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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 (continued)

Another special forecasting unit was attached to the RAAF force serving at Iwakunai airport with the occupation force in Japan. These officers, who remained in uniform long after the RAAF Meteorological Service disbanded, included Bob McConnell (later OIC Mascot), Matt Lurie and Arthur Douglas (later OIC Lae).

Some of the field staff provided aviation services at RAAF bases such as Laverton (Victoria), Richmond (NSW), Williamtown (NSW) and at other aerodromes such as Garbutt and Darwin which were shared by civil and RAAF aircraft.

Australian domestic and international airlines were eager to acquire aircraft that were faster, had longer ranges and flew higher, because passengers favoured smoother flight and the shortest flight. The airlines sought more passenger capacity and maximum economy.

The Lancastrians and Hythes operated by Qantas were replaced by pressurised four-engined Lockheed Constellation aircraft in December 1947, reducing the flight time from Sydney to London to four days. British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (BCPA) replaced the slower, lower-flying DC4s in November 1948 by pressurised DC6s in their Australia-North America trans-Pacific service. This placed further demands on the aviation meteorological offices which were now required to provide forecasts for flight levels to 20 000 feet and higher.

In July 1946 Wing Commander D. R. (Gel) Cuming, the head of the Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) of the RAAF was the first pilot to fly a jet aircraft (a Gloster Meteor) in Australia. This was the beginning of the demand for forecasts for levels to 30 000 feet and above, a requirement which later extended to international jet aircraft and ultimately to domestic services.

The domestic airlines lagged somewhat behind their international counterparts in updating their aircraft. In October 1948 TAA introduced Consolidated Convair aircraft into service, the first pressurised commercial airliner flown in regular domestic aviation services in Australia. ANA introduced DC6 pressurised aircraft into domestic service at a later stage.


People in Bright Sparcs - 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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