Artist Krystii Melaine and former Commandant Australian Command and Staff College Group Captain Rod Luke with the portrait.

A PORTRAIT of the man considered to be the "Founding Father of the Royal Australian Air Force", Air Marshal Sir Richard Williams, has been unveiled at the Australian Defence College in Canberra.

Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Angus Houston commissioned New South Wales artist Krystii Melaine to paint the portrait.

AIRMSHL Houston attended the unveiling and has also hung a framed reproduction of the portrait in his office at Russell in recognition of the importance of the subject.

AIRMSHL Williams originally joined the Army in 1914 but was one of only four officers selected for pilot training on a "war-flying" course at Point Cook. He commenced active service as a flight commander at No. 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, where he served throughout the campaign in Palestine.

He commanded the squadron in 1917 and a year later was appointed to command the 40th Army Air Wing of the Royal Air Force.

At the end of the Great War he returned to Melbourne to the newly created position of Director of Air Services at Army Headquarters.

At the age of 30, he was responsible for establishing and developing the Royal Australian Air Force, and it was here that some his greatest battles were fought.

He retired from the Air Force in 1946, was knighted in 1954 and died in Melbourne in 1980, aged 89.

"He is a man who holds a very special place in the history of the Royal Australian Air Force," AIRMSHL Houston said at the unveiling.