The author of The Royal Australian Air Force, Dr Alan Stephens with the Minister for Defence, Mr Peter Reith, who launched the series, The Australian Centenary History of Defence at the Australian International Airshow. The Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Errol McCormack looks on.

To the sound of air power thundering in the background the new Minister for Defence, Mr Peter Reith, made his Air Force debut last month at the Avalon Australian International Airshow. Mr Reith was launching The Australian Centenary History of Defence and also the second in the seven-volume series - The Royal Australian Air Force by Dr Alan Stephens.

Also present was the Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Errol McCormack, who said: 'The book being launched is an important part of our 80th anniversary year. It provides us all with an excellent record of the establishment, growth, achievements and shaping of the Air Force over the past 80 years into the proud Service that I have the honour to command today.

'To reveal the history of the Air Force, Dr Stephens has focused on the one aspect that I see as being the ultimate key to success - that is the people whose service contributed to the formation, survival and longevity of the Air Force.'

Dr Stephens, a former RAAF pilot, lectures in the history and strategy of aerospace power at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

'Too often the focus is on the aircraft at the expense of the people,' Dr Stephens said. 'While the aircraft represent a unique, even exciting form of combat power, they're simply an extension of human ingenuity, skill, courage and resilience. Machines don't make history, people do.'

The Australian Centenary History of Defence is the result of almost a decade of collaboration between the Australian Defence Force Academy, the Department of Defence and the Oxford University Press.

Volume II, The Royal Australian Air Force is priced at $49.95 and is available from Oxford University Press at http://www.oup.com.au or from bookshops.

Story and Photograph by Amber McKinnon