AUSTRALIAN UNIT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 94, 18 October 1939, Page 10

AUSTRALIAN UNIT

AIR SERVICE ABROAD

GROUND STAFF INCLUDED

(From "The Post's' Representative.)

SYDNEY, October 11

The War Cabinet has decided that ground personnel will accompany the 550 pilots and men who will comprise the Air Expeditionary Force of six squadrons which the Commonwealth Government has offered to the British Government. This will mean that, with a reinforcement pool of 225 men, the total strength of the force will be 3200 men.

The force will be commanded by Group-Captain H. F. De La Rue, commanding officer of the principal Royal Australian * Air Force station in New Soutl Wales. His appointment means that he is almost certain to receive promotion in the near future—probably to the rank of air vice-marshal.

The decision to send the ground personnel follows a careful survey of the effect which this action would have on the supply of technical men who might otherwise be needed for the Royal Australian Air Force, and munitions manufacture.

Recruiting for the force will begin .almost immediately. No official announcement has been made about the proportion of the personnel that will be taken from the Royal Australian Ai_ Force. It is understood that it will not be substantial.

Like the leader of the Second A.1.F., Sir, Thomas Blarney, and the new commander of the Royal Australian Naval Squadron, Rear-Admiral J. N. Grace, the leader of the air contingent for abroad is Australian-born. GroupCaptain De La Rue was born at Auburn, a Sydney suburb, 48 years ago. He is an experienced "war-bird." When the 1914-18 war' broke out he was an officer in the British Merchant Marine, and joined a naval transport unit. In 1916 he transferred to the Royal Naval Air Service, which was subsequently incorporated into the Royal Air Force. As commanding officer of No. 223 squadron, R.A.F., he was stationed in Italy, and, while there, won the Distinguished Flying Cross and an Italian medal for valour. In 1919 he was transferred to the Middle East Command of the Royal Air" Force. In 1920 he resigned from the R.A.F. to join the Royal Australian Air Force with the rank of flight-lieutenant. For five years he was in command of the principal flying training school. He was on exchange duty with the Royal Air Force from 1928 to 1931. He has been commanding officer of the chief New South Wales R.A.A.F. Station since early last year. He was promoted to Group-Captain in 1937.