John McCauley (RAAF officer)

Infobox Military Person
name= John Patrick Joseph McCauley
lived=18 March 1899 – death date and age|1989|1|26|1899|3|18|df=yes
placeofbirth= Sydney, New South Wales
placeofdeath=


caption= Group Captain John McCauley, 1942
nickname= "Black Jack"
allegiance= flag|Australia
serviceyears= 1920–1957
rank=Air Marshal
branch= air force|Australia
commands=RAAF, RAF Far East (1941–42)
Eastern Area Command (1949–53)
Home Command (1953–54)
Chief of the Air Staff (1954–57)
unit=
battles= World War II
*Pacific War
*Malayan Campaign
Malayan Emergency

Korean War
awards= Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Companion of the Order of the Bath
laterwork=

Air Marshal Sir John Patrick Joseph McCauley KBE, CB (18 March 1899 – 26 January 1989) was a senior Royal Australian Air Force commander. A Duntroon graduate who transferred to the RAAF in 1924, he held staff and operational appointments during World War II. Between 1949 and 1954 McCauley served as the last Air Officer Commanding Eastern Area Command and the inaugural AOC of Home Command (now Air Command). He was Chief of the Air Staff from 1954 until his retirement in 1957.

Early career

Born in Sydney,Herington, [http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/29/chapters/12.pdf "Air Power Over Europe", p.279] ] McCauley graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, and spent four years in the Australian Army. On 29 January 1924 he transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force, where his dark looks earned him the nickname "Black Jack".Stephens, "Going Solo", pp.41-44] [WW2 Nominal Roll] Despite a "shaky reputation" as a pilot, McCauley qualified as a flying instructor at Central Flying School and later commanded No. 1 Service Flying Training School. He graduated from RAF Staff College, Andover, in 1933. McCauley gained a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Melbourne University in 1936. His tertiary qualification was unusual for a general duties officer in the pre-war Air Force, whose pilots were said to have "valued little beyond flying ability". [Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", p.55]

World War II

During the Malayan Campaign in 1941-42, McCauley was in charge of RAAF units under the Royal Air Force's Far East Command. As Station Commander at Sembawang in north-east Singapore, [LondonGazette|issue=38216|supp=yes|startpage=1415|date=20 February 1948|accessdate=2008-02-28] he personally supervised the training and operations of Nos. 1 and 8 Squadrons, and warned higher command of the weaknesses of the Allied air defences. On 29 January 1942, McCauley took over airfield P.2 near Palembang in Sumatra, [LondonGazette|issue=38216|supp=yes|startpage=1386|date=20 February 1948|accessdate=2008-02-28] and conducted attacks on enemy convoys before evacuating the area on 15 February 1942, the day that Singapore surrendered. [Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", pp.129-135] [Gillison, [http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/26/chapters/20.pdf "Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942", pp.386-396] ]

McCauley served as the RAAF's Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (DCAS) from 1942 to 1944. His inspection of No. 10 Group at Nadzab during March 1944 resulted in Air Force Headquarters increasing the supply of pilots to the group in order to meet, and later exceed, the operational rate of effort achieved by the US Fifth Air Force. [Odgers, [http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/27/chapters/12.pdf "Air War Against Japan", p.194] ] McCauley also instigated a program to determine a suitable formula for rotating and relieving ground staff, as well as aircrew, in the tropics. [Mellor, [http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/34/chapters/28.pdf "Science and Industry", pp.667-668] ] He was rewarded for his efforts by being made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1943 King's Birthday Honours. [LondonGazette|issue=36033|supp=yes|startpage=2430|date=28 May 1943|accessdate=2008-02-28] Following his term as DCAS, he was posted to Britain until the end of the war as Air Commodore (Operations), 2nd Tactical Air Force RAF.

Post-war career

Retaining his wartime rank of Air Commodore following the cessation of hostilities, [Stephens, "Going Solo", pp.24-25] McCauley served again as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff in 1946-47. Promoted Air Vice Marshal, he was Chief of Staff to Lieutenant General John Northcott, British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan, from June 1947 to June 1949. [Stephens, "Going Solo", p.49] Upon his return to Australia, McCauley was made Air Officer Commanding Eastern Area Command. During the Malayan Emergency, he formed RAAF aircraft assigned for deployment into No. 90 (Composite) Wing, [Stephens, "Going Solo", pp.246-247] as directed by Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal George Jones, to ensure that they would operate autonomously rather than be dispersed throughout other Allied groups.Helson, "10 Years at the Top", pp.274–275] He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1951 Birthday Honours. [LondonGazette|issue=39244|supp=yes|startpage=3095|date=1 June 1951|accessdate=2008-02-28]

In January 1952, Air Marshal Jones was succeeded by Air Marshal Sir Donald Hardman of the Royal Air Force. The decision by Prime Minister Robert Menzies to appoint a British officer as CAS caused controversy in Australia, compounded when he stated his reason as being that there was "no RAAF officer of sufficient age, or operation experience, to take the post of Chief of the Air Staff", ignoring the wartime records of figures like McCauley.Stephens, "Going Solo", pp.73-74] Hardman changed the structure of the Air Force from one based on geographical area to one based on function, hence McCauley's Eastern Area Command evolved into Home Command in 1953. [Helson, "10 Years at the Top", pp.293–294] McCauley succeeded Hardman as Chief of the Air Staff when the latter's two-year appointment ended; according to RAAF historian Dr Alan Stephens, McCauley was "just as ready to become CAS in 1952 as he was in 1954". He was made Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1955 New Year Honours. [LondonGazette|issue=40367|supp=yes|startpage=40|date=31 December 1954|accessdate=2008-02-28]

In October 1956, McCauley gave a presentation on air power concepts that was attended by Prime Minister Menzies, as well as the other Australian service chiefs. McCauley identified Malaya and Indochina, particularly Vietnam, as likely areas for future RAAF deployments, and advocated a continued presence in Singapore. He also recommended that a supersonic light bomber replace the English Electric Canberra, primarily for interdiction in Southeast Asia. McCauley's tenure as CAS saw the beginning of a trend for the RAAF to equip with US aircraft types in preference to British types, with recommendations being put forward for the F-104 Starfighter (though in the event the French Dassault Mirage was purchased) and C-130 Hercules. [Stephens, "Going Solo", p.187] [Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", p.241]

McCauley commenced the redevelopment of RAAF Darwin in the Northern Territory as the first stage of a forward defence strategy. He aimed to make Darwin the "main Australian base for war", and a launching point for deployments to Southeast Asia, rather than simply a transit base. This concept was taken another step by his successor as CAS, Air Marshal Frederick Scherger, who conceived a series of front-line 'bare bases' in Northern Australia, beginning with plans for RAAF Tindal in 1959. [Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", pp.282-284] McCauley and Scherger have been described as "among the RAAF's better chiefs". [Stephens, "The Royal Australian Air Force", p.221]

Later life

After his retirement from the RAAF in 1957, McCauley served for a number of years as Federal President of the Air Force Association. [http://avadsc.org.au/avadschistory.html A Brief History of the Australian Veterans and Defence Services Council Inc.] at [http://avadsc.org.au/ AVADSC] ] He visited RAAF units in Vietnam in 1966. [Record no. VN/66/0087/03 at [http://www.awm.gov.au/ Australian War Memorial] collections database] In 1970 McCauley played a leading role in organising the Australian Services Council (now the Australian Veterans and Defence Services Council) to coordinate lobbying efforts for the various veterans' groups, and became its first Chairman.

Sir John McCauley died on 26 January 1989. [Cite book|last=Goode| first=John|editor=Sondra Griffiths (Australasia ed.) |year=1990 |title=The World Book Year Book|chapter=Australasia on File|publisher=World Book, Inc|location=Chicago| isbn=0716604906]

Notes

References

*Commonwealth of Australia (2002). [http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=R&VeteranID=1081135 "McCauley, John Patrick Joseph"] . World War 2 Nominal Roll.
*cite book|last=Gillison | first=Douglas |year=1962| title=Australia in the War of 1939-1945: Series Three (Air) Volume I – Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942 | location=Canberra| publisher=Australian War Memorial| url=http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/chapter.asp?volume=26|isbn=
*cite paper | author = Helson, Peter | title = Ten Years at the Top | publisher = University of New South Wales | date = 2006 | url = http://www.library.unsw.edu.au/~thesis/adt-ADFA/uploads/approved/adt-ADFA20061205.162428/public/02whole.pdf
*cite book|last=Herington | first=John |year=1963| title=Australia in the War of 1939-1945: Series Three (Air) Volume IV – Air Power Over Europe 1944-45 | location=Canberra| publisher=Australian War Memorial|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/chapter.asp?volume=29 | isbn=
*cite book|last=Mellor | first=D.P. |year=1958| title=Australia in the War of 1939-1945: Series Four (Civil) Volume V – The Role of Science and Industry | location=Canberra| publisher=Australian War Memorial|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/chapter.asp?volume=34 | isbn=
*cite book|last=Odgers | first=George |origyear=1957| year=1968| title=Australia in the War of 1939-1945: Series Three (Air) Volume II – Air War Against Japan 1943-45 | location=Canberra| publisher=Australian War Memorial| url=http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/chapter.asp?volume=27| isbn=
*cite book|last=Stephens| first=Alan| year=1995| title=Going Solo: The Royal Australian Air Force 1946-1971|location=Canberra|publisher=Aust. Govt. Pub. Service|isbn=0644428031
*cite book|last=Stephens| first=Alan|origyear=2001|year=2006| title=The Royal Australian Air Force: A History|location=London| publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0195555414