Key Industry Personalities

A small group of men played a key role in this historic event in Australian Aviation History:

Born: 1st November 1896 (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia)
Died: 1955
Educated: University of Sydney (Bachelor of Science)

• Director, Department of Aircraft Production, Beaufort Division
• Chairman of Directors, Repco Ltd.
• Director, General Motors-Holden (1934-1940)
• President, Institute of Industrial Management
• President, Automotive Manufacturers Association of New South Wales

The Rt. Hon. John Curtin
Prime Minister of Australia, 1941-1945

Born: 8th January 1885 (Creswick, Victoria, Australia)
Died: 5th July 1945

Born of Irish immigrant parents, John Curtin is regarded by many as one of Australia's greatest Prime Ministers.
He assumed office just six weeks before the bombing of Pearl Harbour and lead Australia through the darkest hours of World War II. No Prime Minister has had a more profound effect on Australia, and no man has given more for the service of his office.

Click here for more information about John Curtin.

Born: 29th August 1980 (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia)
Died: 17th June 1976

Following War Service from 1914-1919, Richard Casey returned to a career first in Mining, then in Politics.

Then followed Casey's first period as Minister-in-Charge of the CSIR - standards and testing, lubricants and bearings, America and the Middle East, Bengal and India. The CSIR became the CSIRO - seeing post-war growth, Mixomytosis, Radio Astronomy and the Parkes Radio Telescope, the Phytotron, the Neurological Foundation, the United Nations and International co-operation in science.

Amongst other international activities was Casey's role as Governor General of the Australian Academy of Science.

Born: 22nd September 1885 (Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia)
Died: 13th June 1951 (Canberra, Australian Capital Territory)

Click here to find out more about Joseph Benedict ("Ben") Chifley.

Born: 1894
Died: 18th March 1982

Sir Lawrence Wackett is widely regarded as a leading figure in the establishment of the aerospace industry in Australia.

He served in the Australian Flying Corps in World War I, and was responsible for several inventions - amongst which was gun synchronisation equipment. He learned aircraft design and was Commanding Officer of the RAAF Experimental Section in Sydney from 1924. Among the Wackett designs produced were the Widgeon amphibian, and the Warrigal multi-purpose biplane (which became the first all-metal aircraft produced in Australia).

Leaving the RAAF, he was with Sydney's Cockatoo Island Dockyard, and, by the mid-1930s, he was managing director of Tugan Aircraft Co. Ltd., Sydney.

In 1936, when his company was building the twin-engined, high wing Gannet transport, he toured the USA with two RAAF officers. At that time negotiations were under way to set up what would become the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) and his task was to prepare a report and recommendations towards that end.

Realising that a sophisticated, original design would be demanding much of the new industry, a suitable foreign design was sought for Australian construction. Against a general expectation that a British aircraft would be the automatic choice, Wackett recommended the North American NA-16, which entered local production, with some modifications, as the CAC Wirraway.

Wackett remained a person of strong views and firm will. His judgment was viewed as sound, and his preferences shaped the industry. The Mustang, Avon Sabre and Mirage were among his recommendations which were taken seriously by the Government, to the benefit of the RAAF.