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)
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
Melbourne
Sydney
Brisbane
Perth
Adelaide
Hobart
Chapter 9: Research and Instrumental Development
Chapter 10: The End, Aftermath, and Beyond
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix 4
References
Index
Search
Help
Contact us
Perth (continued)
This new trans-Indian Ocean service was required because Burma and the Netherlands East Indies were occupied by the Japanese, thus severing the route from Europe and India to Brisbane. The provision of the required weather services was one of the most important functions at any of the Divisional Offices in Australia during the war. The QANTAS Empire air route required both pre- and mid-flight forecasts over what was the longest hop in the world. The first aircraft flying into the Cocos Islands from Australia became lost and had to return. It was only because Hogan correctly forecast tail winds at 10,000 feet that the plane reached its base—with both fuel gauges showing empty. Forecasting over such a long vacant distance was difficult. Large aircraft—firstly Catalinas, then Liberators, then Lancasters—had to be used. They had to carry an overload of fuel and preserve radio silence amid the strong winds, storms—sometimes tropical cyclones—of the Indian Ocean. No less than 821 crossings were made during the war, and not one aircraft was lost. It was in this manner that the expansion of meteorological services helped to make possible the future great international air routes of the world.Throughout the war, the Divisional Meteorologist at Perth was Wing-Commander A. G. Akeroyd. Next in command was Squadron-Leader W. L. Nelson, who was succeeded later by Squadron-Leader J. (Doc) Hogan.
People in Bright Sparcs - Akeroyd, Arthur Gordon; Hogan, John (Doc)
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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
http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/0314.html