RAAF Meteorological Service
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Weather Factor in Warfare
Chapter 2: Establishing and Developing the RAAF Directorate of Met. Services (D.Met.S)
Summary of Activities and Developments in D.Met.S. to mid-1943
Coordination of RAAF and United States Army Air Force and Navy Weather Services
Operational Difficulties
Chapter 3: Recruiting and Training of Personnel
Chapter 4: Meteorology in Aviation
Chapter 5: The Met. Retreating
Chapter 6: The Met. Advancing
Chapter 7: The Met With the Army and the Navy
Chapter 8: Divisional Offices of the Bureau of Meteorology During the War
Chapter 9: Research and Instrumental Development
Chapter 10: The End, Aftermath, and Beyond
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix 4
References
Index
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In wartime, the importance of weather is accentuated, simply because victory or defeat can, as history has so often proved, hinge on weather conditions. It was in this context that the RAAF Met. Service emerged in World War II. The remainder of this chapter describes the establishment and development of the Directorate of Meteorological Services (D.Met.S.) RAAF, as follows:
- A summary of activities and developments in the D.Met.S. for defence needs up to mid-1943, by about which time full consolidation had been achieved;
- Co-ordination of the RAAF and the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) and Navy weather service;
- Operational difficulties encountered in administration and organisation, and the measures proposed to overcome them.
Summary of Activities and Developments in D.Met.S. to mid-1943
The following extract is from 'Australia in the War of 1939–1945':'In July 1939, when war appeared imminent, a conference was held between representatives of the Australian Navy, Army and Air Force and executives of the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology, to consider in broad outline the meteorological requirements of the Services. From the discussion, it was evident that the needs of the RAAF overshadowed those of the other Services.'
'The conference therefore decided to recommend to the Federal Cabinet, that in the event of war, the meteorological organisation should be transferred to the Department of Air as the Directorate of Meteorological Services (D.Met.S.) of the RAAF. This transfer was effected on 1 July, 1940, purely on a civilian basis; at this stage, the members of the meteorological service were not enlisted in the RAAF.'[15]
The responsibility of the new Directorate thus formed was the provision of meteorological facilities to the armed forces, and to the civilian population. Prior to World War II, the Australian Met. service had been a distinct entity—a branch of the Commonwealth Department of the Interior. The decision to incorporate this service into the RAAF was an unprecedented step—possibly the only instance in Australian history of an entire unit of the Public Service being co-opted into a defence organisation.
Organisations in Australian Science at Work - Directorate of Meteorological Services (D.Met.S)
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Bureau of Meteorology |  |
© Online Edition Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre and Bureau of Meteorology 2001
Published by Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, using the Web Academic Resource Publisher
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