RAAF/RAF Australian Group Captains WW2

spidge · Jun 12, 2009

RAAF/RAF Australian Group Captains WW2

This is a list that were killed or died during the course of WW2. I have information on a few however for others there is only CWGC details at best.

Can anybody assist?

The ones I have detailed information for are listed in red however more info is welcome.

KING, ELWYN ROY (DFC) (DSO) (MiD) Group Captain 204 HQ Point Cook 28/11/1941 47 RAAF VICTORIA CREMATION MEMORIAL

ROBERTSON, WILLIAM ALEXANDER Group Captain 2746 HQ RAAF Melbourne 12/10/1943 47 RAAF SPRINGVALE WAR CEMETERY, MELBOURNE

WIGHT, FREDRICK JAMES BYAN Group Captain 30 10 OP GRP HQ 30/01/1944 38 RAAF PORT MORESBY (BOMANA) WAR CEMETERY

BALMER, JOHN RAEBURN (OBE) (DFC) Group Captain 68 467sq WADDINGTON 11/05/1944 33 RAAF HEVERLEE WAR CEMETERY

MITCHELL, JAMES ALLARDYCE Group Captain 260227 RAAF HQ (AAHQ) 17/05/1945 35 RAAF LABUAN MEMORIAL

McLEAN, DONALD Group Captain 78 81 Wing HQ 1/07/1945 31 RAAF LABUAN MEMORIAL

HOLSWICH, LYLE CHARLES MACQUARIE Group Captain 77 86 Wing HQ 10/12/1945 31 RAAF LABUAN WAR CEMETERY

spidge · Jun 12, 2009

Group Captain ELWYN ROY KING (DFC) (DSO) (MiD

KING, ELWYN ROY (DFC) (DSO) (MiD) Group Captain
204
HQ Point Cook
28/11/1941
47
RAAF
VICTORIA CREMATION MEMORIAL

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KING, ELWYN ROY (1894-1941), airman and engineer, was born on 13 May 1894 at The Grove, near Bathurst, New South Wales, eldest child of Richard King, a native-born labourer, and his English-born wife Elizabeth Mary, née Miller. Educated at public schools, Roy studied mechanical engineering by correspondence. He found work repairing bicycles, shearing machinery and motorcars. Enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force on 20 July 1915, he sailed for Egypt in October and served with the 12th Light Horse Regiment from February 1916.

In December King transferred as an air mechanic to the Australian Flying Corps. Sent to England in the following month and selected for pilot training, he was commissioned in October 1917 and joined No.4 Squadron, A.F.C., in France on 21 March 1918. The squadron was then engaged in the difficult and dangerous work of attacking targets on the ground, and it was not until 20 May that King gained his first victory in aerial combat. His flying had at first displeased his commanding officer Major W. A. McCloughry. Due to King's height (6 ft 3 ins, 191 cm) and bulk, he had difficulty in bringing the control column of his Sopwith Camel far enough back to effect a good landing. The problem diminished when the squadron converted to the roomier Sopwith Snipe.

Promoted captain and appointed flight commander in September, King proved a brilliant patrol leader. His aerial combat record of twenty-six victories, and his tactical skill and daring in attacking ground targets at low level, earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross (1918), the Distinguished Service Order (1919) and a mention in dispatches (1919). Firm and energetic, he was conspicuous in wartime photographs for his broad smile which reflected his genial nature. His colleagues called him 'Bo' or 'Beau', and held him in high regard.

After his A.I.F. appointment terminated in Melbourne on 11 August 1919, King engaged in civil aviation, chiefly with the Larkin-Sopwith Aviation Co. of Australasia Ltd. He made a number of notable commercial flights, including many 'firsts' in the transport of mail, newspapers and photographs for the press. In 1920 he indignantly declined an invitation to join the Australian Air Corps (later the Royal Australian Air Force) because, at that stage, the authorities had failed to offer an appointment to Frank McNamara, a Victoria Cross winner.

In the early 1920s King left aviation. He and another pilot formed Shipman, King & Co. Pty Ltd which manufactured and imported machinery at its Port Melbourne and Sydney premises. The business suited Roy's engineering talents, and it prospered. He spent much of his time restoring and racing motorcars. On 31 March 1925 he married 20-year-old Josephine Vida Livingston at St John's Anglican Church, Camberwell, Melbourne. Called up for R.A.A.F. service in December 1939, he was initially designated a pilot, but was transferred to the Administrative and Special Duties Branch in 1940. He commanded three flying training schools before taking charge of the R.A.A.F. Base, Point Cook, in October 1941 as acting group captain. Survived by his wife, son and daughter, he died of cerebral oedema on 28 November 1941 at Point Cook and was cremated. Hundreds of mourners from military and civil aviation circles attended his funeral.
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spidge · Jun 12, 2009

John Raeburn Balmer Group Captain (OBE) (DFC)

BALMER, JOHN RAEBURN (OBE) (DFC)
Group Captain
68
467sq WADDINGTON
11/05/1944
33
RAAF
HEVERLEE WAR CEMETERY

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View attachment 3333

BALMER, JOHN RAEBURN (1910-1944), air force officer, was born on 3 July 1910 at Bendigo, Victoria, son of Sydney Raeburn Balmer, lawyer, and his wife Catherine Haswell, née Macdonald, both Victorian born. Educated at Scotch College and the University of Melbourne, John joined the Royal Australian Air Force as an air cadet on 19 December 1932. He completed two flying courses, was commissioned on 1 April 1933 and transferred to the Permanent Air Force in November. His most important pre-war posting (July 1935-November 1937) was with No.1 Flying Training School, Point Cook, Victoria, where he won repute as an exacting but imaginative instructor: he once parachuted from a training aircraft, leaving his reluctant but capable pupil to make the landing alone. Keenly interested in long-distance motoring, with another R.A.A.F. officer Balmer drove from Perth to Melbourne in December 1936, taking 65 hours 10 minutes to complete the journey and breaking the record by some 17 hours. In October-November 1938 he and a co-driver cut the round-Australia record from 45 to 23½ days.

From June 1940 Balmer commanded No.13 Squadron, a general reconnaissance unit based in Darwin; on 1 April 1941 he was promoted temporary wing commander. After a series of short postings, on 18 March 1942 he assumed command of No.100 Squadron which was equipped with Australian-built Beauforts. He was appointed O.B.E. in June. Balmer's exploits in the South-West Pacific Area established him as a leader. On the night of 25-26 June he took charge of a strike against a Japanese steamer in New Guinea's Huon Gulf. The assault was carried out at low altitude and pressed with great determination, but a later analysis failed to confirm the vessel's sinking. In October he led the squadron's torpedo-bombers from Milne Bay, Papua, on an ambitious 950-nautical-mile-flight (1759 km) to attack enemy ships sheltering off the Shortland Islands, near Bougainville.

Arriving in England in June 1943, he became commanding officer of No.467 Squadron, R.A.A.F., on 18 August. It was a bad time for the squadron: seven of its twenty-one Lancasters were lost that month. Balmer flew his first operation on the night of 27-28 August in a raid against Nuremberg which cost Bomber Command 4.9 per cent of the attacking force. He led his unit against Hanover on 22-23 September and 18-19 October, and against Berlin on 18-19 November and 15-16 February 1944. His next German target was Frankfurt on 18-19 March. Thereafter, the Royal Air Force concentrated on pre-invasion objectives in occupied France; Balmer took part in four such strikes in March-April. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in April for his skill, efficiency and devotion to duty; his promotion to temporary group captain was gazetted on 4 May.

'Sam' Balmer was known as a sardonic man who was intolerant of fools and of over-conservative authority; his subordinates regarded him as a 'dynamic' commanding officer. Having logged some 5000 flying-hours, on the night of 11-12 May 1944 he attacked a military camp at Bourg-Léopold (Leopoldsburg), Belgium. His aircraft did not return and his death shook the squadron. Unmarried, Balmer was a Presbyterian. His remains were later interred in the Heverlee war cemetery, near Leuven, Belgium.
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Antipodean Andy · Jun 13, 2009

I might have something on Balmer, Geoff.

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