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NSW State Aviation School, Richmond


Dolphin

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On Sunday 28 August a plaque commissioned by the Australian Society of WWI Aero Historians to mark the Centenary of the opening of the New South Wales State Aviation School at Ham Common, opposite the present Richmond RAAF Base was unveiled by The Hon Dominic Perrottet, the MP for Hawkesbury.

 

Inspired by Queensland, and despite continued Commonwealth opposition, in mid-1915 NSW Premier William Holman (Labor) decided to open a State Aviation School (SAS)  near Richmond, a site intermittently used for aviation since 1912.  Land was resumed, buildings erected, and Curtiss JN4 ‘Jenny’ biplanes were ordered from the USA. Pupils were to be instructed by two Australians: RFC Lt Andrew Lang and William Stutt, a pilot at Britain’s Royal Aircraft Factory, who had flown at Ham Common before the war.

 

On 28 August 1916, in front of some 4000 spectators, the NSW SAS was opened by Governor Sir Gerald Strickland.  The Commonwealth firmly insisted that pupils must not receive instruction in military matters, and that graduates should be directed to the RFC, not the AFC. Nevertheless, Premier Holman spoke of a thousand graduates a year, who would bomb Rhine bridges and Berlin in aeroplanes paid for by NSW private and public subsidies[ii].

 

 

The nineteen men on the first SAS course graduated in late 1916, when the Commonwealth was struggling to meet the AFC’s need for pilots.  Hence, ten graduates were commissioned into the AFC, eight went to the RFC, and one stayed at the SAS as an instructor.

 

 

The second SAS course graduated in April 1917, by which time the AFC was recruiting most trainee pilots from the AIF in Europe and training them in the UK.  The SAS men joined the RFC, a pattern duplicated by subsequent courses.  On arrival in the UK, it was determined that training at Richmond, in obsolete aeroplanes and using outdated instructional techniques, was actually counter-productive: the SAS graduates had to be re-trained, as did the pilots who trained at the AFC Central Flying School at Point Cook, Victoria. 

 

 

Nevertheless, Premier Holman persisted, and the SAS continued to produce pilots, with the sixth course starting in August 1918.  71 pilots had graduated by the November 1918 Armistice, with 20 joining the AFC and 40 going to the RFC and, after April 1918, the Royal Air Force (RAF).  Seven SAS graduates lost their lives in the war, 3 in the AFC, 2 in the RFC and 2 in the RAF.  As well, the Chief Instructor perished on a search and rescue mission over Bass Strait in 1920.

 

 

After the war, there were efforts to convert the SAS to a civilian flying school, but without success.  In 1923 the Commonwealth purchased the site as a base for the Royal Australian Air Force. 

 

 

Although not a resounding success, the NSW SAS did play a part in Australia’ war effort, and increased public awareness of aviation.


In November 1918 the RAF was preparing to bomb Berlin from bases in the UK.

[ii] Over 30 aeroplanes were presented to the AFC, RFC and RAF by NSW residents.

 

Gareth

Edited by Dolphin
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Frev

 

I didn't take photos, as I was part of the ceremony, but others did. Unfortunately technical problems at our photographers end have precluded my seeing them.  When I have some I'll send them to you.  I*n the interim, I've attached the design.

 

Regards

 

Gareth

 

 

9878 Centenary Plaque proof E.pdf

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