Frederick Scherger

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Frederick Rudolph William Scherger
18 May 1904 – January 17, 1984 (aged 79)
Air Marshal Sir Frederick Scherger
Nickname	"Scherg"
Allegiance	Commonwealth of Australia
Service/branch	Royal Australian Air Force
Years of service	1921–1966
Rank	Air Chief Marshal
Commands held	No. 10 Group (1943–1944) First Tactical Air Force (1945) Air HQ Malaya (1953–1955) Chief of the Air Staff (1957–1961) Chairman COSC (1961–1966)
Battles/wars	World War II Malayan Emergency Vietnam War
Awards	Knight Commander of the British Empire Companion of the Bath Distinguished Service Order Air Force Cross
Other work	Chairman Australian National Airlines Commission {1966–1975}

Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Rudolph William Scherger KBE, CB, DSO, AFC (18 May 1904 – 17 January 1984) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force. To date, he is one of only three officers to hold the rank of Air Chief Marshal in the RAAF.^[1] Following operational commands in World War II, Scherger served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1957 to 1961, then as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, forerunner of the position of Chief of the Defence Force, until retiring from the military in 1966. He was Chairman of the Australian National Airlines Commission from 1966 to 1975.

[edit] Early career

Born in Ararat, Victoria, the son of German migrants, Frederick Scherger entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1921.^[2] He graduated as a Lieutenant in 1924, winning the King's Medal.^[3] Prior to graduation, Scherger had been selected for an Air Force secondment, later made permanent.^[1] He commenced his pilot training as a temporary Flying Officer in 1925 at RAAF Point Cook.^[4] His ancestry and surname made him the object of some suspicion in the early years of his military career.^[2]

In the late 1920s Scherger gained a reputation as a skilful if occasionally reckless pilot, once being berated in front of fellow officers by his flight commander for what was described as "inverted and very low flying".^[2] By the 1930s, however, as a flying instructor and test pilot, he was considered "perhaps the RAAF's outstanding aviator".^[5] He graduated from RAF Staff College, Andover in December 1935.^[4]

[edit] World War II

Scherger held training posts in the late 1930s and early war years, including Director of Training in 1938-40, and command of No. 2 Service Flying Training School, Wagga, in 1940-41. He was awarded the Air Force Cross in June 1940,^[6] and promoted Group Captain in September the same year.^[4]

In October 1941, Scherger took command of RAAF Station Darwin and began preparing the base and its surrounds for possible attack. The following January he was appointed Senior Air Staff Officer, North Western Area, covering Darwin and its satellite airfields. Praised for his "great courage and energy", he was one of the few senior Air Force officers in the region to emerge from the inquiry into the bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942 with his career undamaged.^[7] In April he was made Director of Defence, Allied Air Forces Headquarters, South West Pacific Area.^[8]

Air Commodore Scherger (right) with Lieutenant General Leslie Morshead at First Tactical Air Force Headquarters in Labuan, North Borneo, August 1945

Scherger was named Air Officer Commanding (AOC) No. 10 Operational Group RAAF (10OG) in November 1943. Promoted to Air Commodore, he led US and Australian air units in Operation Reckless, the assault on Aitape, New Guinea, in April 1944. This was followed by the attack on Noemfoor. For these actions he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order,^[9] the citation praising his personal courage in placing himself "in the forefront of the landing of the ground troops ... an inspiration to all personnel".^[2]

A jeep accident in August 1944 saw Scherger relinquish command of 10OG to Air Commodore Harry Cobby; two months later the group was renamed the Australian First Tactical Air Force (1TAF).^[10] In May 1945 Scherger took over 1TAF following Cobby's dismissal in the wake of the "Morotai Mutiny", commanding its operations during Operation Oboe One, the Battle of Tarakan, and Operation Oboe Six, the invasion of Labuan.^[11][12][13]

[edit] Post-war career

After the war Scherger attended the Imperial Defence College, London. From 1947 to 1951 he was Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (DCAS), gaining promotion to Air Vice-Marshal in 1950. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1950 King's Birthday Honours.^[14] Following his tour as DCAS he was posted to Washington, D.C. as Head of the Australian Joint Services Staff.^[4]

In January 1953 Scherger became AOC Air Headquarters Malaya, responsible for all Commonwealth air forces in the region, and was made a Companion of the Bath in 1954.^[2][15][16] As Air Member for Personnel from March 1955, he influenced the decision to award degrees to cadets at RAAF College, in line with institutions in the other armed services.^[17]

Promoted Air Marshal, Scherger served as Chief of the Air Staff from March 1957 to May 1961. As CAS he investigated the feasibility of nuclear weaponry for the Air Force, and overturned a publicly-announced decision to purchase the F-104 Starfighter as a replacement for the CAC Sabre, in favour of the Dassault Mirage III.^[2][18] He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1958 Birthday Honours.^[4][19]

Scherger became Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC), the senior Australian military position at that time, in May 1961. The latter part of his tour coincided with the beginning of large-scale Australian involvement in the Vietnam War, including deployment of 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, and units of the RAAF and RAN.^[20] He was promoted Air Chief Marshal in 1965, the first RAAF officer to attain the rank, and remained as Chairman until his retirement on 18 May 1966.^[4]

After retiring from the military, Scherger took up the position of Chairman of the Australian National Airlines Commission, the controlling body of Trans Australia Airlines, serving until 1975.^[21] He died on 17 January 1984.^[22]

[edit] Legacy

Air Chief Marshal Scherger handing over Chairmanship of COSC to Lieutenant General Sir John Wilton in Canberra, May 1966

As Chairman of COSC, Scherger played a leading role in the commitment of Australian forces to Vietnam.^[23][24] In an address at the Australian War Memorial in 2005, journalist Paul Kelly referred to him as "Australia's most prominent military hawk" at the time, who "exceeded his brief" by promising a battalion to the Americans before a formal request had been made.^[25] Historians Peter Edwards and Gregory Pemberton have written that "no official could have done more to press Australia into a military commitment in Vietnam than its most highly ranked serviceman, Air Chief Marshal Scherger".^[26] Reflecting later on Australia's involvement in the war Scherger said, "If you want allies, you've got to support allies... It was never conceivable to us that America would lose."^[2]

Described by Air Force historian Dr Alan Stephens as "among the RAAF's better chiefs", Scherger was an early advocate for "one Australian Defence Force" comprising three branches, under one Minister of Defence, rather than three competing services under five ministers.^[18][27] He is also credited with developing the concept of a series of front-line air bases in Northern Australia, beginning with plans for RAAF Tindal in 1959.^[28] The newest of these, near Weipa in Cape York, was opened in 1998 and named RAAF Scherger in his honour.^[29]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Andrews, Eric (2001). Australian Centenary History of Defence. Volume V: The Department of Defence. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195541138. 
• Department of Defence. Scherger, Frederick Rudolph William – Personnel File. National Archives of Australia.
• Edwards, Peter; with Pemberton, Gregory (1992). Crises and Commitments: Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948-1975. North Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1863731849. 
• Gillison, Douglas (1962). Australia in the War of 1939-1945: Series Three (Air) Volume I – Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. 
• Horner, David (2002). The Evolution of Australian Higher Command Arrangements. Command Papers. Centre for Defence Leadership Studies, Australian Defence College.
• Odgers, George [1957] (1968). Australia in the War of 1939-1945: Series Three (Air) Volume II – Air War Against Japan 1943-45. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. 
• RAAF Historical Section (1995). "RAAF Base Darwin", Units of the Royal Australian Air Force: A Concise History. Volume 1: Introduction, Bases, Supporting Organisations. Canberra: Aust. Govt. Pub. Service. ISBN 0644427922. OCLC 35296038. 
• Rayner, Harry [1984] (1992). "Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Scherger", in David Horner (ed.): The Commanders: Australian Military Leadership in the Twentieth Century. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1863731903. 
• Stephens, Alan (1995). Going Solo: The Royal Australian Air Force 1946-1971. Canberra: Aust. Govt. Pub. Service. ISBN 0644428031. 
• Stephens, Alan [2001] (2006). The Royal Australian Air Force: A History. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195555414. 

[edit] Further reading

• Rayner, Harry (1984). Scherger: A Biography of Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Scherger. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. ISBN 0642878544.