In early 1942 the meteorological services required for the Operations Room of G.H.Q., then located in Melbourne, were provided from the central organisation of the RAAF Meteorological Service at the Central Weather Bureau, Melbourne. Forecasting, advisory and intelligence aspects were catered for and the organisation adapted to meet these requirements throughout the war. The central organisation concerned with the operational intelligence summaries for the GHQ Operational and Planning sections continued at Central Bureau and supplied the detailed appreciations of weather conditions governing large scale operations throughout the gradually increasing operational areas of the Allied Forces until Japan was reached. The story of this activity will be told in another issue.

When, in September 1942, General MacArthur moved his General Headquarters to Brisbane, his Air, Land and Sea Commanders moved with him and it became necessary to provide in G.H.Q. a Weather Unit to meet the essential operational requirement of separate and combined operations of the Allied Forces. A RAAF Met. Section was incorporated in the Headquarters of the Allied Air Forces (AAF) and made responsible for all meteorological requirements of the G.H.Q. The Met. Officers assigned to the task had had extensive operational experience during the earlier years of war in the North-western and New Guinea regions which were to become the active theatre of operations. F/Lt (later S/Ldr) Holmes had had experience in Darwin, Ambon, Vila and elsewhere, whilst F/Lt Gibbs had had lengthy forecasting experience in New Guinea in the regions of the east and north.

Necessary communication facilities covering the continental reports were provided by teleprinter and arrangements made for the interception of available reports by Brisbane W/T.

This arrangement looked very pleasant on paper, but the section very soon learnt that it was not to be a quiet life. Advices required covered the whole operational region with emphasis on tropical regions. Tropical meteorology was largely an unknown quantity in those days, the only point generally agreed upon being that some of the worst flying weather in the world would be encountered there. Thus for the area in enemy hands, the forecasts had largely to be based on the tropical experience of the sections in Darwin, Ambon, Port Moresby and Vila and on the accumulated data of these regions compiled over past years in the Central Organisation.

Bureau of Meteorology