The 'mister-ey' of retired RAAF ranks

I was most disappointed to read in Air Force News (28 March, P15) about a Mr Douglas Johnston who, although in the opening lines was indentified as a Royal Australian Air Force pilot, his RAAF rank was never mentioned.

Instead, he was continually referred to as plain 'Mr'.

The use of the generally accepted civilian title of Mr in the timeframe of the article ignores the fact that Doug was a commissioned officer. To now seemingly cloak him with a non-RAAF title does, in the circumstances, miss the opportunity to further RAAF emphasis including the rank to which Doug had progressed during his obviously highly acclaimed service.

Interestingly, for a number of decades after WWI, RAAF policy (Air Force orders) provided for RAAF officers who had a stipulated minimum length of commissioned service, together with a stipulated minimum service in the rank at the time of their cessation of service, were granted honourary rank to the next highest.

I believe, and regrettably too, that the withdrawal of this honourary rank policy by the then Labor government in 1976 created an early dent in Service customs.

History shows however, that this change of policy has not prevented (to 2001 anyway) use of former rank by officers no longer in the Service (eg, the guest list to annual RAAF history conferences).

The feature article about Doug Johnston and the omission of rank has prompted me to ask what has brought about this change to past and well-tried established practice?

Is this change of substituting in Air Force News the prefix of 'Mr' for a previously held RAAF rank one of contemporary RAAF policy?

There is little doubt I will not be alone in airing this issue, particularly among the retired officers, that this is a further example of the eroding of RAAF traditions.

My suggestion to regain this 'loss of traditional ground' would quite simply be the promulgation of the succintly clear policy of: 'use of previously held ranks of ex-RAAF personnel is considered appropriate where there is a direct link with a RAAF activity'.

AE Ilton
Wing Commander (ret'd)
Banora Point, NSW.

Policy aside, the lack of rank was an oversight on our behalf, although his rank (Squadron Leader) was included in the adjoining article on the same page. We agree with your suggested policy though. - Ed.


Monitoring Bougainville

Leafing through the latest edition of Air Force News, my eye caught the lead item in the Reserve News section on Bougainville.

I served on Bougainville from Nov 2000 - Feb 2001 as a civilian monitor with Civilian Rotation 12.

Reading the article, however, I found, to my surprise, a number of place names totally unfamiliar.

First of all, I've searched diligently for "Loracheal" Barracks in Townsville. Although I couldn't find it, I assume it is a new establishment built to augment "Lavarack" Barracks.

I then turned to my maps of Bougainville and searched (again quite diligently) for "Keita" airport. Funnily enough I couldn't find it, which leads me to the conclusion that it is a new airport built since my time to ease the strain on "Kieta" airport.

Next, I turned yet again to my maps and notes to see if I could locate "Lalaho". No luck I'm afraid. Once again, I must come to the conclusion that this a new locale and that HQ PMG, LST and CHE relocated there from "Loloho" after my departure.

Graham Wilson
WO2 (ret'd) and PMG Civilian Monitor Rotation 12
DHA
Russell Offices, Canberra.

If these new establishments have indeed proceded, that is 'news' to us and we could be further accused of not doing our job. However, we would prefer to accuse someone of simple human error in this case. - Ed.