Talk:Richard Williams (RAAF officer)

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A fact from Richard Williams (RAAF officer) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 25 September 2007.

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[edit] RAAF personnel in Europe in Australian units

Nice expansion, Ian. I'm not sure if it was you who added: "Williams maintained that RAAF personnel in Europe should serve in Australian units to preserve their national identity, rather than be integrated into RAF squadrons, but he was overruled"(?) I'm just curious -- separate squadrons were a key aspect of Article XV and I was under the impression that the RAAF were quite keen on it, but they just didn't jump up and own about it. Or was Williams proposing that they should jump up and down about it? Cheers, Grant | Talk 04:53, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks mate. Yes I added that, this is pretty much a complete rewrite of everything that was there before as well as expansion since the previous version was largely a straight copy of RW's AWM bio. Thanks for picking up on this - it shows the value of peer reviews as my wording was a bit lazy. As the EATS article states, "Under Article XV of the training plan, graduates were supposed to be assigned to squadrons from their own air forces or with a specific national designation, which were under the operational control of the Royal Air Force (RAF). [...] However, in practice — and technically in contravention of Article XV — most personnel from other air forces, while they were under RAF operational control, were assigned to British units." What I was implying in the Williams article is that he was unhappy that the Article XV provisions were not often followed in practice - the "overruled" part is an oversimplification. Suppose I reword the RW article to something like: "Williams maintained that RAAF personnel in Europe should serve in Australian units to preserve their national identity, as per Article XV of the Empire Air Training Scheme, rather than be integrated into RAF squadrons, but in practice most served in British units." Cheers, Ian Rose 08:35, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Director General of Civil Aviation

1946 to 1955 is about nine years, not 20 as stated.Grahamec 02:57, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Appears to have been best part of 10 years but, in any case, mea culpa and thanks for spotting it. Cheers, Ian Rose 03:16, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] RAF

He appears to have briefly held an RAF commission per London Gazette: no. 32078, page 9816, 8 October 1920. Retrieved on 2008-06-08. - worth mentioning? (he also listed under the RAF for his OBE, albeit with (AusFC) after his name) David Underdown (talk) 09:55, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Now also found the original notice of the RAF commission "a temp, supplemental commn. as Lt.-Col. (A.). 28th June 1918.", London Gazette: no. 31380, page 7070, 3 June 1919. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.. Presuambly the end of his RAF commission coincides with his return to Australia. David Underdown (talk) 10:37, 9 June 2008 (UTC)