RAAF Centenary - The Dennis & Boulton Family Story

Thanks to last night’s program offerings on ABC TV I became aware that the RAAF celebrates its centenary tomorrow, 31 March 2021. The RAAF is a few months younger than another iconic Australian organisation, Qantas, established in November 1920. 

The RAAF’s history fascinates me as the family of my mother Julia Dennis was full of ‘fly-boys’. She had a brother and three cousins who served as pilots or navigators in WW2 and she herself worked for several years from 1944 as a draughtswoman for the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation at Fishermans Bend in Melbourne. Last night we were reminded of the high death rates among aircrew in WW2, a statistic which rang true for my family - 50% killed, the other 50% badly injured. 

1941. My mother’s cousin Pip (Philip Hugh Boulton) happened to be in England when war broke out, just like his father had been when WW1 began. (See my book 'Brothers in Arms: The Great War Letters of Captain Nigel Boulton, RAMC, & Lieut Stephen Boulton, AIF'). Pip trained as an RAF pilot for the Bristol Beaufighter, used as nightfighters. Just after he joined the crack No 604 Squadron, whose aircraft carried experimental radar, he was killed in May 1941 as a passenger/observer in an aircraft accident over Dorset. http://boultonfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2017/09/pips-life-circle.html A few years ago I visited his official war grave at Alperton Cemetery in London. http://boultonfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2019/12/belatedly-honouring-philip-hugh-boulton.html Although he flew for the RAF, as an Australian he has recently been honoured at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra: http://boultonfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2020/01/commemorative-roll-awm-canberra.html 

Heroes Corner, Alperton Cemetery

1943. My mother’s brother Stephen Penn Dennis, an RAAF pilot flying a Hawker Typhoon, was shot down over France in 1943, severely burnt and injured in the crash and became a prisoner of war in Germany. He suffered lifelong health consequences. Read more here:  http://dennisfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2012/04/its-small-world-stephen-penn-dennis.html 

Stephen Dennis, 1942

1944. My mother’s cousin Stewart Leigh Dennis was an RAAF navigator in No 8 Pathfinder Group of 156 Squadron of Bomber Command. Every sortie was a virtual suicide mission but he managed to survive 27 raids before his Lancaster PB209 was shot down near Germany’s border with Luxembourg in August 1944. See http://dennisfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2017/06/echoes-from-valiant-past-stewart-leigh.html   He is buried miles away in the Rheinberg War Cemetery but a group of Germans has recently set up a memorial at the crash site for the men of PB209. Read more here: http://dennisfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2020/03/echoes-from-valiant-past-part-2.html 

'A Terrifying Beauty' by Piotr Forkasiewicz - Lancaster Bomber on Fire

1945. My mother’s cousin Peter Martin Boulton (Pip’s younger brother) flew Hurricanes for the RAAF in the Middle East, where he was badly injured in an accident on the ground in 1943. He was repatriated to Australia, but further badly injured when he crash-landed in a Mustang near Townsville in 1945. Read more here: http://boultonfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2018/08/another-boulton-fly-boy.html  

Peter Martin Boulton's Crashed Plane, 1945

2020. With this family background in my mind, I’ve recently enjoyed reading ‘Invited to a War’ by Ret’d Air Vice Marshall Alan Reed, AO, a memoir which tells its own fascinating story of the adventurous opportunities created by a career in the RAAF. 

'Invited to a War' is available from BookPOD in Melbourne

I liked the way the ABC's story ended with a tribute to the wives and families of RAAF personnel, who make these careers possible, as Alan does in his book. In my family's case it was the widowed mothers, young wives, sisters and daughters who kept the home fires burning for their menfolk and kept their memories alive.