John McCauley (RAAF officer)

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John Patrick Joseph McCauley
18 March 1899 – January 26, 1989 (aged 89)

Group Captain John McCauley, 1942
Nickname "Black Jack"
Place of birth Sydney, New South Wales
Allegiance Flag of Australia Australia
Service/branch Flag of the Royal Australian Air Force Royal Australian Air Force
Years of service 1920–1957
Rank Air Marshal
Commands held RAAF, RAF Far East (1941–42)
Eastern Area Command (1949–53)
Home Command (1953–54)
Chief of the Air Staff (1954–57)
Battles/wars World War II
Malayan Emergency
Korean War
Awards Knight Commander of the British Empire
Companion of the Bath

Air Marshal Sir John Patrick Joseph McCauley KBE, CB (18 March 1899 – 26 January 1989) was a senior Royal Australian Air Force commander. A Duntroon graduate who transferred to the RAAF in 1924, he held staff and operational appointments during World War II. Between 1949 and 1954 McCauley served as the last Air Officer Commanding Eastern Area Command and the inaugural AOC of Home Command (now Air Command). He was Chief of the Air Staff from 1954 until his retirement in 1957.

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[edit] Early career

Born in Sydney,[1] McCauley graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, and spent four years in the Australian Army. On 29 January 1924 he transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force, where his dark looks earned him the nickname "Black Jack".[2][3] Despite a "shaky reputation" as a pilot, McCauley qualified as a flying instructor at Central Flying School and later commanded No. 1 Service Flying Training School. He graduated from RAF Staff College, Andover, in 1933.[2] McCauley gained a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Melbourne University in 1936. His tertiary qualification was unusual for a general duties officer in the pre-war Air Force, whose pilots were said to have "valued little beyond flying ability".[4]

[edit] World War II

During the Malayan Campaign in 1941-42, McCauley was in charge of RAAF units under the Royal Air Force's Far East Command.[1][2] As Station Commander at Sembawang in north-east Singapore,[5] he personally supervised the training and operations of Nos. 1 and 8 Squadrons, and warned higher command of the weaknesses of the Allied air defences. On 29 January 1942, McCauley took over airfield P.2 near Palembang in Sumatra,[6] and conducted attacks on enemy convoys before evacuating the area on 15 February 1942, the day that Singapore surrendered.[7][8]

McCauley served as the RAAF's Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (DCAS) from 1942 to 1944.[1] His inspection of No. 10 Group at Nadzab during March 1944 resulted in Air Force Headquarters increasing the supply of pilots to the group in order to meet, and later exceed, the operational rate of effort achieved by the US Fifth Air Force.[9] McCauley also instigated a program to determine a suitable formula for rotating and relieving ground staff, as well as aircrew, in the tropics.[10] He was rewarded for his efforts by being made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1943 King's Birthday Honours.[11] Following his term as DCAS, he was posted to Britain until the end of the war as Air Commodore (Operations), 2nd Tactical Air Force RAF.[1]

[edit] Post-war career

Retaining his wartime rank of Air Commodore following cessation of hostilities,[12] McCauley served again as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff in 1946-47.[1] Promoted Air Vice Marshal, he was Chief of Staff to Lieutenant General John Northcott, British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan, from June 1947 to June 1949.[13] Upon his return to Australia, McCauley was made Air Officer Commanding Eastern Area Command. During the Malayan Emergency, he formed RAAF aircraft assigned for deployment into No. 90 (Composite) Wing,[14] as directed by Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal George Jones, to ensure that they would operate autonomously rather than be dispersed throughout other Allied groups.[15] He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1951 Birthday Honours.[16]

Air Vice Marshal McCauley (right) with Air Marshal Hardman, viewing a parade by No. 78 Wing shortly before its departure for garrison duties in Malta, July 1952
Air Vice Marshal McCauley (right) with Air Marshal Hardman, viewing a parade by No. 78 Wing shortly before its departure for garrison duties in Malta, July 1952

In January 1952, Air Marshal Jones was succeeded by Air Marshal Sir Donald Hardman of the Royal Air Force. The decision by Prime Minister Robert Menzies to appoint a British officer as CAS caused controversy in Australia, compounded when he stated his reason as being that there was "no RAAF officer of sufficient age, or operation experience, to take the post of Chief of the Air Staff", ignoring the wartime records of figures like McCauley.[17] Hardman changed the structure of the Air Force from one based on geographical area to one based on function, hence McCauley's Eastern Area Command evolved into Home Command in 1953.[18] McCauley succeeded Hardman as Chief of the Air Staff when the latter's two-year appointment ended; according to RAAF historian Dr Alan Stephens, McCauley was "just as ready to become CAS in 1952 as he was in 1954".[2] He was made Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1955 New Year Honours.[19]

In October 1956, McCauley gave a presentation on air power concepts that was attended by Prime Minister Menzies, as well as the other Australian service chiefs. McCauley identified Malaya and Indochina, particularly Vietnam, as likely areas for future RAAF deployments, and advocated a continued presence in Singapore. He also recommended that a supersonic light bomber replace the English Electric Canberra, primarily for interdiction in Southeast Asia.[2] McCauley's tenure as CAS saw the beginning of a trend for the RAAF to equip with US aircraft types in preference to British types, with recommendations being put forward for the F-104 Starfighter (though in the event the French Dassault Mirage was purchased) and C-130 Hercules.[20][21]

McCauley, on a post-retirement visit to Vietnam, about to take off in a UH-1 Iroquois helicopter of No. 9 Squadron RAAF, October 1966
McCauley, on a post-retirement visit to Vietnam, about to take off in a UH-1 Iroquois helicopter of No. 9 Squadron RAAF, October 1966

McCauley commenced the redevelopment of RAAF Darwin in the Northern Territory as the first stage of a forward defence strategy. He aimed to make Darwin the "main Australian base for war", and a launching point for deployments to Southeast Asia, rather than simply a transit base. This concept was taken another step by his successor as CAS, Air Marshal Frederick Scherger, who conceived a series of front-line 'bare bases' in Northern Australia, beginning with plans for RAAF Tindal in 1959.[22] McCauley and Scherger have been described as "among the RAAF's better chiefs".[23]

[edit] Later life

After his retirement from the RAAF in 1957, McCauley served for a number of years as Federal President of the Air Force Association.[24] He visited RAAF units in Vietnam in 1966.[25] In 1970 McCauley played a leading role in organising the Australian Services Council (now the Australian Veterans and Defence Services Council) to coordinate lobbying efforts for the various veterans' groups, and became its first Chairman.[24]

Sir John McCauley died on 26 January 1989.[26]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Herington, Air Power Over Europe, p.279
  2. ^ a b c d e Stephens, Going Solo, pp.41-44
  3. ^ WW2 Nominal Roll
  4. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p.55
  5. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 38216, page 1415, 20 February 1948. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
  6. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 38216, page 1386, 20 February 1948. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
  7. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp.129-135
  8. ^ Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, pp.386-396
  9. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, p.194
  10. ^ Mellor, Science and Industry, pp.667-668
  11. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 36033, page 2430, 28 May 1943. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
  12. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp.24-25
  13. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, p.49
  14. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp.246-247
  15. ^ Helson, "10 Years at the Top", pp.274–275
  16. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 39244, page 3095, 1 June 1951. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
  17. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp.73-74
  18. ^ Helson, "10 Years at the Top", pp.293–294
  19. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 40367, page 40, 31 December 1954. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
  20. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, p.187
  21. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p.241
  22. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp.282-284
  23. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p.221
  24. ^ a b A Brief History of the Australian Veterans and Defence Services Council Inc. at AVADSC
  25. ^ Record no. VN/66/0087/03 at Australian War Memorial collections database
  26. ^ Goode, John (1990). "Australasia on File", in Sondra Griffiths (Australasia ed.): The World Book Year Book. Chicago: World Book, Inc. ISBN 0716604906. 

[edit] References


Military offices
Preceded by
Air Marshal Sir Donald Hardman		 Chief of the Air Staff
1954–1957		 Succeeded by
Air Marshal Sir Frederick Scherger