AVM Ernest Hey
November 29, 1912 – May 31, 2006

Volume 48, No. 12, July 13, 2006

LOVED BY ALL: AVM Ernest ‘Ernie’ Hey, CB, CBE, an influential figure for the modern Air Force.

ERNIE Hey’s passion for knowledge and inherent technical ability guided the Air Force from a fledgling force in the 1930s to the very modern fighting force it is today.

Ernest (Ernie) Hey joined the RAAF in 1934, during the Great Depression. Beginning as a cadet pilot at Point Cook, Hey flew biplanes with 3SQN and then became a flying instructor before being selected to complete a Royal Air Force engineering course in England from 1936 to 1938. It was the beginning of a 36-year career in aeronautical engineering.

During WWII he rose to the rank of Group Captain and was Acting Director of Technical Services when the RAAF comprised 180,000 personnel and more than 60 fighting squadrons.

The huge challenges of having so many aircraft types and inexperienced technicians led Ernie to standardise Technical Instructions and Modification Orders from the ad hoc arrangements that had been used before the war.

Ernie Hey guided these innovations and the reductions for the post-war Air Force, but increased professionalism with a higher proportion of tertiary-trained engineers and better administration.

During the 1950s AIRCDRE Hey was appointed an Officer in the Order of the British Empire (OBE), undertook the Imperial Defence College Course and attended a senior officers’ guided weapons course in the UK, before a posting to the Air Attache’s staff in Washington.

In 1960 AVM Hey was appointed to the Air Board as Air Member for Technical Services, the Air Force’s most senior engineer, serving in the Department of Air.

Over the next 12 years AVM Hey introduced the Air Board Orders–Technical, which provided policy direction for the growing number of specialist technical personnel.

His relentless pursuit of excellence in flight safety and airworthiness flowed through to the selection and acquisition of many types of technologically-advanced aircraft in the 60s and 70s that have since served the RAAF well. He was the inspiration for the modern airworthiness board for all ADF aircraft. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1963, and Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1967 for his dedicated service. The Royal Aeronautical Society honoured him as a Fellow.

Perhaps his greatest contribution to the fighting capability of the Air Force was his visits to the USA and advice to the Government on the purchase of the F-111 aircraft. He accompanied then Minister for Defence (Malcolm Fraser), in 1970 to meet the Secretary of Defence in the USA, setting in place the conditions for Australia to accept the F-111.

 

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