Raymond Brownell

Brownell was born in the Hobart suburb of New Town, Tasmania, on 17 May 1894 to William Percival Brownell, a draper, and his wife Julie Ann James (née Scott). Initially educated at Leslie House School, Brownell later attended Scotch College, Melbourne where he was an active sportsman. On graduation, he was apprenticed to a firm of public accountants and auditors in Hobart.[1] In 1912, Brownell enlisted in the Citizens Military Force and was posted to the 41st Battery, Australian Field Artillery.[1][2]

Officers of RAAF Base Pearce in 1938. Brownell, Commanding Officer of the base, is located centre, front row.

On his return to Australia, Brownell was employed as a sub-accountant for a firm of merchants in Melbourne, and later with the Hobart City Council as a clerk.[1] On 22 April 1920, Brownell acted as one of the pallbearers at the military funeral of his friend and fellow No. 45 Squadron officer, Captain Cedric Howell, who had been killed in an aeroplane crash while participating in the England to Australia air race.[17] Seeking a position in the newly formed Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Brownell was commissioned as a flying officer on 12 September 1921 and posted to RAAF Point Cook in Victoria,[1][18] training Air Force cadets.[8] In a ceremony at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Hobart, on 26 August 1925, Brownell married Rhyllis Jean Birchall; the couple would later have two daughters.[1] The following year, Brownell assumed command of No. 1 Squadron. He led the squadron until 1928, when he was appointed to the RAAF Headquarters in Melbourne as Director of Personnel Services.[5]

During 1934, Brownell was posted to England for exchange service with the RAF. Made second-in-command of No. 3 Flying Training School at Grantham, he was promoted to wing commander on 1 April 1936. While still serving in the United Kingdom, Brownell was appointed commanding officer of No. 23 (City of Perth) Squadron (later No. 25 Squadron), which had been formed earlier in 1937. The squadron moved to RAAF Base Pearce in Western Australia during March 1938, at which time Brownell returned to Australia and assumed command of the unit along with the base.[1][8] Brownell was the first Commanding Officer of Pearce, which was not only the first RAAF establishment to be located in Western Australia,[5] but also the first permanent air force unit to be established in the state.[13]

Group Captain Brownell in Malaya. c.1941

On the outbreak of the Second World War, more units were placed under Brownell's purview at RAAF Base Pearce and he was consequently promoted to temporary group captain in December 1939.[1] With the introduction of Lockheed Hudson aircraft to the RAAF in February 1940, several units were re-equipped, including No. 14 Squadron at RAAF Base Pearce. The Hudsons replaced the squadron's Avro Ansons, which were to be ferried back to the eastern coast of Australia to be used as training aircraft. On one occasion, Brownell took part in ferrying an Anson to RAAF Point Cook with No. 14 Squadron pilot Charles Learmonth. Arriving with the aircraft, the pair piloted a de Havilland Moth Minor—a two-seated, open-cockpit, monoplane—back to Pearce. The return journey took Brownell and Learmonth seven days to complete, and involved a total of twenty-one refuelling stops along the way.[19]

In August 1940, Brownell was ordered to Singapore to establish and command an RAAF station on the island, as well as administer the RAAF squadrons located in Malaya.[1][20] Embarking aboard the SS Strathallan in mid-August, Brownell and his staff formed the RAAF station within two weeks of arrival at Sembawang. Under the control of RAF Far East Command, the station was established as RAF Sembawang.[20] During this time, Brownell frequently visited the Malaya peninsula.[1]

Members of the Australian Mission Group at the Japanese surrender talks. Left to right: Commodore John Collins; Lieutenant General Frank Berryman; Captain Roy Dowling; Air Commodore Raymond Brownell.

Promoted to acting air commodore, Brownell returned to Australia in August 1941 and was appointed Air Officer Commanding No. 1 Training Group in Melbourne. In this position, Brownell commanded approximately thirty establishments located in southern Australia. On 1 January 1943, he was posted as Air Officer Commanding Western Area.[1] Based at RAAF Base Pearce, Brownell's responsibilities involved coordinating training and directing long-range bombing operations.[1] Following intelligence reports that a Japanese force was en route to raid Western Australia, the Australian Government ordered a build-up of the defences in the area. In response to this, Brownell organised air defences around Perth and the Exmouth Gulf during March 1944. With the use of Army transports, he also reinforced Cunderdin with supplies and bombs for the use of the heavy bombers in the area. The Japanese attack did not occur.[21] For his service as Air Officer Commanding Western Area, Brownell was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1945 New Years Honours.[22]

Relinquishing command of Western Area in July 1945, Brownell was appointed commander of the recently formed No. 11 Group.[1] No. 11 Group was established as a static organisation that was to take administrative control of all RAAF units based on Morotai. The group assumed its role on 30 July, and had the initial jurisdiction of all Dutch territory in the area, along with British North Borneo and Sarawak. It also held the three main responsibilities of local air defence and sea lane protection, support of adjacent formations and offensive operations against Japanese targets within range, and line-of-communication duties. The group was formed too late to assume all of its responsibilities before the Second World War drew to an end.[23] Brownell was present at the Japanese surrenders in Manila, Tokyo, and on Morotai.[1] He was selected by the Australian government to attend the ceremony aboard the USS Missouri on 2 September 1945, but was replaced by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal George Jones, when Jones became available to make the trip to Japan.[24]

Returning to Western Australia after the war,[1] Brownell attended an investiture ceremony at Government House, Perth, on 3 January 1947, where he was presented with his CBE by the Lieutenant-Governor of Western Australia.[25] On 24 March that year, Brownell retired from the RAAF on medical grounds.[1] He had in any case been slated for early retirement, along with other senior officers and veterans of the First World War, to make way for the advancement of younger and equally capable officers.[26]

Following his retirement from the Air Force, Brownell was made a partner of S. G. Brearley & Co., a stockbroking firm located in Perth. In 1951, he became chairman of the associated sporting committee of the National Fitness Council of Western Australia; he served in this role until 1967. Aged 79, Brownell died at Subiaco, Western Australia, on 12 April 1974 and was accorded a funeral with full Air Force honours. Brownell's autobiography, From Khaki to Blue, was posthumously published by the Military Historical Society of Australia in 1978.[1][27]

• Franks, Norman (2003). Sopwith Camel Aces of World War 1. Osprey Aircraft of the Aces. Oxford, England: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-534-1.
• Gillison, Douglas (1962). Royal Australian Air Force, 1939–1942. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Canberra, Australia: Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 24 March 2009.
• Helson, Peter (2006). Ten Years at the Top (PhD thesis). Sydney: University of New South Wales. OCLC 225531223.
• Odgers, George (1968). Air War Against Japan, 1943–1945. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Canberra, Australia: Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 24 March 2009.
• Newton, Dennis (1996). Australian Air Aces: Australian Fighter Pilots in Combat. Fyshwyck, Australian Capital Territory: Aerospace Publications. ISBN 1-875671-25-0.
• Page, Charles (2008). Wings of Destiny: Wing Commander Charles Learmonth DFC and Bar, and the Air War in New Guinea. Dural Delivery Centre, New South Wales, Australia: Rosenberg Publishing. ISBN 978-1-877058-64-6.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Raymond Brownell.

• Brownell, Air Commodore Raymond J. (1978). From Khaki to Blue. Australia: Military Historical Society of Australia. ISBN 0-909859-18-3.