Salute Their Service
Biographies of the men and women of the Air Force family — pilots and ground crew, nurses and navigators — written to keep their service on the record.
WAAAF technicians at Mascot, 1944 · State Library of New South Wales · public domain
22 biographies in Second World War Clear filters
Warrant Officer Len Waters
Kittyhawk pilot · Australia’s first Aboriginal fighter pilot
Wing Commander Peter Isaacson AM DFC AFC DFM
Lancaster pilot and publisher
Air Commodore Sir Hughie Idwal Edwards VC KCMG CB DSO OBE DFC
Blenheim raid leader · Governor of Western Australia
Air Marshal Sir Valston (Val) Eldridge Hancock KBE CB DFC
Chief of the Air Staff, 1961–1965
Flight Lieutenant William (Bill) Ellis Newton VC
Boston bomber pilot · No. 22 Squadron RAAF
Pilot Officer Rawdon Hume (Ron) Middleton VC
Stirling bomber captain · No. 149 Squadron RAF
Flying Officer Frederick Michael Spafford DFC DFM
Bomb aimer and Dambuster · 617 Squadron RAF
Reginald Jeffrey “Jeff” Barnes
Reportedly South Australia’s first Aboriginal airman
Flight Lieutenant Robert “Bob” Claude Hay DFC & Bar
Air observer and Dambuster · 617 Squadron RAF
Warrant Officer Norm Ginn
Wireless operator / air gunner · 460 Squadron
Warrant Officer Doug Hoile
Spitfire pilot · South-West Pacific
John Colin Ayliffe DFC
Pilot · 455 Squadron RAAF
Flight Lieutenant Robert “Nobby” Trevor Clark DFC
Maritime pilot · Second World War
David Inglis Murrie
Boomerang pilot · 4 Squadron, New Guinea
Flying Officer Frederick Cecil Riley
One of South Australia’s last Second World War airmen
Flight Lieutenant Richard “Dickie” Carew Reynell
Test pilot and one of the Few · 43 Squadron RAF
Salute someone
Know someone whose service should be recorded here?
A relative, a Branch member, a name on a memorial. Send us what you know — a service number and a photograph are enough to start — and the Association’s heritage volunteers will research and write the biography with you.
Keep their stories alive
Know a story that belongs here — a relative, a squadron, an aircraft? Tell us, and help the Association record and share the service of the Air Force family.