William Bostock

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Dowling (Bill) Bostock
5 February 1892 – April 28, 1968 (aged 76)

Air Vice Marshal Bill Bostock, 1945
Place of birth Sydney, New South Wales
Place of death Benalla, Victoria
Allegiance Flag of Australia Commonwealth of Australia
Service/branch Royal Australian Air Force
Years of service 1914–1946
Rank Air Vice Marshal
Commands held No. 3 Squadron (1931–1936)
RAAF Command (1942–1945)
Battles/wars World War I
World War II
Awards Companion of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Officer of the British Empire
Croix de guerre (Belgium)
Medal of Freedom (United States)
Other work Member for Indi (1949–1958)

Air Vice Marshal William Dowling (Bill) Bostock CB, DSO, OBE, Croix de guerre (Belgium) (5 February 1892 – 28 April 1968) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force. A World War I veteran, he served first as a soldier in the Australian Imperial Force, then as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. He joined the newly-formed RAAF in 1921 and by 1941 had risen to become its third most senior officer. The Deputy Chief of the Air Staff from 1939, he was considered a leading candidate for the position of Chief of the Air Staff in 1942 but was passed over in favour of Air Commodore George Jones. Appointed Air Officer Commanding RAAF Command soon after, Bostock was involved in a long-running conflict with Jones over control of the Air Force in the South West Pacific Area. As an operational commander, he was described by General Douglas MacArthur as "one of the world's most successful airmen". After retirement from the RAAF in 1946 Bostock became a journalist and later a Federal Member of Parliament.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Bostock was born in Surry Hills, an inner suburb of Sydney. He was educated at The School in Mount Victoria, in the Blue Mountains district of New South Wales. Prior to World War I he spent time at sea as a wireless operator.[1]

[edit] World War I

On 23 November 1914 Bostock joined the 2nd Signal Troop of the Australian Imperial Force. He landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, serving there until August, when he was evacuated suffering from dysentery. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in February 1917 and after pilot training in England was posted to No. 48 Squadron in August. He fought on the Western Front and was awarded the Belgian Croix de guerre.[1]

[edit] Inter-war years

Following World War I, Bostock briefly transferred to the Royal Air Force (RAF). He married Gwendolen Meade Norton in Southampton on 6 March 1919, and returned to civilian life in Australia in October.[1] On 14 September 1921 he joined the recently-formed Royal Australian Air Force and was commissioned a Flight Lieutenant. He became a friend and mentor to George Jones, another World War I veteran who had joined the Air Force in March.[2][3]

Bostock attended RAF Staff College, Andover between 1926 and 1928. On his return to Australia as a Squadron Leader in December 1929, he was made Director of Training at RAAF Headquarters in Melbourne. Between 1931 and 1936 Bostock was Commanding Officer No. 3 Squadron, a position which at the time doubled as CO of the squadron's base, RAAF Station Richmond.[4] A Wing Commander from 1934, Bostock was promoted to Group Captain on 1 September 1938 and made Director of Operations and Intelligence. One year later he was appointed Deputy Chief of the Air Staff.[1]

[edit] World War II

[edit] Deputy Chief of the Air Staff

Air Vice Marshal Bostock (right) was Deputy Chief of the Air Staff to Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett (left), pictured in 1942
Air Vice Marshal Bostock (right) was Deputy Chief of the Air Staff to Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett (left), pictured in 1942

Bostock continued to rise rapidly in rank following the outbreak of World War II, becoming acting Air Commodore on 1 June 1940 and Air Vice Marshal on 1 October 1941.[5] Third in seniority in the RAAF after Air Marshal Richard Williams and Air Vice Marshal Stanley Goble,[2] and described as its "most capable senior commander" at the time,[6] Bostock was a prime candidate for the position of Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) in May 1942.[2][7] He was also first choice of the incumbent CAS, Air Chief Marshal Charles Burnett, whose two-year term was coming to an end. However Bostock's closeness to Burnett, who had made no secret of his contempt for John Curtin's Labor government, damaged his chances for selection and his friend, George Jones, then only a substantive Wing Commander and acting Air Commodore, took the position.[2][8] Although he had expected to be made CAS, Bostock warmly congratulated Jones, possibly expecting that his (Bostock's) new role as Chief of Staff to the Commander of Allied Air Forces, Lieutenant General George Brett, with responsibility for air operations in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA), would prove the more important appointment in a time of war.[8]

[edit] RAAF Command

Air Vice Marshal Bostock (centre) with newly-appointed Chief of the Air Staff AVM George Jones (left) and former CAS Air Chief Marshal Burnett, 1942
Air Vice Marshal Bostock (centre) with newly-appointed Chief of the Air Staff AVM George Jones (left) and former CAS Air Chief Marshal Burnett, 1942

In August 1942, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander SWPA, replaced Brett with Major General George Kenney. Kenney created two new formations subordinate to Allied Air Forces Headquarters: the U.S. Fifth Air Force and RAAF Command. Bostock was chosen to be Air Officer Commanding RAAF Command,[2] with 24 Australian squadrons at his disposal plus one each from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.[9] The structure of the RAAF was divided such that Bostock was in operational charge of the Air Force in the South West Pacific but relied on Jones as CAS for supplies of manpower and equipment, while Jones was nominally in command of the entire RAAF but played no part in directing its major air operations against Japan. The situation was a source of "acute personal tension" between the two senior officers for the remainder of the war.[10] Air Force historian Dr Alan Stephens later commented: "The system of divided command... was not an ideal arrangement, but with men of goodwill it could have worked. Regrettably Bostock and Jones were not of that mind..."[11]

Bostock's relationship to Kenney permitted him to ignore operational requests from Jones,[12] while Jones continued to assert administrative control over Bostock’s command.[13] When Jones tried to remove Bostock from RAAF Command in April 1943 and replace him with Air Commodore J.E. Hewitt, AOC of No. 9 Operational Group, Bostock appealed to Kenney, who advised Jones that he was opposed to any such change of command. Kenney threatened to escalate the matter to the Australian Government, and some time later MacArthur told Curtin that Hewitt "was not an adequate replacement" for Bostock.[14]

An acrimonious series of cables was exchanged between the two Air Vice Marshals in January 1945. Jones complained to Bostock of the latter’s "insubordinate tone" and "repeated attempts to usurp authority of this Headquarters". Bostock replied that as AOC RAAF Command he was "responsible to Commander, Allied Air Forces, and not, repeat not, subordinate to you”, and that he would "continue to take the strongest exception to your unwarranted and uninformed interference".[15] The feud reached its nadir during the invasion of Tarakan in May 1945, when Jones made a unilateral decision to ground Australian bomber squadrons scheduled to take part in the attack; Bostock said that he would have thankfully "fallen through a crack in the boards on the deck" as he watched the Allied formations from a U.S. warship, minus the expected RAAF aircraft.[11]

[edit] The "Morotai Mutiny"

Along with Jones and Kenney, Bostock became involved in the so-called "Morotai Mutiny" of April 1945, when a group of senior pilots in the Australian First Tactical Air Force (1TAF) submitted their resignations rather than continue to attack what they believed to be worthless targets. Alerted to the issue by 1TAF’s commander, Air Commodore Harry Cobby, Bostock appealed to the pilots to withdraw their resignations. His methods have been construed as an attempt to "make the situation go away or to at least cover it up". One of the "mutineers", Squadron Leader John Waddy, quoted Bostock as saying, "I will leave these applications on the table and if you pick them up, all records and all notes of any of this affair will be expunged from Air Force records and files and nothing will be heard about it".[16] When the pilots refused to drop the matter, Bostock signalled Jones, advising that he found morale on the island to be at a "dangerously low level" and recommending the CAS replace Cobby with Air Commodore Frederick Scherger.[17] Kenney concurred with Bostock, and Jones sacked Cobby.[18]

[edit] Post-war career

Air Vice Marshal Bostock (left), General Sir Thomas Blamey (centre) and AVM Jones (behind Blamey) with other Australian delegates to the Japanese surrender aboard USS Missouri, September 1945
Air Vice Marshal Bostock (left), General Sir Thomas Blamey (centre) and AVM Jones (behind Blamey) with other Australian delegates to the Japanese surrender aboard USS Missouri, September 1945

Along with Jones, Bostock represented the Royal Australian Air Force at the Japanese surrender aboard USS Missouri on 2 September 1945.[19] RAAF Command was disbanded the same day.[20] Bostock was one of a number of Air Force commanders summarily retired early in 1946, in his case six years before the compulsory retirement age of 60.[21] Among the reasons for Bostock's dismissal was, according to private government papers, an "inability to work in harmony with certain other high ranking RAAF officers".[22] He appealed the decision, citing a letter from MacArthur that described him as "one of the world's most successful airmen ... superior in every respect", but was unsuccessful.[23][24] Various newspapers raised questions about Bostock's departure, The Herald in Melbourne speculating on the part played by rivalries within the service.[22]

Bostock went into journalism after leaving the service, becoming an aviation correspondent for The Herald. He wrote a series of articles criticising the Air Force's organisation and presenting his side of the story of RAAF Command during the war.[25] Standing as a Liberal Party candidate for the Division of Indi in Victoria, he was elected to Federal parliament in 1949 and retained the seat for ten years.[26][27] He served on a joint committee for foreign affairs and occasionally spoke against his own party on matters of defence policy.[1]

Bostock's first wife died in 1947, and he married 33-year-old Nanette Mary O'Keefe in Melbourne on 1 June 1951. He owned a property near Benalla, in rural Victoria, where he died in 1968.[1]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Garrison, Australian Dictionary of Biography, pp.224-225
  2. ^ a b c d e Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp.116-119
  3. ^ Helson, "10 Years at the Top", pp.16-19
  4. ^ Roylance, Air Base Richmond, pp.21-23,113,123
  5. ^ Helson, "10 Years at the Top", p.44
  6. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, p.21
  7. ^ Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, pp.475-477
  8. ^ a b Helson, "10 Years at the Top", pp.75-79
  9. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp.4-6
  10. ^ Odgers, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp.42-43
  11. ^ a b Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp.120-122
  12. ^ Helson, "10 Years at the Top", pp.132,159
  13. ^ Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, pp.595–596
  14. ^ Helson, "10 Years at the Top", pp.123-126
  15. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp.436–437
  16. ^ Alexander, "Cleaning the augean stables"
  17. ^ Odgers, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 122–123
  18. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp.123-125
  19. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, p.208
  20. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, p.66
  21. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p.179
  22. ^ a b Helson, "10 Years at the Top", pp.237-240
  23. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p.170
  24. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, p.23
  25. ^ Helson, "10 Years at the Top", pp.245-249
  26. ^ Helson, "10 Years at the Top", p.70
  27. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p.182

[edit] References