Office of Air Force History - Research Projects
MEAO (Middle East Area of Operations) analysis
Research work is being carried out to construct a narrative of RAAF involvement in the MEAO and identify broad lessons learnt. This builds on a project undertaken by the OAFH which ensures a significant proportion of senior RAAF commanders returning from theatre are interviewed about their experiences. These interviews, together with other material held by OAFH, will be used to write the Official History of Australian involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, when this is authorised by Government. Interested participants are requested to forward a short summary of their recent MEAO experience to the OAFH email, airforce.history@defence.gov.au
Air Power e-Books
This program is designed to produce a series of short, focused studies ¨primarily in CD format¨ to highlight notable episodes in air power history that had an Australian component. The first of these, Operation Pelican by Dr Chris Clark, deals with the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49. These studies are intended to be made widely available through the APDC website. Other titles currently being written or planned are:
* Battle of the Bismarck Sea
* The Malayan Emergency
* First Tactical Air Force
Oral History Program
The OAFH conducts an Oral History Program to ensure that iconic figures of the RAAF have been recorded for historical reference purposes. In special cases, individuals have been asked to take part in multiple sessions over a lengthy period, to produce an account of their career for publication. Subjects included under this program have been:
* Air Chief Marshal Sir Neville McNamara, published as The Quiet Man (2006)
* Air Vice-Marshal Eric Stephenson, published as Three Passions and a Lucky Penny (2008)
* Sir Richard Kingsland, published as Into the Midst of Things (2010)
Part of the program of oral interviews conducted by OAFH feeds directly into other APDC undertakings, including operations analysis. Other interviews have focused on recording:
* Warrant Officers of the RAAF
RAAF Biographies
In addition to the works mentioned above, the OAFH has undertaken to produce biographies and sometimes autobiographies of other notable RAAF figures. Included in this category are:
* Wing Commander Dick Cresswell, by George Odgers published as Mr Double Seven (2008)
* Air Marshal Sir George Jones, by Peter Helson published as The Private Air Marshal (2010)
* Air Marshal David Evans, autobiography published as Down to Earth (2011)
Other publications
Apart from works under the e-Book and biographies programs, the OAFH currently has underway a range of other publications. First among these are the prize-winning entries in the RAAF Heritage Awards and the proceedings of the RAAF History Conferences. Other books and papers are added to this program, but only where the work is considered unlikely to attract a commercial publisher but still be of historical value to the future RAAF.
* A History of the F-111 in Australian service, by Mark Lax published as From Controversy to Cutting Edge (2010)