Memories of the Bureau, 1946 to 1962
Foreword
Terminology
Prologue
Preface
Chapter 1: The Warren Years, 1946 to 1950
Warren the Man
Warren Joins the Bureau
Wartime Perceptions and Attitudes
Return to Civvy Street
Frosterley
People in the Bureau
Re-establishing and Reorganising the Bureau
Reorganisation of Central Office
The Position of Chief Scientific Officer
Post-War Reorganisation
The Haldane Story
Public Weather Services
The New South Wales Divisional Office
The Victorian Divisional Office
The Queensland Divisional Office
The South Australian Divisional Office
The Western Australian Divisional Office
The Tasmanian Divisional Office
Pre-war Services for Civil Aviation
Post-War Meteorological Service for Aviation
Indian Ocean Survey Flight
The Aviation Field Staff
Synoptic Analysis, Prognosis and Forecasting
Antarctic and Southern Ocean Meteorology
A Wider Scientific Horizon
Research, Development and Special Investigations
Analysts' Conference, April 1950
Instruments and Observations
Radiosondes
Radar Winds and Radar Weather Watch
Telecommunications
Climate and Statistics
Training
Publications
CSIRO
The Universities
Achievements of the Warren Years
Chapter 2: International Meteorology
Chapter 3: The Timcke Years, 1950 to 1955
Chapter 4: A Year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Chapter 5: The Dwyer Years, 1955 to 1962
Chapter 6: A Springboard for the Future
Appendix 1: References
Appendix 2: Reports, Papers, Manuscripts
Appendix 3: Milestones
Appendix 4: Acknowledgements
Appendix 5: Summary by H. N. Warren of the Operation of the Meteorological Section of Allied Air Headquarters, Brisbane, 1942–45
Endnotes
Index
Search
Help
Contact us
The Western Australian Divisional Office (continued)
On a number of these missions aircraft were shot at by enemy anti-aircraft fire and attacked by Zero fighters. One plane on which Gerry had previously been scheduled to fly was shot down with the loss of all crew. On another occasion, when the aircraft's fuel gauges showed its tanks were empty, Gerry and the crew were told to don parachutes and jump if the engines stopped. When a searchlight on an airfield revealed a runway lit by flares, they were relieved and the aircraft landed safely.After 16 months in the Darwin area, in April 1944 Gerry was posted to No 3 Advanced Operations School at Port Pirie, South Australia. The CO asked him to fly at night on a 'fog patrol' to give early warning to other aircraft of likely fog formation. He again persuaded flying instructors to train him in piloting Anson aircraft and he was close to receiving official recognition of competence when in early 1945 he was posted to Truscott on the north-west coast of Western Australia.
There he flew with RAAF 43 Squadron in PBYs (Catalinas), once on an operational mission. At war's end Gerry was transferred to Penfoei, Timor, to provide forecasts for allied aircraft repatriating Australian POWs. In April 1946 he returned to Pearce station for demobilisation.
This story has been told in some detail as an example of the experiences of how the wartime experiences of many members of the RAAF Meteorological Service developed attitudes which helped fashion the post-war Bureau. Other exploits of Gerry O'Mahony will be told later.
One of the early post-war recruits to the Bureau was R. L. (Bob) Southern who had graduated B.Sc. from the University of Western Australia. We will meet Bob and others like him in later chapters.
People in Bright Sparcs - O'Mahony, Gerard (Gerry); Warren, Herbert Norman
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© Online Edition Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre and Bureau of Meteorology 2001
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