British, Australian, Dutch and US colonial interests across South-East Asia. After the US entered the war, Japan tried to create a buffer between itself and the Allies by expanding its territory further into South-East Asia. It would take the Allies 3 years to reclaim the lost territory.

RAAF personnel served across the Pacific theatre, including:

• Hong Kong
• the Philippines
• Malaya
• Singapore
• Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia)
• Papua and New Guinea (now Papua New Guinea)
• Solomon Islands
• Australia.

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One of those serving was Sergeant (later Warrant Officer) Leonard Victor 'Len' Waters, a Gamilaraay man. He's commemorated as Australia's first Aboriginal fighter pilot. As a sergeant pilot, Waters joined No. 78 Squadron RAAF at Noemfoor in Netherlands New Guinea in November 1944 before relocating with them to Morotai, Netherlands East Indies, a month later. He flew 95 sorties with 78 Squadron in Noemfoor, Morotai and Tarakan (Borneo), mostly ground attacks. On one mission over Celebes, his plane was struck by a shell. It lodged behind the cockpit near a fuel tank but did not detonate, and Waters managed to land safely. In January 1945, Len Waters was promoted to flight sergeant, then to warrant officer in January 1946, 17 days before he discharged.

Bombing of Darwin 1942 to 1943

For the early years of the war, Australians' main focus had been overseas. But in 1942, the RAAF was suddenly needed at home.

On 19 February 1942, more than 240 Japanese aircraft bombed Darwin in 2 separate raids. Their aim was to destroy the town's harbour and airfields to prevent the Allies using them as a base for actions in South-East Asia. The town centre was also bombed. RAAF Base Darwin was badly damaged in the second raid, and several airmen were killed. Raids continued intermittently until September 1943.

... the radar picked up enemy aircraft about an hour’s flying time north-west of Darwin. All available aircraft from 54, 452 and 457 Squadrons were ordered to scramble … I attacked the first starboard bomber from quarter beam at 300 yards [275 m], closing to 50 yards [45 m] from dead astern. The starboard engine of the bomber was burning when I broke off to evade enemy fighters, whose tracer I observed passing very close to my cockpit. As I broke violently away I saw a bomber burning with both wings snapped off nearly up to the engine.

[Flying Officer John Bisley, DFC, No. 452 Squadron RAAF, quoted in Royal Australian Air Force, 1941-45: Australians in the Pacific War, p 10]

Following the initial bombing, the Australian Minister for External Affairs, H.V. 'Doc' Evatt, visited the US and Britain to ask for more aircraft to be allocated to the RAAF. On 28 May 1942, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed to send 3 fully equipped Spitfire fighter squadrons to Australia. These were No. 452 Squadron RAAF, No. 457 Squadron RAAF, and No. 54 Squadron RAF, which had all fought the German Luftwaffe over Europe. Together, these formed No. 1 Wing RAAF. Churchill's role in sending them to Darwin led No. 1 Wing to be nicknamed the 'Churchill Wing'. Their arrival allowed No. 7 Squadron RAAF to be sent from Darwin to Milne Bay in New Guinea.

No. 1 Wing trained in the Richmond area north-west of Sydney until December 1942. It commenced combat operations in Darwin in January 1943. Challenges included:

• underdeveloped airfields, with dirt airstrips and tree-lined taxiways, which led to a high accident rate
• tropical conditions, which decreased the Spitfires' performance
• a shortage of spare parts.

The Spitfires of No. 1 Wing intercepted Japanese aircraft over Darwin throughout 1943, until the last Japanese attack in November. After the Japanese raids ceased, the unit's morale began to decline. No. 1 Wing was restructured in 1944 and saw only limited combat for the rest of the war.

Role in the Pacific

Throughout the war, RAAF crews undertook many different roles across the Pacific theatre. These included:

• aerial combat
• ground attack
• bombing raids on land and sea
• minelaying at sea
• supply drops
• reconnaissance.

No. 75 Squadron RAAF faced one of the Pacific war's most intense periods of aerial combat during its defence of Port Moresby, the capital of the Australian Mandated Territory of Papua, in April and May 1943. The small force, dubbed 'Jackson's few' after Squadron Leader John Francis Jackson, was the only group of Allied fighter pilots in all of Papua. Along with their ground crew, they also faced repeated Japanese air raids. Over 44 days, 'Jackson's few' shot down at least 3 Japanese bombers and 15 fighters, and damaged others. No. 75 Squadron lost 21 Kittyhawks and 12 pilots.

Whenever we heard the call of ‘Pilots!’ or ‘It’s on!’ we would race to our planes – it was almost a relief to get out there and fly. There was nothing worse than the nerves you get when you don’t know what is coming at you or who is just over the horizon.

[Flying Officer Peter Masters, No. 75 Squadron RAAF, quoted in Royal Australian Air Force, 1941-45: Australians in the Pacific War, p 7]

In August and September 1942, No. 75 Squadron, along with No. 76 Squadron RAAF, supported Australian troops at the Battle of Milne Bay, also in Papua. The air support proved to be the decisive factor in the Allies' victory in the battle.

As well as supporting troops on land, RAAF aircraft also bombed Japanese shipping at sea, often alongside aircraft from the US Army Air Force (USAAF) and the US Navy. In addition, Allied aircraft laid sea mines with the aim of sinking Japanese merchant and military ships.

There were 25,000 mines laid in the Pacific over the course of the war, with 85% being laid by aircraft. These sank or damaged several hundred thousand tonnes of merchant shipping, equivalent to 25% of the Japanese merchant marine's pre-war strength. Mine explosions also sank 9 Japanese destroyers, 4 submarines, and 36 auxiliary craft. They also damaged 2 battleships, 2 escort carriers, 8 cruisers, 29 destroyers or destroyer escorts, a submarine, and 18 other combatant vessels.

RAAF aircraft and crews, flying alongside the RAF and USAAF, were particularly active in strategic minelaying in the waterways around the Netherlands East Indies and Burma. The aim of this was to prevent the Japanese from using strategically important ports such as Rangoon to reinforce their troops in Burma.

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The RAAF and the USAAF

In the later part of the war, the RAAF and the USAAF began working closely together across the South-West Pacific Area. A large part of this was providing air support for Allied troops landing in Japanese-controlled territory. The Australian First Tactical Air Force, known as No. 1 TAF, was formed for this purpose.

Australian First Tactical Air Force

No. 1 TAF was formed on 25 October 1944 from No. 10 Operational Group, which had been operating since November 1943. Its purpose was to provide fighter and ground attack aircraft that could support Allied army and naval forces across the South-West Pacific. No. 1 TAF comprised Nos. 61, 62, 71, 77, 78, 80 and 81 Wings RAAF. It was originally commanded by Group Captain Frederick Scherger, then Air Commodore Harry Cobby from August 1944. No. 1 TAF's aircraft included P-40 Kittyhawks, Supermarine Spitfires, Bristol Beaufighters and B-24 Liberator bombers.

In 1944, No. 1 TAF's operations, in conjunction with the US Thirteenth Air Force, included pre-assault bombardment and general air support for the Allied landings at

• Tarakan (1 May)
• Brunei (10 June)
• Balikpapan (1 July).

For these operations, the Thirteenth Air Force was placed under the operational control of Air Vice Marshal W. Bostock, RAAF. Headquarters RAAF Command had moved an advanced headquarters from Brisbane to Morotai in the Netherlands East Indies to oversee them.

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'Morotai Mutiny'

Initially, No. 1 TAF was heavily involved in the South-West Pacific, but as the war moved further north as part of the Allies' 'island-hopping' campaign, it was relegated to patrol, reconnaissance and some ground attack duties. US General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander, Allied Forces, South-West Pacific Area, was increasingly using only US air and land forces in the Allied advance towards the Japanese home islands. This caused considerable resentment among many of the Australian pilots, especially in the Spitfire fighter squadrons, as they felt that they were being sidelined from the main battles.

Several of the senior RAAF commanders became increasingly concerned that their aircraft and crews were suffering a large amount of loss and damage for missions that weren't strategically important. Group Captain Wilf Arthur, the officer commanding No. 78 Squadron, brought these concerns to Air Commodore Cobby in late 1944. But no action was taken. With morale among the aviators deteriorating, Arthur began enlisting support from other senior pilots. In total, including Arthur, 8 senior pilots came on board. The others were:

• Group Captain Clive Caldwell, Australia's leading flying ace
• Wing Commander Kenneth Ranger
• Wing Commander Bobby Gibbes, flying ace
• Squadron Leader John Waddy, flying ace
• Squadron Leader Bert Grace
• Squadron Leader Douglas Vanderfield
• Squadron Leader Stuart Harpham.

On 20 April 1945, the 8 officers presented their letters of resignation to Cobby. The letters were short and simple:

I hereby respectfully make application that I be permitted to resign my Commission as an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, forthwith.

[Morotai Mutiny resignation letter, quoted in Australia 1944–45: Victory in the Pacific]

Shocked, Cobby would not accept their resignations, and he couldn't persuade the officers to give him details about why they were resigning. He called his immediate superior, Air Vice Marshall Bill Bostock, Head of RAAF Command, who arrived in Morotai the next day and attempted to convince the officers to withdraw their resignations, without success.

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While not technically a mutiny in the true sense of the word, the incident drew attention to the dangerously low morale at No. 1 TAF. It led to the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal George Jones, removing Cobby and his staff officers, Group Captain William Gibson and Group Captain Robert Simms, from their posts for contributing to the morale problem. A RAAF enquiry later vindicated Jones's actions. A 1945 Australian Government enquiry, headed by barrister Sir John Vincent Barry, KC, found that the pilots' reasons for resigning were sincere, and no further action was taken against them.

Life in the RAAF

Conditions in the RAAF varied depending on location. RAAF personnel based in the UK often had relatively comfortable quarters and access to amusements such as cinemas and local dances. They also made their own fun:

Last night the others went to the nearby village where there was a dance. I intended to join Bob in some letter writing by our fireside. Instead of which, I stayed at the mess, yarning to a navigator who has just finished a tour. Later, he asked whether I was a bandsman. And as I admitted the fact, I am now quite inescapably in the station band... We practised till about eight, had a cup of tea, and then saw the second session in the camp cinema. The band is an entirely voluntary affair, so those in it are keen. There is some practice every night, but certain nights (those with later pictures) see the bigger muster of players. Here, as in all bands, the very comradely spirit is noticed at once. Also, it is handy to know some of the others – the bootmaker is one, and there are various ground staff servicing people as well as some air crew. So I never need to be at a loss for something to do on an evening not taken up with the job itself.

[Flying Officer Ken Sillcock, wireless operator, No. 460 Squadron RAAF, based at RAF Binbrook, in a letter to his sister Kath, 17 November 1944. From Two Journeys Into Peril: Wartime Letters of Ken and Ron Sillcock, 1940–1945.]

Sometimes, enterprising airmen could cause problems. Air Commodore Harry Cobby testified to the Barry Commission about an illegal alcohol trading ring between US and RAAF personnel based on Noemfoor Island in the Netherlands East Indies. The 70,000 US personnel were not allowed liquor but were well-paid, whereas the 7,000 Australians were paid less but had access to beer rations.

Most of the fellows wanted their beer badly, but there is always a proportion who do not drink. They were trading it to Americans in a surreptitious way. The Americans would give them on the quiet five cartons of cigarettes, or 25/- for a bottle of beer. These fellows used to trade cigarettes back to their own friends at 2/- a packet. That meant they were getting £5 for1/3d. If you were entitled to two bottles of beer a week, it meant £10. A lot of people are quite prepared to go without it for £10. That led to other pernicious habits. Some business-minded airmen formed a kind of ring to buy up any liquor they could get and they finally started to get in chaps who normally would have drunk their beer... we had to crush that too, which took some little time.. On the nights when our beer was issued our camps were invaded by hordes of Americans.

[Air Commodore Harry Cobby, RAAF, in evidence to the Barry Commission, quoted in 'Air War Against Japan', Second World War Official History, Chapter 26, Morotai 1945, p 443.]

Cobby's initial solution was to remove the caps from the beer bottles before issuing them to the airmen. In January 1945 he took the drastic step of threatening to stop beer rations unless the sales ceased, but the trade continued. Some officers were later tried and court-martialled for participating, including Australia's leading flying ace, Group Captain Clive Caldwell, one of the officers who had resigned during the Morotai Mutiny.

The Guinea Pig Club

Some RAAF fighter pilots suffered disfigurement and loss of limbs as a result of combat or air accidents. The aviation fuel that powered the powerful engines in Hurricanes and Spitfires was highly flammable. If the aircraft was hit by enemy fire it was very likely to ignite the fuel tank, spreading flames through the aircraft. Survivors were often badly burned.

New Zealand plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe became famous for his pioneering burns work at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, Sussex, England. He worked tirelessly not only to repair his patients' severely burned skin but also to improve their spirits. Many of the men needed to spend months in hospital with up to 30 operations for their skin grafts. Rehabilitation was a huge struggle, but McIndoe's 'boys' formed the 'Guinea Pig Club' in recognition of the experimental nature of his techniques and his concern and care for them. McIndoe also involved the local East Grinstead community in his patients' recovery, persuading families to accept some of his recuperating patients as guests in their homes.

Two members of the Guinea Pig Club were Flight Sergeant Charles Kenneth Gilkes and Warrant Officer Freeman Strickland, RAAF. Gilkes had suffered serious burns when his Stirling bomber crashed in England on 8 September 1943, while Strickland had been burned in a Spitfire crash in North Africa on 10 September 1943. They became friends while being treated by McIndoe and requested to be repatriated home to Australia together.

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Members of the Guinea Pig Club continued to meet for many years after the end of World War II.

The cost of war

Between 1939 and 1945, over 215,000 men and women served in the RAAF. About 9,870 RAAF personnel lost their lives, including nearly 5,500 who were killed in action in Europe.

RAAF members were also highly recognised through both military and civilian honours for their bravery and gallantry. These were British honours, as the Australian honours and awards system wasn't created until 1975. By the end of the war, RAAF personnel had been awarded:

• 2 VCs (Victoria Cross, awarded for valour in the presence of the enemy)
• 4 CBs (Most Honourable Order of the Bath – British knighthood)
• 12 CBEs (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, second-highest rank of the Order of the British Empire)
• 62 DSOs, including 4 with Bars (Distinguished Service Order – awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by an officer of the armed services during wartime; a Bar is awarded for further acts of bravery)
• 54 OBEs (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, third-highest rank of the Order of the British Empire)
• 81 MBEs (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, lowest rank of the Order of the British Empire)
• 5 MCs (Military Cross, awarded for acts of exemplary gallantry against the enemy during operations)
• 1,880 DFCs, including 188 with Bars (Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy)
• 126 AFCs (Air Force Cross, awarded for acts of exemplary gallantry while flying, though not in active operations against the enemy)
• 10 CGMs (Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, awarded for gallantry in action)
• 3 MMs (Military Medal, awarded for acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire)
• 401 DFMs, including 2 with Bars (Distinguished Flying Medal, awarded for exceptional valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy)
• 13 AFMs (Air Force Medal, awarded for acts of courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy)
• 20 GMs (George Medal, awarded primarily to civilians for acts of great bravery, but also to military personnel for gallant conduct that is not in the face of the enemy and for which other military awards are not appropriate)
• 42 BEMs (British Empire Medal, awarded for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown)
• 1,325 airmen mentioned in dispatches.

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