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Federation and MeteorologyBureau of Meteorology
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Table of Contents

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
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Post-War Meteorological Service for Aviation

During the war requirements of the RAAF and USAF were given priority in the supply of meteorological services. Wartime requirements also occupied a significant position in the use of civil aviation services. The development, manufacture and maintenance of aircraft was focussed on military requirements. Aircraft were built for their speed, manoeuvrability and capacity to carry loads of bombs, rather than passengers. The story of the RAAF Meteorological Service during the war is well documented by Cornish (1996), Gibbs (1995), Haldane (1997), Hannay (1994), Joyce (1993), Mellor (1958), and Swan (1996).

When World War II ended in August 1945 the development of civil aviation was remarkably similar to that which occurred at the end of World War I. There was a rush by ex-RAAF pilots and others to establish new aviation services. The main problem was the acute shortage of aircraft suitable for civil aviation. Pre-war civil aircraft and converted military aircraft were pressed into service. Appendix 3 contains significant dates of the aviation milestones in the latter years of the war and the immediate post-war period 1946 to 1950.

Domestic services used DC2, DC3 and Lockheed all-metal aircraft of US manufacture, all originally designed for civil airline use but many used as military transport during the war. Also used were the pre-war De Havilland civil aircraft including the DH84 and DH86 wooden-framed fabric-covered biplanes. In addition Catalina and Short Empire flying-boats were pressed into civil service. Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) was created by the Commonwealth Government in September 1946 and after a high court challenge finally began competing with other airlines such as ANA in September 1946.

In November 1945 the Commonwealth Government had arranged the acquisition of a considerable number of US war-surplus C-47 (DC3) aircraft at a total cost of US$500 000. These were to be the mainstay of the Australian domestic airlines in the immediate post-war years.

All of the passenger cabins of civil airliners at this time were unpressurised so that their effective ceilings were not much higher than 10 000 feet. The four-engined DC4 aircraft, introduced in late 1946, were also unpressurised. Their operating ceiling was not much higher but they had a considerably longer range than the DC3.


People in Bright Sparcs - Cornish, Allan William; Hannay, Alexander Keith (Keith); Joyce, John; Swan, Keith; Warren, Herbert Norman

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Gibbs, W. J. 1999 'A Very Special Family: Memories of the Bureau of Meteorology 1946 to 1962', Metarch Papers, No. 13 May 1999, Bureau of Meteorology

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