Life in the RAAF (Prologue)

Today's post comes from RSG who went from reading Biggles books to joining the Australian Air Force...

When I was 12, I discovered my brother’s Biggles’ books.  That began my life-long love affair with Spitfires and all things aeronautical, including the Air Force – which, in Australia is the Royal Australian Air Force.

Shortly before my 19^th birthday I convinced my father that the best thing that could possibly happen for my future would be for me to leave my position as a stenographer at the University of Queensland and join the Women’s Royal Australian Air Force.  With Dad’s blessing, I applied and was accepted into the mustering of “Clerk Medical” and off I flew, courtesy of the RAAF, from Brisbane over 1,000 miles south to Melbourne to begin Rookies’ Course No 147 with about 30 other young women at RAAF Base Williams, Point Cook, Victoria, the birthplace of the RAAF.

Rookies was interesting, to say the least!  Here we learnt all about precision drill and marching; the fine art of spit-cleaning our shoes (the aim being to be able to see one’s face in them); the necessity of keeping one’s quarters not just spotless but so incredibly sanitised that any germs within a mile of the our quarters would have run screaming for the hills in surrender; attended lectures on RAAF history and traditions; differing levels of uniform identification, e.g. 1A’s (best), 1B’s (everyday), Drabs (khakis – for Rookies and general mucking about); the other fine art of polishing brass (uniform) buttons; comparable Australian military ranks across the three services; the privilege of serving our country through the RAAF; and – how to have lots of fun when not on duty!!  Well, maybe that last one wasn’t really on our lecturing officers’ curriculum, but it was certainly on ours. And in the middle of all this was one incredibly enlightening lecture on the ‘facts of life’!! 

Being the rather strange being that I am, I loved Rookies (well maybe not the obsessive inspections) – we marched everywhere.  It was just too much fun!!  But I do remember a few of the other girls thinking I was a bit weird because I couldn’t get enough of drill and marching. 

Four weeks later we graduated and to my surprise and honour, I was the Dux of our Course.  I was then posted to Base Squadron Medical Section at Point Cook, only one of two of our course members to remain at Point Cook – the rest being scattered to RAAF bases all over Australia, depending upon their area of expertise or training requirements.

So much for Rookies….life in the RAAF now began in earnest….