Richard Williams (RAAF officer)

Infobox Military Person
name= Richard Williams
born= 3 August 1890
died= death date and age|1980|2|7|1890|8|3|df=yes
placeofbirth=Moonta Mines, South Australia
placeofdeath=Melbourne, Victoria


caption= Air Marshal Sir Richard Williams
nickname= "Dicky"
allegiance= flagicon|Australia Commonwealth of Australia
serviceyears=1909–1946
rank= Air Marshal
branch=
commands= No. 1 Squadron AFC (1917–1918)
No. 40 Wing RAF (1918–1919)
Chief of the Air Staff
(1922, 1925–1932, 1934–1939)
RAAF Overseas HQ (1941–1942)
unit=
battles=World War I
World War II
awards=Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches (2)
laterwork= Director-General of Civil Aviation (1946–1955)

Air Marshal Sir Richard Williams KBE, CB, DSO (3 August 1890 – 7 February 1980) is widely regarded as the 'father' of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He was the first military pilot to be trained in Australia, and went on to command Australian and British fighter units in World War I. A leading proponent for air power independent of other branches of the armed services, Williams played a major role in the birth of the RAAF and became its first Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) in 1922. He served as CAS for thirteen years over three terms, longer than any other officer.

Williams came from a working class background in South Australia. He was a Lieutenant in the Army when he learned to fly at Point Cook, Victoria in 1914. As a pilot with the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) in World War I, Williams rose to command No. 1 Squadron AFC, and later No. 40 Wing RAF. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and finished the war a Lieutenant Colonel. Afterwards he campaigned for an Australian Air Force run separately to the Army and Navy, which came into being in 1921.

The embryonic RAAF faced numerous challenges to its continued existence in the 1920s and early 1930s, and Williams received much of the credit for maintaining its independence. However an adverse report on flying safety standards saw him dismissed from the position of CAS and seconded to the RAF on the eve of World War II. Despite support in various quarters for his reinstatement as Air Force chief, and promotion to Air Marshal in 1940, he never again commanded the RAAF. After the war he was forcibly retired along with a number of other World War I veteran officers. He took up the position of Director-General of Civil Aviation in Australia, serving until his retirement in 1955.

Early career

Richard Williams was born in Moonta, South Australia, the son of a copper miner who had emigrated from Cornwall, England. [Odgers, "The Royal Australian Air Force", p.49] After leaving secondary school he worked as a telegraph messenger and then as a bank clerk. Williams enlisted in a militia unit, the South Australian Infantry Regiment, in 1909 at the age of 19. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the 5th Australian Infantry Regiment on 5 March 1911, joining the Permanent Military Forces the following year.AIF personnel file at National Archives of Australia]

In August 1914 Lieutenant Williams took part in Australia's inaugural military flying course at Central Flying School in Point Cook, Victoria, becoming the first student to graduate on 12 November 1914. [Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", p.1] Following an administrative and instructional posting he underwent advanced flying training at Point Cook in July 1915. The next month he married Constance Esther Griffiths, who was 13 years his senior. The couple had no children.

World War I

Quote_box
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align=right
quote="It was often said in the Flying Corps that if a new pilot got through his first three days without being shot down he was lucky; if he got through three weeks he was doing well and if he got through three months he was set."
source=Richard Williams |Williams was promoted Captain on 5 January 1916. He was appointed a flight commander in No. 1 Squadron Australian Flying Corps (AFC), which was initially numbered 67 Squadron Royal Flying Corps by the British. The unit departed Australia in March 1916 without any aircraft; after arriving in Egypt it received B.E.2 fighters, a type deficient in speed and manoeuvrability, and which lacked forward-firing machine guns. Williams wrote that in combat with the German Fokkers, "our fighting in the air was of short duration but could mean a quick end", and that he and his fellow pilots "depended mainly on luck".Odgers, "The Royal Australian Air Force", p.28] Cutlack, [http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/9/chapters/03.pdf "The Australian Flying Corps", pp.32-33] ] Williams and the other Australians were initially involved in isolated tasks around the Suez Canal, attached to various Royal Flying Corps units. No. 1 Squadron began to operate concertedly in December 1916, supporting the Allied advance on Palestine. [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/77213.asp Air Marshal Richard Williams] at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on 10 September 2007.] Williams rejoined it in February 1917.

Shortly after commencing operations with No. 1 Squadron, Williams narrowly avoided crash-landing when his engine stopped while he was bombing the railway terminus at Tel el Sheria. At first believing that he had been struck by enemy fire, he found that the engine switch outside his cockpit had turned off. Within 500 feet of the ground he was able to switch the engine back on and return to base. On 21 April 1917 Williams rescued a pilot forced down behind enemy lines, having the day before pressed home an attack on Turkish cavalry whilst under "intense anti-aircraft fire"; [Cutlack, [http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/9/chapters/05.pdf "The Australian Flying Corps", pp.56-63] ] these two actions earned him the Distinguished Service Order. [LondonGazette|issue=30234|supp=yes|date=14 August 1917|startpage=8353|accessdate=2008-06-08] He was promoted Major in May and given command of No. 1 Squadron, which re-equipped with Bristol Fighters later that year. In June 1918 he was made a temporary Lieutenant Colonel and commander of No. 40 Wing of the Royal Air Force's Palestine Brigade, comprising his own No. 1 Squadron and three British units. Twice Mentioned in Despatches, by the end of the war Williams had established himself, in the words of RAAF historian Dr Alan Stephens, as "the AFC's rising star".

Inter-war years

Birth of the Royal Australian Air Force

Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1919 New Year Honours, [LondonGazette|issue=31098|supp=yes|startpage=92|date=31 December 1918|accessdate=2008-06-08] Williams served as Staff Officer, Aviation, at Australian Imperial Force (AIF) headquarters in London, before returning to Australia and taking up the position of Director of Air Services at Army Headquarters, Melbourne. The Australian Flying Corps had meanwhile been disbanded at the end of the war, replaced by the Australian Air Corps (AAC) which was, like the AFC, a branch of the Army.Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", pp.26-31]

Upon establishment of the Australian Air Board on 9 November 1920, Williams and his fellow AAC officers dropped their army ranks in favour of those based on the Royal Air Force, which had come into being two years earlier. Williams, now a Wing Commander, personally compiled and tabled the Air Board's submissions to create the Australian Air Force (AAF), a service independent of both the Army and the Royal Australian Navy. The AAF was duly formed on 31 March 1921, the 'Royal' prefix being added five months later. [Gillison, [http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/26/chapters/01.pdf "Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942", p.15] ] Williams proposed an ensign for the AAF in July 1921, based on the Royal Air Force flag but featuring the five stars of the Southern Cross within the RAF roundel and the Commonwealth Star in the lower hoist quarter. However, this design was not adopted for the RAAF, the Government employing instead a direct copy of the RAF ensign until 1949, when a new design was chosen which included the stars of the Australian Flag.Air Power Development Centre, "The Australian Experience of Air Power", pp.32-35]

As the senior officer of the Air Board, known as First Air Member, Williams moved to consolidate the new service's position by expanding its assets and training. Shortly after the AAF's establishment, land was purchased for an air base at Laverton, eight kilometres inland of Point Cook, and in July 1921, Williams made the initial proposal to develop a base at Richmond, New South Wales, the first outside Victoria. He also started a program to second students from the Army and Navy, including graduates of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, to bolster officer numbers; candidates reaped by this scheme included future Air Force chiefs John McCauley, Frederick Scherger, Valston Hancock, and Alister Murdoch. [Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", pp.33-34] [Roylance, "Air Base Richmond", p.15] As a leader, Williams would gain a reputation for strong will, absorption in administrative minutiae and a "somewhat puritanical" nature. He became known throughout the service as "Dicky".Garrison, "Australian Dictionary of Biography", pp.502-505] Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", pp.16,340] [The spelling "Dickie" is occasionally used, for example in Roylance, "Air Base Richmond", p.31, though Roylance also employs "Dicky" on p.36]

Chief of the Air Staff

The position of First Air Member was replaced by Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) in October 1922. Williams would serve as CAS three times over seventeen years in the 1920s and 30s, alternating with Wing Commander (later Air Vice Marshal) Stanley Goble. One motive suggested for the rotation was a ploy by Army and Navy interests to "curb Williams' independence".Stephens, "Going Solo", pp.20-23] Instead the arrangement "almost inevitably fostered an unproductive rivalry" between the two officers. Although in a legal sense the Air Board was responsible for the RAAF rather than the Chief of Staff alone, Williams dominated the board to such an extent that Goble would later complain that his colleague appeared to consider the Air Force his personal command. [Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", pp.52-53]

Williams spent much of 1923 in England, attending the British Army Staff College in Camberley and RAF Staff College, Andover, followed by further study in Canada and the United States the following year. Goble acted as Chief of the Air Staff in his absence. Shortly after his return in February 1925, Williams scuppered a plan by Goble to establish a small seaplane base at Rushcutters Bay in Sydney, instead organising purchase of Supermarine Seagulls, the RAAF's first amphibious aircraft, to be based at Richmond.Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", pp.42-45] [Roylance, "Air Base Richmond", p.19] He was promoted to Group Captain in July and later that year drafted a major air warfare study, "Memorandum Regarding the Air Defence of Australia". Considered prescient in many ways, it treated World War I ally Japan as Australia's main military threat, and advocated inter-service cooperation while maintaining that none of the armed forces was "purely auxiliary to another". Its concepts continue to influence RAAF strategy.

The young Air Force was a small organisation with the atmosphere of a flying club; however several pioneering flights were made by its members. [Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", pp.36-37] Goble had commanded the first circumnavigation of Australia by air in 1924 while he was CAS. In 1926, with two crew members including Goble's pilot, Ivor McIntyre, Williams made a three-month, 10,000-mile round trip from Point Cook to the Solomon Islands in a De Havilland DH.50A floatplane, to study the South Pacific region as a possible theatre of operations. Though seen partly as a by-product of the Williams-Goble rivalry, it was notable as the first international flight undertaken by an RAAF plane and crew. ["Point Cook: Birth of the Royal Australian Air Force", "Aerogram", Vol 1, No 1, January 1994, Point Cook: RAAF Museum, p.4] [Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", pp.39-41] Williams was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1927 King's Birthday Honours in recognition of the achievement, [LondonGazette|issue=33280|supp=yes|startpage=3611|date=31 May 1927|accessdate=2008-06-08] and promoted to Air Commodore the same year.

As CAS, Williams had to contend with serious challenges to the RAAF's continued existence from the Army and Navy in 1929 and 1932, arising from the competing demands for defence funding during the Great Depression. According to Williams, only after 1932 was the independence of the Air Force assured.Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", pp.50-52] Williams again handed over the reins of CAS to Goble in 1933 to attend the Imperial Defence College in London, resuming his position in June 1934. His promotion to Air Vice Marshal on 1 January 1935 belatedly raised him to the equivalent rank of his fellow Chiefs of Staff in the Army and Navy. He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in June that year. [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/timeLine_77213.asp Timeline: Air Marshal Richard Williams] at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on 10 September 2007.]

Williams encouraged the local aircraft industry as a means to further the self-sufficiency of the Air Force and Australian aviation in general. He played a personal part in the creation of the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in November 1936, headed up by former Squadron Leader Lawrence Wackett, late of the RAAF's Experimental Section.

In 1939 Williams was dismissed from his post as CAS and "effectively banished overseas", following publication of the Ellington Report in January. Its author, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Edward Leonard Ellington, criticised the level of air safety observed in the RAAF, though his interpretation of statistics has been called into question.Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", pp.55-57] The Federal Government praised Williams for strengthening the Air Force but blamed him for the findings, and he was criticised in the press. [Odgers, "The Royal Australian Air Force", p.53] Beyond the adverse report, Williams was thought to have "made enemies" through his strident championing of the RAAF's independence. The government announced that it was seconding him to the RAF for two years. [Gillison, [http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/26/chapters/02.pdf "Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942", p.53] ]

World War II

When war broke out in September 1939, Williams was Air Officer in charge of Administration at RAF Coastal Command, a position he had held since February that year, following a brief posting to the British Air Ministry. Goble had succeeded Williams as Chief of the Air Staff for the last time but clashed with the Federal Government over implementation of the Empire Air Training Scheme and stepped down in early 1940. Williams was recalled from Britain with the expectation of again taking up the RAAF's senior position but Prime Minister Robert Menzies insisted on a British officer commanding the service, over the protest of his Minister for Air, James Fairbairn, and the RAF's Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett became CAS. [Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", pp.113-116] [McKernan, "The Strength of a Nation", pp.41-42] In his official history of the Air Force in World War II, Douglas Gillison observed that considering Williams' intimate knowledge of the RAAF and its problems, and his long experience commanding the service, "it is difficult to see what contribution Burnett was expected to make that was beyond Williams' capacity". [Gillison, [http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/26/chapters/03.pdf "Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942", p.77] ] Williams was appointed Air Member for Organisation and Equipment and promoted to Air Marshal, the first man in the RAAF to achieve this rank. [Gillison, [http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/26/chapters/05.pdf "Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942", pp.92-93] ]

Williams returned to England in October 1941 to set up RAAF Overseas Headquarters, coordinating services for the large number of Australians posted there. He maintained that Australian airmen in Europe and the Mediterranean should serve in RAAF units to preserve their national identity, as per Article XV of the Empire Air Training Scheme, rather than be integrated into RAF squadrons, but in practice most served in British units. [Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", pp.63-64] Even nominally 'RAAF' squadrons formed under the Scheme were rarely composed primarily of Australians, and Williams' efforts to establish a distinct RAAF Group within Bomber Command, similar to the Royal Canadian Air Force's No. 6 Group, did not come to fruition. [Herington, [http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/28/chapters/17.pdf "Air War Against Germany and Italy", pp.452-455] ] However Williams was able to negotiate improvements to conditions of RAAF personnel in Europe, including full Australian pay scales as opposed to the lower RAF rates that were offered initially. [Herington, [http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/28/chapters/20.pdf "Air War Against Germany and Italy", pp.543-544] ]

When Air Chief Marshal Burnett completed his term in 1942, Williams was once more considered for the role of CAS. However this was vetoed by Prime Minister John Curtin and the appointment unexpectedly went to acting Air Commodore George Jones. [Helson, "10 Years at the Top", pp.64-68] A mooted Inspector Generalship of the Air Force, which would have seen Williams reporting directly to the Minister for Air, also failed to materialise. [Helson, "10 Years at the Top", p.59] Instead Williams was posted to Washington, D.C. as the RAAF's representative to the Combined Chiefs of Staff in the United States, and remained there until the end of the war.

Later career

In 1946 Williams was forced into retirement despite being four years below the mandatory age of 60. All other senior RAAF commanders who were veteran pilots of World War I, with the exception of the-then Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal George Jones, were also dismissed, ostensibly to make way for the advancement of younger officers. Williams regarded the grounds for his removal as "specious", calling it "the meanest piece of service administration in my experience".

Following retirement from the Air Force, Williams was appointed the first Director-General of Civil Aviation in Australia, [http://www.rvac.com.au/club-history Royal Victorian Aero Club (2006). Club History] . Retrieved on 24 October 2007.] serving in the position for almost 10 years. His department was responsible for the expansion of communications and infrastructure to support domestic and international aviation, establishing "an enviable safety record". Williams' tenure coincided with the beginnings of the government carrier Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) and introduction of the Two Airlines Policy, [ [http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/online/ansettchron_PartA.htm Ansett Chronology] at Australian Parliamentary Library. Retrieved on 24 May 2008.] as well as construction of Adelaide Airport and redevelopment of Sydney Airport as an international facility. [ [http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/aboutus/ourhistory.asp Our History] at Airservices Australia. Retrieved on 24 May 2008.]

William's wife Constance died in 1948 and he married Lois Victoria Cross on 7 February 1950. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1954 New Year Honours, [LondonGazette|issue=40054|startpage=40|date=29 December 1953|accessdate=2008-06-08] the year before he retired from the Director-Generalship of Civil Aviation. He then took up a place on the board of Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL), forerunner of Air New Zealand. In 1977 Williams published his memoirs, "These Are Facts", described in 2001 as "immensely important if idiosyncratic ... the only substantial, worthwhile record of service ever written by an RAAF chief of staff".

Sir Richard Williams died in Melbourne on 7 February 1980. He was accorded an Air Force funeral, with a flypast by seventeen aircraft.

Legacy

For his stewardship of the Air Force prior to World War II, as well as his part in its establishment in 1921, Williams is considered the 'father' of the RAAF. Between the wars he continually strove for his service's status as a separate branch of the Australian armed forces, seeing off a number of challenges to its independence from Army and Navy interests. [Odgers, "The Royal Australian Air Force", pp.47-51] He remains the RAAF's longest-serving Chief, totalling thirteen years over three terms: October to December 1922; February 1925 to December 1932; and June 1934 to February 1939. [ [http://www.defence.gov.au/raaf/leaders/formerchiefs.htm Royal Australian Air Force leaders: Former Chiefs of the Air Force] at RAAF Official Site. Retrieved on 8 September 2007.]

In his 1925 paper "Memorandum Regarding the Air Defence of Australia", Williams defined "the fundamental nature of Australia's defence challenge" and "the enduring characteristics of the RAAF's strategic thinking". Ignored by the government of the day, the study's operational precepts became the basis for Australia's defence strategy in the 1980s, which remains in place in the 21st century.Quote_box
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quote="The RAAF's greatest achievement in its first eighteen years was ... simply to survive as an independent service... Many people contributed to that achievement, but none more than Dicky Williams."
source=Dr Alan Stephens [Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", p.57] |Williams' legacy extends to the very look of the RAAF. He personally chose the colour of the Air Force’s winter uniform, a shade "somewhere between royal and navy blue", designed to distinguish it from the lighter Royal Air Force shade. [Stephens, "Going Solo", p.453] Unique at the time among Commonwealth forces, it was changed to an all-purpose middle blue in 1972 but following numerous complaints in the ensuing years reverted to Williams’ original style in 2000. [MacDougall, "Australians at War", p.91] [Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", p.305]

Memorials to Williams include Sir Richard Williams Avenue, located at Adelaide Airport, [ [http://www.aal.com.au/common/uploaded_images/FactsHistoryMay07.pdf Facts and History] at Adelaide Airport. Retrieved on 24 May 2008.] and RAAF Williams in Victoria, established in 1999 after the merger of Australia's oldest air bases, Point Cook and Laverton.

Notes

References

*cite book|last=Commonwealth of Australia | year=2007 | title=The Australian Experience of Air Power | location=Tuggeranong, ACT| publisher=Air Power Development Centre | url=http://www.raaf.gov.au/airpower/html/publications/AAP1000-H%20Australian%20Experience%20of%20Air%20Power_small.pdf | isbn=190080014X
*cite book|last=Cutlack | first=F.M.| origyear=1923|year=1941| title=The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918 (11th edition): Volume VIII – The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War, 1914–1918 | location=Sydney| publisher=Angus & Robertson|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/chapter.asp?volume=9|isbn=
*Cite web|author=Department of Defence| title=Williams, Richard – AIF Personnel File| url=http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/Imagine.asp?B=1811088&I=1&SE=1| publisher=National Archives of Australia
*cite book|last=Garrisson| first=A.D.| year=1990| title=Australian Dictionary of Biography: Volume 12| chapter= [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120566b.htm? Williams, Sir Richard (1890 - 1980)] |location=Melbourne| publisher=Melbourne University Press|isbn=
*cite book|last=Gillison | first=Douglas |year=1962| title=Australia in the War of 1939-1945: Series Three (Air) Volume I – Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942 | location=Canberra| publisher=Australian War Memorial|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/chapter.asp?volume=26|isbn=
*cite paper | author = Helson, Peter | title = Ten Years at the Top | publisher = University of New South Wales | date = 2006 | url = http://www.library.unsw.edu.au/~thesis/adt-ADFA/uploads/approved/adt-ADFA20061205.162428/public/02whole.pdf
*cite book|last=Herington | first=John |year=1954| title=Australia in the War of 1939-1945: Series Three (Air) Volume III – Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943 | location=Canberra| publisher=Australian War Memorial|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/chapter.asp?volume=28 | isbn=
*cite book|last=MacDougall| first=A.K.|year=2005| title=Australians at War: A Pictorial History| location= Rowville, Victoria| publisher=Five Mile Press|isbn=1865038652
*cite book|last=McKernan| first=Michael|year=2006| title=The Strength of a Nation| location=Crows Nest| publisher=Allen & Unwin|isbn=174114714X
*cite book|last=Odgers| first=George|year=1984| title=The Royal Australian Air Force: An Illustrated History| location=Brookvale| publisher=Child & Henry |isbn=0867773685
*cite book|last=Roylance| first=Derek|year=1991| title=Air Base Richmond| location=RAAF Base Richmond| publisher=Royal Australian Air Force|isbn=0646052128
*cite book|last=Stephens| first=Alan| year=1995| title=Going Solo: The Royal Australian Air Force 1946-1971|location=Canberra|publisher=Aust. Govt. Pub. Service|isbn=0644428031
*cite book|last=Stephens| first=Alan|origyear=2001|year=2006| title=The Royal Australian Air Force: A History| location=London| publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0195555414

Further reading

*cite book|last= Williams | first= Sir Richard | year=1977| title= These Are Facts |location=Canberra|publisher=Aust. Govt. Pub. Service|isbn=0642993998

Persondata
NAME = Williams, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Air Marshal Sir Richard Williams
SHORT DESCRIPTION = RAAF Chief of the Air Staff
DATE OF BIRTH = 3 August, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH = Moonta, South Australia
DATE OF DEATH = 7 February, 1980
PLACE OF DEATH = Melbourne, Victoria