Memories of the Bureau of Meteorology
Preface
Memories of the Bureau of Meteorology 1929–1946 by Allan Cornish
History of Major Meteorological Installation in Australia from 1945 to 1981 by Reg Stout
Four Years in the RAAF Meteorological Service by Keith Swan
Foreword
Enlistment in the RAAF, July 1941
Meteorological Observer Training, January-April 1942
Meteorological Observer, May-December 1942
Learning to Forecast, January-July 1943
Forecasting in Victoria, July-October 1943
Tropical Forecasting in New Guinea, October 1943-February 1945
Temperate East Coast Forecasting, February 1945-January 1946
Evaluating the Service
The Bureau of Meteorology in Papua New Guinea in the 1950s by Col Glendinning
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Temperate East Coast Forecasting, February 1945-January 1946 (continued)
From Lowood I moved early in July 1945 to No 5 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at Williamtown, near Newcastle, as officer-in-charge of our weather section there, replacing another New South Wales teacher. Flight Lieutenant George Smallman, who moved to Port Moresby. This was another convenient posting for me, as I could spend every second night and every second weekend at home with my family near Toronto on Lake Macquarie. No 5 OTU was a busy unit, with experienced aircrews doing conversion courses to Beaufighter and Mosquito aircraft, entailing forecasting for long training flights by both day and night on weekdays. The other forecaster—at first Flying Officer Matt Lurie, and then Pilot Officer Geoff Spence—and I worked alternate 24-hour shifts, changing over at 12 noon. We were extremely busy on the many nights of flying exercises, and I believe provided very good service. Weather forecasting for the coast of New South Wales in those days was difficult because of the lack of reporting stations over the near Pacific, and it was my responsibility to ensure that aircrews did not face very dangerous weather conditions at night, especially when returning to base. These were critical decisions that I had already experienced when at Aitape, and I followed the same practice, specifying that all aircraft should have landed by midnight if I predicted the passage of a front at, say, 0200 hours. I was not always 100 per cent accurate, but we lost no aircraft and had no major crises. The Area Meteorological Officer for Eastern Area, Squadron Leader Arthur White, a very experienced and most delightful permanent forecaster, visited us late in 1945 to assess whether the Williamtown office should be closed in the interests of rationalisation. It was a night of indifferent weather, with the approach of a front at about midnight, and I followed my usual practice already outlined. We both sat sweating in the office, Arthur more than I, until all aircraft were safely home by 2200 hours, and my reputation was preserved, although he said more than once, 'I hope your forecast is correct, Keith!'. After this experience he decided not to close the Williamtown office, with forecasts to be phoned in from the flying boat base at Rathmines, because he perceived our task at Williamtown to be critical and essential. By that time, however, the war had ended, and it was only a matter of time before our activities were scaled down. We were all glad to be returning to civilian life, but I regretted disbanding an efficient and happy staff of 12 to 15, and packing equipment which had fascinated me for several years. We began this process immediately after New Year 1946, and I was discharged on 18/19 January. I often wondered later what had happened to that equipment, as I would have liked some of it in the early 1950s to train some of my teachers college students for accurate weather observing.
People in Bright Sparcs - Swan, Keith; White, Arthur Charles
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© Online Edition Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre and Bureau of Meteorology 2001
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