Alan Rawlinson

Alan Rawlinson
Flight Lieutenant Rawlinson in Palestine, June 1941
Birth name	Alan Charles Rawlinson
Born	31 July 1918 Fremantle, Western Australia
Died	27 August 2007(2007-08-27) (aged 89) Naracoorte, South Australia
Allegiance	Australia United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Australian Air Force (1938–46) Royal Air Force (1947–61)
Years of service	1938–61
Rank	Group Captain
Unit	No. 3 Squadron RAAF (1939–41) No. 2 OTU RAAF (1942) RAF Odiham Wing (1949–52)
Commands held	No. 79 Squadron RAAF (1943) Paratroop Training Unit RAAF (1944–45) No. 78 Wing RAAF (1945–46) No. 54 Squadron RAF (1949) RAF Guided Weapons Trials Unit (1953–58) RAF Buchan (1960–61)
Battles/wars	World War II Middle Eastern theatre Western Desert campaign Syria–Lebanon campaign South West Pacific theatre New Guinea campaign Borneo campaign
Awards	Officer of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Flying Cross & Bar Air Force Cross

World War II

Alan Charles Rawlinson, OBE, DFC & Bar, AFC (31 July 1918 – 27 August 2007) was an Australian airman and fighter ace of World War II. He was credited with at least eight aerial victories, as well as two aircraft probably destroyed, and another eight damaged. Born in Fremantle, Western Australia, Rawlinson joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1938. He was posted to the Middle East in July 1940 and saw action with No. 3 (Army Cooperation) Squadron, flying Gloster Gladiator and Gauntlet biplanes initially, and later Hawker Hurricanes and P-40 Tomahawks. Twice credited with shooting down three enemy aircraft in a single sortie, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in October 1941 and took command of No. 3 Squadron the next month. He received a bar to his DFC in December 1941, and returned to Australia in March 1942.

In May 1943, Rawlinson was posted to the South West Pacific as the inaugural commanding officer of No. 79 Squadron, flying Supermarine Spitfires in New Guinea. After serving as commanding officer of the RAAF's Paratroop Training Unit at Richmond, New South Wales, between April 1944 and May 1945, he returned to the Pacific to command No. 78 (Fighter) Wing, which operated P-40 Kittyhawks in Borneo. Promoted to acting group captain in July 1945, he remained in command of No. 78 Wing until his discharge from the RAAF in December 1946. Commissioned the following year into the Royal Air Force (RAF), Rawlinson flew de Havilland Vampire jet fighters as commanding officer of No. 54 Squadron in 1949, and then as commander of flying operations at RAF Odiham from 1949 to 1952. He was awarded the Air Force Cross in June 1952. Between 1953 and 1958 he was in charge of the RAF's Guided Weapons Trials Unit in the UK and Australia. Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in June 1958, he commanded RAF Buchan in 1960–61 before retiring from the RAF to live in South Australia, where he died in 2007.