Frank Headlam

Frank Headlam

Frank Headlam CB CBE (born July 15, 1914 in Launceston , Tasmania , † December 23, 1976 in Melbourne ) was an Australian Air Force officer in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), who served temporarily in the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and most recently as Major General ( Air Vice Marshal ) between 1968 and 1971 Head of the Australian Military Mission ( Head of the Australian Joint Services Staff ) in Great Britain.

Life

Aviation training and World War II

Headlam, son of the farmer Malcolm Headlam and his wife Hilda Mary Burrill, completed his school education at Clemes College in Hobart , which he left with a diploma in 1932. After working for some time on his parents' farm, he joined the Royal Australian Air Force on January 16, 1934 and then completed his aviation training as an Air Cadet at the RAAF Point Cook military airfield . After completing his training, he was accepted into the RAAF as a professional soldier in January 1935 and promoted to lieutenant ( pilot officer ). After completing further courses, he himself became an instructor at the No.1 Flying Training School at RAAF Point Cook in 1936 , where he was promoted to captain ( flight lieutenant ) in March 1937 .

In 1938 Headlam was one of the participants in the RAAF's first specialist course for navigation and graduated with honors. In 1939 he was transferred to RAAF Laverton Air Force Base and was the aviation commander of No. 1 Squadron RAAF and No. 2 Squadron RAAF before he was subsequently a navigational officer at this air force base. In 1940 he was transferred to the RAAF headquarters in Melbourne and promoted to Major ( Squadron Leader ). In April 1941 he returned to the RAAF Laverton Air Force Base and was subsequently appointed Commanding Officer of No. 2 Squadron RAAF . Three months later, in July 1941, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel ( wing commander ). In December 1941 which were Lockheed Hudson - bombers his squadron to Penfui laid the airport of Kupang on West Timor in order from there the offensive of the Japanese Armed Forces Pacific War narrow. In January 1942, Air Commodore Joseph Eric Hewitt , Vice Chief of Staff of the Allied Air Forces in the Pacific, which consisted of Australian, British, Dutch and US units, visited the air force base and found that the Headlams unit was operating with considerable difficulty.

After a brief assignment at the headquarters of the Northwest Australian Air Force Forces ( RAAF North-Western Area Command ) in February 1942, Headlam served as the commandant of navigation and aerial reconnaissance schools in Victoria and South Australia between 1942 and 1944 . During this time he was promoted to Colonel ( Group Captain ) in December 1943 and also completed a course for staff officers at the RAAF Staff School in Mount Martha .

Staff officer in the post-war period

In January 1945 Headlam returned to RAAF Base Darwin and was first Chief of Staff ( Senior Administrative Staff Officer ) and then commander of the Northwest Australian Air Force Units stationed there. He then completed another staff course at RAF Staff College, Andover, from 1946 to 1947 , and after his return to Australia in November 1947 he took over the role of head of the training department at the RAAF headquarters in Canberra . In December 1950 he became commander of the No.90 Wing RAAF in British Malaya and in 1951 took over the post of commander of the RAF Tengah air base in the British Crown Colony for several months , from where operations against communist insurgents were flown.

In February 1952, Headlam became Chief of Staff of the RAAF Home Command in Penrith City . In 1953 he was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). After his promotion to the Air Commodore in January 1955, he went to London in November 1955 to complete a course at the Imperial Defense College there. After his return to Australia, he was initially acting as the successor to Air Vice Marshal Frederick Scherger and his replacement by Air Vice Marshal Allan Walters between March and October 1957 as acting representative of the Air Force for personnel matters on the Air Board and from October 1957 to January 1959 head the planning department in the Air Force Staff. In 1958 he became Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and then took over again in August 1959 from Air Vice Marshal Allan Walters as Acting Air Member for Personnel in the Air Force Committee. In this capacity he was replaced in May 1960 by Air Vice Marshal William Hely . During an absence from Air Vice Marshal Ian Dougald McLachlan , he was Acting Deputy Chief of Air Force Staff between May and June 1960.

Ascent to Air Vice Marshal

In January 1961, Headlam was appointed as the successor to Air Vice Marshal Valston Hancock to the Commander ( Air Officer Commanding ) of the RAAF Home Command emerged from the Operational Command ( RAAF Operational Command ). On May 29, 1961 he was promoted to major general ( Air Vice Marshal ) there. He remained on the post of RAAF Operational Command until he was replaced by Air Vice Marshal Alister Murdoch in 1962. He was then sent back to Malaya, where he held the post as commander of No. 224 Group RAF took over, succeeding Air Vice Marshal Ronald Rae . In this position he was involved in the operations against the so-called Konfrontasi from December 1962 , which had led to Indonesia's military operations on Borneo prior to the establishment of Malaysia . Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia were obliged to support the previous Malaya Federation under the Anglo-Malayan Defense Agreement . Headlam and his association were responsible for tactical and air defense operations against the armed forces of Indonesia to support the land and sea operations of the British-Malaysian Defense Alliance, thereby defending the independence of Sabah , Sarawak and Brunei . He remained in the post of commander of No. 224 Group RAF until he was replaced by Air Vice Marshal Christopher Foxley-Norris on November 30, 1964. For his services during the Konfrontasi he was Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1965 .

On his return to Australia, Headlam succeeded Air Vice Marshal Colin Hannah in 1965 as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff and held this position until he was replaced by Air Vice Marshal Brian Eaton in 1966. He then held the position of commander of the RAAF Support Command from 1966 to 1967 . Most recently, between January 1968 and his retirement from active military service in August 1971, he was Head of the Australian Joint Services Staff in Great Britain.

His marriage to Katherine Beatrice Bridge on June 15, 1940 at St Paul's Anglican Church in Frankston had a daughter and a son. That marriage later ended in divorce. On January 20, 1964, he married a second marriage to the widowed social worker Vernon Rima Howorth Spence-Swain, which marriage remained childless. He died as a result of many years of cancer .

Web links

• Entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography

Individual evidence

1. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 40054, HMSO, London, January 1, 1954, p. 40 ( PDF , accessed February 17, 2016, English).
2. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 41405, HMSO, London, June 3, 1958, p. 3550 ( PDF , accessed February 17, 2016, English).
3. ↑ No 224 Group on Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organization
4. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 43690, HMSO, London, June 22, 1965, p. 3977 ( PDF , accessed February 17, 2016, English).