David Evans (RAAF officer)

David Evans (RAAF officer)
Selwyn David Evans
Informal half portrait of three people: woman wearing white, man in dark military uniforms, and another man in light-coloured military uniform
Flying Officer Evans (centre) following return from service in the Berlin Airlift, flanked by his wife and Air Vice Marshal John McCauley, November 1949
Born 3 June 1925 (1925-06-03) (age 86)
Paddington, New South Wales
Allegiance  Australia
Service/branch  Royal Australian Air Force
Years of service 1943–1985
Rank Air Marshal
Unit No. 38 Squadron (1945–48)
Governor-General's Flight (1954–56)
Commands held No. 2 Squadron (1967–68)
RAAF Base Amberley (1975–77)
Chief of the Air Staff (1982–85)
Battles/wars World War II
Berlin Airlift
Vietnam War
Awards Companion of the Order of Australia
Distinguished Service Order
Air Force Cross
Other work Author; consultant

Air Marshal Selwyn David Evans, AC, DSO, AFC (born 3 June 1925) is a retired senior commander of the Royal Australian Air Force, and a writer and consultant on defence matters. He served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1982 until 1985. Since leaving the RAAF he has published two military treatises, A Fatal Rivalry: Australia's Defence at Risk and War: A Matter of Principles, and completed an autobiography.

Enlisting in the Air Force in 1943, Evans graduated from flying school as a sergeant pilot, and was converting to Beaufort bombers when World War II ended. From 1948 to 1949, he was a member of the Australian contingent operating C-47 Dakota transports in the Berlin Airlift. He was an instructor in the early 1950s, before becoming a VIP captain with the Governor-General's Flight in 1954. His service in the flight earned him the Air Force Cross in 1957. In the 1960s Evans was twice posted to No. 2 Squadron, flying Canberra jet bombers: first as a flight commander when the unit was based in Malaysia in 1960–62 and then as its commanding officer during the Vietnam War in 1967–68. The Canberras achieved a high degree of accuracy on their bombing missions under his leadership, and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order after completing his tour in Vietnam.

Evans held senior staff positions in the early 1970s, before serving as Officer Commanding RAAF Base Amberley from 1975 until 1977. Promoted to air vice marshal, he then became Chief of Air Force Operations. In this role he enhanced the RAAF's strategy for the defence of Australia, to fully exploit the "air-sea gap" on the northern approaches to the continent. Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1981, he was Chief of Joint Operations and Plans for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) before his promotion to air marshal and elevation to Chief of the Air Staff in April 1982. As head of the Air Force he focussed on morale, air power doctrine, and improving defensive capabilities in northern Australia. He was raised to Companion of the Order of Australia in 1984. Retiring from the RAAF in May 1985, Evans began to write and lecture on defence matters, as well as standing for election in Federal politics. He was a board member and defence advisor to British Aerospace Australia (later BAE Systems Australia) from 1990 to 2009, and Chairman of the National Capital Authority from 1997 until 2003. In 2001 he was awarded the Centenary Medal for his services to the ADF and the Canberra community.

Contents

World War II and early post-war career

Twin-engined transport aircraft being towed from hangar by a tractor
RAF Dakota at Lubeck, West Germany, during the Berlin Airlift, April 1949

Selwyn Evans, known by his middle name of David, was born in the Sydney suburb of Paddington on 3 June 1925. The son of Selwyn Douglas Evans and his wife Eileen, David was educated to Intermediate Certificate level at Marist Brothers College in Mosman.[1][2] He subsequently became one of the earliest recruits to the Air Training Corps, established in 1941 to facilitate basic training for youths aged 16 to 18 whose ambition was to become aircrew in the Royal Australian Air Force. After spending a short time as a bank clerk, Evans duly enlisted in the RAAF on 5 June 1943.[2][3] He underwent instruction at No. 8 Service Flying Training School, an Empire Air Training Scheme facility in Bundaberg, Queensland.[4] After graduating as a sergeant pilot in October 1944, he was posted to the flying staff of No. 1 Air Observer School at Evans Head in northern New South Wales.[5][6]

Promoted to flight sergeant, Evans was in the middle of a Bristol Beaufort light bomber conversion course at No. 1 Operational Training Unit in East Sale, Victoria, when the war ended on 14 August 1945. His Air Force career should have finished then and there, as he was slated for demobilisation along with thousands of other wartime enlistees. Evans, however, was determined to remain and travelled to RAAF Headquarters in Melbourne to take his case to the officer responsible for discharges. He found a sympathetic ear and within days was transferred to No. 38 Squadron, with which he flew C-47 Dakota transports on a regular courier service to Japan between October 1945 and May 1948.[6][7] During this period he was commissioned as a pilot officer, becoming the most junior name in the 1947 Air Force List of serving officers and their seniority.[2] On 23 August 1948 he married Dorothy (Gail) Campbell, the daughter of a Merchant Navy captain; the couple had three daughters and a son.[1] Promoted to flying officer, Evans was posted the same month to RAAF Overseas Headquarters in London. From there he joined RAAF Squadron Berlin Air Lift—which comprised crews from Nos. 36 and 38 Squadrons and was based in Lubeck, West Germany—and flew over 250 sorties in Royal Air Force Dakotas during the Berlin Blockade.[6][8][9] Airlift operations were considered particularly challenging, as aircraft were expected to fly on instruments their entire route, often in inclement weather, and keep just three minutes separation. On one occasion, Evans and his crew discovered that boxes of condoms were their main cargo. According to Air Force historian Alan Stephens, "as they took off into a bleak, snow-filled night they found themselves questioning the worth of the sortie, an attitude which doubtless was not shared by the eventual recipients".[10]

Returning to Australia in November 1949, Evans qualified as a flying instructor and served in this capacity for the next four years, including an exchange posting with the Royal New Zealand Air Force from May 1951 to July 1953. In 1954 he became a VIP captain, serving with the Governor-General's Flight until 1956.[5][6] Promoted to squadron leader, his services with the VIP flight earned him the Air Force Cross in the Queen's Birthday Honours promulgated in the London Gazette on 13 June 1957.[6][11] The same year, he attended RAAF Staff College, Point Cook. He became Personal Staff Officer to the Minister for Air in 1958.[5] From 1960 until 1962 he served as a flight commander in No. 2 Squadron, operating English Electric Canberra bombers out of RAAF Base Butterworth, Malaysia. He subsequently attended the RAF College of Air Warfare.[1][5] Evans was posted to Washington, DC, as Assistant Air Attaché in January 1965.[6]

Vietnam War and senior command

Side view of camouflaged twin-engined military jet in level flight
No. 2 Squadron Canberra over Vietnam

In April 1967, the Australian government committed No. 2 Squadron and its Canberra bombers to action in the Vietnam War. Operating from Phan Rang Air Base outside Saigon, under the direction of the US 35th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW), the Canberras were initially engaged in medium-altitude missions against Viet Cong forces, guided by Sky Spot ground radar, usually at night. Promoted to wing commander, Evans assumed control of the squadron in December 1967. By this time the Canberras were flying a greater proportion of their missions at lower levels in daylight, using visual bomb-aiming methods honed during their earlier service in Malaysia; this gave the bombers an average circular error probability (CEP) of 50 metres. Evans introduced intensive post-mission analysis to refine their technique, and permitted his pilots to bomb at the lowest level possible at which the bombsight would operate.[12][13] The CEP was eventually reduced to 20 metres, making the Canberras the most accurate bombing force in the region.[12][14] In January 1968, the unit participated in the air campaigns to defend Huế and Khe Sanh during the Tet Offensive.[12][13] Phan Rang itself was often subjected to harassing attacks and mortar fire from the Viet Cong, requiring Evans to undertake improvements to the airfield's ground defences.[15] He completed his posting to Vietnam in November 1968 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his performance as commander of No. 2 Squadron.[6][16] The decoration was gazetted on 2 May 1969 and backdated to 13 March. By this time he had been promoted to group captain and appointed Director of Air Force Plans, a post he held until 1971.[5][17]

Evans completed studies at the Royal College of Defence Studies, London, in 1972. Returning to Australia, he served as Director-General Plans and Policy, Air Force, during 1973–74 and was Officer Commanding RAAF Base Amberley from February 1975 until April 1977.[1][18] In the latter role he qualified as a pilot on the recently delivered General Dynamics F-111C swing-wing bomber, as well as the UH-1 Iroquois helicopter.[6] Promoted to air vice marshal, Evans was Chief of Air Force Operations (CAFOPS) between 1977 and 1980; he also served temporarily as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff in 1978.[5][19] As CAFOPS, Evans played a major part in developing the RAAF’s plans for the defence of Australia. Following America's announcement in the 1969 Guam Doctrine that its allies would have to assume greater self-reliance in their military affairs, Australia's strategic thought underwent a change from its earlier policy of "forward defence" to a more localised defensive posture. While the consensus among RAAF planning staff was to adopt a "repulsion" concept of repelling an enemy force on the air and sea approaches to northern Australia, Evans considered that this did not go far enough in exploiting the long-range offensive capabilities of such aircraft as the F-111. Convinced that Australia's numerically small forces would be hard-pressed to dislodge an invader that had gained a foothold on the continent, he refined the "repulsion" stance into what he termed an "anti-lodgement" strategy, focussing on defeating the enemy at its potential staging bases north of Australia and then, as a last resort, on the approaches closer to home. The Air Force’s role in shaping an overall strategy that took advantage of the "air-sea gap" was later acknowledged in the Federal government paper The Defence of Australia 1987.[19] Evans was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia on 26 January 1981 for his achievements as CAFOPS.[6][20]

In 1980, Evans was appointed Chief of Joint Operations and Plans for the Australian Defence Force (ADF). He was promoted to air marshal and became Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), the RAAF's senior position, on 20 April 1982.[5][21] As CAS he took steps to enhance discipline, bearing and morale in the Air Force, demanding high personal standards.[22][23] He sponsored the development of an Australian air power doctrine, eventually published as the Air Power Manual under one of his successors, Air Marshal Ray Funnell, in 1990.[24] As early as 1969, Evans had advocated permanently basing a squadron of fighter aircraft at RAAF Tindal, in the Northern Territory. Tindal was one of a series of forward air bases initiated by Air Marshal Sir Frederick Scherger when he was CAS in 1959, but a defence committee decision prior to Evans becoming CAS had determined to locate the RAAF's northernmost fighter squadron at Darwin. His chance remark in mid-1982 to the then-new Minister of Defence, Ian Sinclair, regarding the suitability of Tindal over Darwin led to the former base being chosen as the home of No. 75 (Fighter) Squadron. Alan Stephens described the permanent manning of Tindal as having "formalised the shift to the strategy of defence-in-depth—of defending Australia by controlling its air-sea gap".[25][26] Evans also directed the introduction of an airman aircrew scheme for maritime patrol aircraft. Previously all such crews had comprised commissioned officers, but under the new concept crew members such as flight engineers and sensor operators would be NCOs; the scheme was later extended to the crews of transport aircraft and helicopters.[27] For his service as CAS, Evans was raised to a Companion of the Order of Australia on 11 June 1984.[28] On 2 May 1985, he became the first serving member of the ADF to be invited to speak at the National Press Club in Canberra. During his speech he reiterated the need for Australia to acquire an airborne early warning capability to enhance the effectiveness of the soon-to-be-delivered F/A-18 Hornet multirole fighter, declaring that "Jindalee is not sufficient".[29] Later that month the first of the Hornets, whose acquisition Evans had supported while CAFOPS, was handed over to No. 2 Operational Conversion Unit at RAAF Base Williamtown, New South Wales.[30][31]

Later career

I had absolutely no compunction in using the word 'elite' in conjunction with the Royal Australian Air Force. It is a force operating at the forefront of aerospace technology, in a medium that is very unforgiving of mistakes.

—Air Marshal Evans at the annual RAAF History Conference, Canberra, 14 October 1992 [23]

Evans retired as CAS on 30 May 1985, having flown in excess of 8,600 hours during his RAAF career.[3][6] He was praised by his successor, Air Marshal Jake Newham, for his "extraordinary zeal and robustness" that helped instil "a renewed sense of pride in the Service".[32] In retirement Evans became a consultant on defence and aviation matters, and wrote and lectured extensively on air power. As a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre in 1986, he produced a working paper focussing on the RAAF's concept of operations, Air Operations in Northern Australia.[33] The same year, he was publicly critical of the Federal government's Dibb Report, claiming that while it contained "sensible policy for the defence of Australia", it did not recognise the ADF's offensive capabilities: "People win wars by taking the initiative. In war the aim must be to win. [...] If you are a small force you cannot afford to wait, and otherwise you will be defeated."[34] Evans also stood for political office, running as the Liberal candidate for the seat of Eden-Monaro, New South Wales, in the 1987 Australian Federal Election.[35] The seat was retained by the sitting Labor member Jim Snow.[36]

In 1990, Evans published his critique of Australian defence policies, A Fatal Rivalry: Australia’s Defence at Risk; he followed this in 2000 with War: A Matter of Principles, featuring contributions from senior soldiers and military analysts.[22][37] Also in 1990, Evans joined the Board of British Aerospace Australia as a non-executive director, and was later appointed Senior Defence Advisor to BAE Systems Australia, retiring in 2009.[8] From 1997 until 2003, he was Chairman of the National Capital Authority, and from 1999 until 2003 was the National President of the Royal United Services Institute Australia. Evans has been the patron of numerous organisations including the Airfield Defence Guards Association, the Royal Australian Air Force Association (ACT Division), The Celtic Club Australia, and the Royal Australian Air Force Staff College Association.[1] In January 2001 he was awarded the Centenary Medal for "service to Australian society through Australian Defence Force and to the Canberra community".[38] He was the Chairman of the 60th Anniversary Victory in the Pacific Steering Committee in 2005.[1] His autobiography, Down to Earth, was released in July 2011.[39]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Singh, Who’s Who in Australia 2010, pp. 714–715
  2. ^ a b c Stephens; Isaacs, High Fliers, pp. 168–170
  3. ^ a b Evans, Selwyn David at World War 2 Nominal Roll. Retrieved on 12 June 2011
  4. ^ Mordike, The Home Front, p. 44
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Air Marshals at Royal Australian Air Force. Retrieved on 112 June 2011.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Mordike, The Post-War Years, p. vi
  7. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, p. 9
  8. ^ a b Retirement of Air Marshal David Evans at BAE Systems. Retrieved on 12 June 2011.
  9. ^ Clark, Operation Pelican, p. 78
  10. ^ Stephens, Going Solo, pp.199–200
  11. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 41090. p. 3410. 13 June 1957. Retrieved on 12 June 2011.
  12. ^ a b c Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 271–273
  13. ^ a b Mordike, The RAAF in the War in Vietnam, pp. 55–58
  14. ^ Coulthard-Clark, The RAAF in Vietnam, pp. 195–196
  15. ^ Coulthard-Clark, The RAAF in Vietnam, p. 231
  16. ^ Evans, Selwyn David at Nominal Roll of Vietnam Veterans. Retrieved on 14 June 2011.
  17. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 44840. p. 4657. 2 May 1969. Retrieved on 12 June 2011.
  18. ^ RAAF Historical Section, Units, p. 123
  19. ^ a b Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 278–279
  20. ^ Officer of the Order of Australia at It's an Honour. Retrieved on 16 June 2011.
  21. ^ Stephens, Australia's Air Chiefs p. 43
  22. ^ a b Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p. 311
  23. ^ a b Stephens, Australia's Air Chiefs, pp. 47–48
  24. ^ Stephens, Power With Attitude, pp. 186–192
  25. ^ Stephens, Australia's Air Chiefs, pp. 52–53
  26. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 283, 299–300
  27. ^ Stephens, Australia's Air Chiefs, pp. 45, 52
  28. ^ Companion of the Order of Australia at It's an Honour. Retrieved on 16 June 2011.
  29. ^ "'Thank you' – AM Evans". RAAF News Volume 27 No. 5 (Department of Defence): p. 3. June 1985. 
  30. ^ F/A-18 Hornet at RAAF Museum. Retrieved on 16 June 2011.
  31. ^ Stephens, Power With Attitude, p. 177
  32. ^ Llewelyn, Ken (June 1985). "New CAS sets his sights on the future". RAAF News Volume 27 No. 5 (Department of Defence): p. 1. 
  33. ^ Stephens, Power With Attitude, pp. 195, 216
  34. ^ Walters, Patrick (11 June 1986). "Offensive lacking says air marshal". The Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Media): p. 8. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lfMjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=M-gDAAAAIBAJ&dq=david%20evans%20raaf&pg=2163%2C6763654. Retrieved on 16 June 2011. 
  35. ^ Gleeson, Andrew (12 February 1987). "Barnstormer Howards sticks to co-pilot 'Sincs'". The Age (Fairfax Media): p. 4. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ShlVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yJMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5243,690736&. Retrieved on 16 June 2011. 
  36. ^ Profile of the electoral division of Eden-Monaro (NSW) at Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved on 12 June 2011.
  37. ^ War: A Matter of Principles at Royal Australian Air Force. Retrieved on 16 June 2011.
  38. ^ Centenary Medal at It's an Honour. Retrieved on 16 June 2011.
  39. ^ Down to Earth at Royal Australian Air Force. Retrieved 16 June 2011.

References

Further reading


Military offices
Preceded by
Air Marshal Sir Neville McNamara
Chief of the Air Staff
1982–1985
Succeeded by
Air Marshal John Newham

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