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
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
With the Army
With 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
Search
Help
Contact us
With the Army (continued)
Wings aptly described a mobile meteorological detachment as 'three men in a jeep'. [86] Basically this was the case—two or three men working with forward troops or artillery batteries to supply the meteors. Sometimes the detachment had a trailer to carry their gear, but usually the jeep alone had to suffice. By the time three men with their personal gear and weapons, a hydrogen generator, theodolite, Compass, barometer and slide rule piled in, there was little spare room. However what these remarkable vehicles could carry over any terrain was legendary. I can recall being one of eight men in a jeep returning to Garbutt base from a night out in Townsville. (When we reached the base there were only four left—we had lost the others swerving sharply around corners). On another occasion, I drove six men home in a jeep through the jungle after a fraternal visit to a nearby American officers' mess. A senior officer of our unit—a Squadron-Leader—had patronised the bourbon too well and stubbornly insisted that he would drive the jeep. He pulled rank, threatened that he would put me on a charge for disobeying an order, scolded, and pleaded; but with some ragged support from the others, I held out. The dissident staggered slowly backwards in front of the vehicle which I edged forward, in low gear. Finally, he passed out and disappeared from view under the bonnet. We loaded him into the jeep and went on along a rough self-made track. Next morning I was experiencing some trepidation that I might be in trouble. However, the Squadron-Leader did not surface until mess dinner that evening. He was a sorry spectacle-scratched and pale; and he had lost his top denture during the adventure. He bore no ill-will, and a party of us took him out to search for the missing chompers, without success.The MMF assisted the Allied air forces by providing vital weather reports for positions far from air bases, close to, or overlooking target areas.
The mobile meteorological flights worthily merited their places on parade at the surrender ceremony when Japanese Lieutenant-General Adachi handed over his sword to the Allied victors at Cape Won on 13 September 1945.
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© Online Edition Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre and Bureau of Meteorology 2001
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