Headlam served as Officer Commanding North @-@ Western Area in 1946 , and as Director of Training from 1947 to 1950 . In 1950 – 51 , during the Malayan Emergency , he was stationed at Singapore as commander of No. 90 ( Composite ) Wing and , later , RAF Tengah . He twice served as acting Air Member for Personnel , in 1957 and 1959 – 60 , receiving appointment as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1958 . Promoted air vice marshal , he successively held the positions of Air Officer Commanding ( AOC ) Operational Command in 1961 – 62 , AOC No. 224 Group RAF from 1962 to 1965 during the Indonesia – Malaysia Konfrontasi , Deputy Chief of the Air Staff in 1965 – 66 , and AOC Support Command in 1966 – 67 . He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1965 . Following a posting to London as Head of the Australian Joint Services Staff from 1968 to 1971 , he retired from the Air Force and died in Melbourne five years later .