Post-War Meteorological Service for Aviation (continued)

I do not have the exact number of civilian staff or the number and location of the offices in which they served when the Bureau returned to civilian operation in July 1946 but it is likely that the number of permanent staff was between 400 and 500 and the number of locations of the offices in which they served between 40 and 50. The majority of these would have been field offices providing service for civil or military operations.

After the war most of the forecasters having university qualifications were located in the Bureau's Central Office or in the Divisional Offices in the State capital cities although some remained in the field until sufficient new recruits had been through the Bureau's Training School.

A special field office was established at the Department of Supply Weapons Research Establishment rocket range at Woomera in inland South Australia in 1947–48. A highly specialised forecasting service was required and this demanding task was carried out by George Trefry and his staff throughout the Warren post-war years and for many years thereafter.

George had been a member of the RAAF Meteorological Service and had served in Darwin and other lower latitude locations. I recall Neil McRae, George's OIC in the early years of the war, telling me of George's frustration in attempting to make forecasts with inadequate data. Mac mentioned that on one occasion George threw his pencil onto the chart he was analysing and said "it's hopeless!". Having a dedicated scientific attitude George realised that the amount of available data and inadequate knowledge of the behaviour of the atmosphere in the tropics made the task of making weather forecasts for RAAF operations exceedingly difficult. The fact that the lives of the aircrew were often dependent on the accuracy of the forecasts placed an emotional strain on the forecaster.

At Woomera George had an especially difficult task in forecasting for the test firing of rockets, where monitoring and evaluation was heavily dependent on weather conditions. Much of the work was associated with highly classified tests conducted on 'a need to know' basis. George's achievements at Woomera earned him high praise from senior range officials.

Bureau of Meteorology