page_title: Air Board (Australia)
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Air Board (Australia) / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: Australia. Department of Air. Air Board (1941&#160;: Victoria Barracks). Shows members sitting at a table, from left: Mr. C. V. Kellway, Finance Member; Mr. r. Lawson, Director General of Supply and Production; Air Vice-Marshal H. N. Wrigley, Air Member for Personnel; Air Chief-Marshal Sir Charles Burnett, Chief of Air Staff; Mr. F. J. Mulrooney, Secretary Air Board; Air Marshall R. Williams, Air Member for Organisation and Equipment; Mr. W. S. Jones, Business Member and Mr. M. C. Langslow, Secretary, Department of Air.
context_page_description: The Air Board, also known as the Administrative Air Board, or the Air Board of Administration, was the controlling body of the Royal Australian Air Force from 1921 to 1976. It was composed of senior RAAF officers as well as some civilian members, and chaired by the Chief of the Air Staff. The CAS was the operational head of the Air Force, and the other board members were responsible for specific areas of the service such as personnel, supply, engineering, and finance. Initially based in Melbourne, the board relocated to Canberra in 1961.
  Formed in 1920, the Air Board's first task was to establish the air force that it was to administer. The board initially came under the control of another body, the Air Council, that included the chiefs of the Army and Navy; after the council's dissolution in 1929 the Air Board had equal status with the Army and Navy boards, reporting directly to the Minister for Defence. According to Air Force Regulations, the Air Board was collectively responsible for administering the RAAF, not the CAS alone.
context_section_description: On the eve of World War II, the RAAF comprised twelve flying squadrons, two aircraft depots and a flying school, situated at five air bases in Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia, all directly administered and controlled through Air Force Headquarters in Melbourne. The Air Board consisted of the CAS, AMP, AMS, and Finance Member. Each of these members was responsible for their own branches within the RAAF, and each branch consisted of several directorates. Staff of the board members' branches at Air Force Headquarters numbered thirty-eight.
  In November 1939, following the outbreak of war, the Australian government reorganised the Department of Defence into four ministries: the Department of Defence Coordination, headed by Prime Minister Robert Menzies, and the Departments of Air, Army and Navy, each with their own minister; the Air Board became responsible to the Minister for Air. The board's Finance Member, M.C. Langslow, was appointed Secretary of the Department of Air. In anticipation of a significant increase in manpower and units, the Air Board decided to decentralise command and control of the RAAF. Goble proposed in January 1940 to organise the Air Force along functional lines with Home Defence, Training, and Maintenance Commands, as well as an Overseas Command. The Air Board supported the plan but the Federal government chose not to implement it.
  Goble was replaced in February 1940 by Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett, RAF, who focussed on rapidly expanding the RAAF to meet the needs of the Empire Air Training Scheme and believed that Australia's huge land mass would make a functional command system unwieldy. He proceeded to reorganise the Air Force into a geographically based "area" system. The air officer commanding (AOC) of each area was delegated operational and administrative authority within their spheres of responsibility, while the members of the Air Board determined high-level policy. At the same time, the Air Board was reorganised to comprise the CAS, AMP, Air Member for Organisation and Equipment (AMOE), Director-General of Supply and Production (DGSP), and Finance Member (FM); a Business Member (BM) was added in December. DGSP, FM and BM were civilian positions. Williams, promoted to acting air marshal, was recalled from Britain to take up the position of AMOE. According to Williams, Burnett acted "as though he were a Commander in Chief", ignoring the Air Board's role in controlling the RAAF. In early 1942, Burnett recommended the board's abolition but the Federal government rejected the idea.
  RAAF forces in the Middle East and Europe were fully integrated into the RAF chain of command. The Air Board established RAAF Overseas Headquarters, London, in December 1941, to look after the interests of aircrew stationed in these theatres, but the headquarters had little influence on the deployment of Australian personnel, who were subject to RAF policy and strategy even when they belonged to ostensibly RAAF squadrons. According to the official history of Australia in the war, air officers commanding the headquarters could only attempt to "retard the centrifugal forces affecting Australian disposition, and repair the worst administrative difficulties arising from wide dispersion". In contrast to the Canadians, who attempted to gain a place on Britain's Air Council and established No. 6 Group RCAF as part of RAF Bomber Command, the Australian government did not press for control of its own assets in the air war against Germany.
  Allied Air Forces Headquarters was formed in April 1942 and assumed the operational responsibilities of the CAS in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA). The Air Board was again reorganised: the offices of AMOE and DGSP were dissolved and replaced by those of the Air Member for Supply and Equipment (AMSE) and Air Member for Engineering and Maintenance (AMEM) to focus on the two key logistical functions of supply and engineering, respectively. In June, Air Commodore George Mackinolty became the inaugural AMSE and Air Commodore Ellis Wackett the inaugural AMEM. Author Norman
caption: The Air Board meeting c. 1941. From left: C.V. Kellway, Finance Member; R. Lawson, Director General of Supply and Production; Air Vice-Marshal H.N. Wrigley, Air Member for Personnel; Air Chief-Marshal Sir Charles Burnett, Chief of the Air Staff; F.J. Mulrooney, Secretary to the Air Board; Air Marshal R. Williams, Air Member for Organisation and Equipment; W.S. Jones, Business Member; and M.C. Langslow, Secretary of the Department of Air.
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