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Table of Contents

RAAF Meteorological Service

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Weather Factor in Warfare

Chapter 2: Establishing and Developing the RAAF Directorate of Met. Services (D.Met.S)

Chapter 3: Recruiting and Training of Personnel
Senior Officers
Recruitment and Personnel
The WAAAF
Training Courses
'Who are these Met blokes?'

Chapter 4: Meteorology in Aviation

Chapter 5: The Met. Retreating

Chapter 6: The Met. Advancing

Chapter 7: The Met With the Army and the Navy

Chapter 8: Divisional Offices of the Bureau of Meteorology During the War

Chapter 9: Research and Instrumental Development

Chapter 10: The End, Aftermath, and Beyond

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Appendix 4

References

Index
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'Who are these Met blokes?' (continued)

One story, joyfully recounted, was that of a Met. officer, who on being required to take charge of a ceremonial parade at a New Guinea unit, marched the troops off the bullring into the surrounding jungle, instead of past the point where a visiting senior Air Officer was waiting to take the salute. However, such military imprecision as this was not exclusive to the Met. It was not unusual throughout all branches of the Australian armed forces. As a nation, we Australians do not take kindly to routine and discipline. Yet, it was clear that whenever they wanted to turn it on there were few smarter troops on any parade ground than the Australians.

It is not unreasonable to claim that the D.Met.S. comprised one of the most dedicated arms of the RAAF. It formed a well-knit group, one reason for which may have been that the nucleus of the group was an already well-established public service, with clear-cut aims, objectives and ethics of duty long known before the war. As well, many of the members came from similar social and educational backgrounds. The sense of unity was strong from the beginning, and newcomers caught on quickly, so that a happy combination of the Met. and the RAAF quietly emerged—a unique example of an independent special service operating smoothly within a larger all-embracing service.

Just the same, many of the older military die-hards never really quite worked out who those Met. blokes were. To many, they seemed to be something mysterious; they were scientific 'bods', 'weather prophets'—traditionally the butt of many hoary Jokes. On the other hand, some abstracted Met. personnel never quite fathomed how the rest of the RAAF functioned. Yet, in a general atmosphere of comradeship, of doing a job that had to be done, and of devotion to a common cause, both sets of blokes jumped in and worked happily and effectively together.


Organisations in Australian Science at Work - Directorate of Meteorological Services (D.Met.S)

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Joyce, J. 1993 'The Story of the RAAF Meteorological Service', Metarch Papers, No. 5 October 1993, Bureau of Meteorology

© Online Edition Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre and Bureau of Meteorology 2001
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