"We had very little in the way of upper air obs. The Melbourne balloon went up from a platform on the top of No. 2 Drummond Street and we'd follow it through an optical theodolite. If it went into cloud that was the end of it, and all we could get was wind speed and direction at various heights. Once a day at Melbourne and Darwin the RAAF sent up a biplane with a thermometer and a hygrometer attached to the struts. It would level out at every thousand feet up to 16,000 ft, when the pilot would take the readings by glancing across at the instruments from his open cockpit, and the procedure would be repeated for every thousand feet on the way down. It wasn't until well into the war that we had radiosondes and radar to track balloons. Still, this early training certainly gave the mets a 'feel' for observing," John recalls.

"The more we learn about the atmosphere the more we realise how complicated it is. Aviation is a major user of meteorological skill, and while our expertise is continually improving, we still have to beat such problems as clear air turbulence forecasting."

It is obvious that aviation met. is a subject particularly dear to the heart of John Lillywhite, and perhaps this can be traced to his early days when Henry Barkly was building up this aspect of the Bureau's service. W. S. Watt was the director at this stage, followed in 1940 by H. N. Warren who came from Tasmania to take charge of the met service during the war. When Warren died in 1950, his AD Administrative, E. W. Timcke took over; when he retired in 1955 his AD Admin, L. J. Dwyer, became Director until his death in May 1962 and present incumbent Bill Gibbs took over. So John has served under all the Bureau's Directors apart from the first man, H. A. Hunt, who served a record 23-year term between 1908 and 1931.

After a round of farewells in the last weeks of July, John took his leave on Friday, July 26. All in the Bureau will wish him well on his trip to Europe this month with Doc Hogan, and look forward to seeing him again late this year. Wherever he settles, we hope he keeps in touch with his many friends in the Bureau.

In a letter to John, Bill Gibbs has written thanking him for his long and devoted service to the Bureau and wishing him a happy overseas tour before his retirement. Bill has written that all Bureau staff, and Bill in particular, will miss his encyclopędic memory, his ready wit, his sound judgement and above all his warm and sympathetic friendship.

Bureau of Meteorology