Foreword

When he joined the Bureau he had completed one year in the Engineering Faculty at the University of Melbourne. In parallel with his work in the Bureau, Allan continued his academic education by attending university lectures in the evening and studying at night.

As he developed his academic background, senior staff in the Bureau were impressed by his intelligence and his enterprise and he was chosen to make a voyage in Southern Ocean and Antarctic waters in Discovery II, a Royal Navy oceanographic research vessel. At that time he had been working with Henry Barkley as a research assistant.

After his return from that voyage he became involved in a variety of duties which culminated in the establishment of the first Instrument Section in the Bureau.

In the early days of World War II, Allan's imagination and enthusiasm were central to the establishment of a radiosonde network by the RAAF Meteorological Service. This involved the development of a system of generation of hydrogen, the installation of ground stations for receiving the data transmitted from radiosondes and arrangements for the manufacture of radiosondes in Australia. Very recently I learnt from Nan Gaby, who was a member of the Women's Australian Auxiliary Air Force (WAAAF), that she was one of three WAAAFs involved in the hydrogen generation episode on the roof of No 2 Drummond Street which Allan recalls in his memoirs.

Towards the end of the war Allan made use of what was then a somewhat secret gun-laying radar to make experimental observations of upper winds. At that time he also served in Darwin as Area Meteorological Officer.

Bureau of Meteorology