page_title: Alan Rawlinson
section_title: Middle East
hierarchical_section_title: Alan Rawlinson / World War II / Middle East
caption_attribution_description: English: Royal Air Force Operations in the Middle East and North Africa, 1939-1943. Flying Officer A C Rawlinson, Flight Lieutenant B R Pelly and Flying Officer A H Boyd of No. 3 Squadron RAAF, walk away from Gloster Gladiator Mark II, N5752 'NW-G', at LG 10/Gerawala, Egypt, on the day following their major engagement with 17 Italian fighters over Bir Enba, Libya, during which a fourth pilot, Squadron Leader P R Heath, was shot down and killed. Boyd scored three victories in N5752 before it was shot down by Italian fighters near Sollum on 13 December 1940.
context_page_description: Alan Charles Rawlinson, OBE, DFC & Bar, AFC was an Australian airman who became a fighter ace in 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 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 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 Wing, which operated P-40 Kittyhawks in Borneo.
context_section_description: In April 1940, the RAAF confirmed both Rawlinson's appointment as a pilot officer and promotion to temporary flying officer as of 22 November 1939. Three months later, he posted out to the Middle East with No. 3 Squadron, which was to support the 6th Division in the Western Desert campaign against Italian forces. Sailing via Bombay, the squadron arrived in Suez, Egypt, on 23 August 1940. The next month it was equipped with a flight of Westland Lysander high-wing monoplane reconnaissance aircraft and two flights of Gloster Gladiator biplane fighters, augmented by four Gloster Gauntlet biplanes to be used for dive bombing; Rawlinson initially trained on the Gauntlet.
  Rawlinson took part in No. 3 Squadron's first aerial combat on 19 November 1940. Flying a Gladiator, he was one of three pilots escorting Flight Lieutenant Blake Pelly on a reconnaissance mission when they were engaged by eighteen Italian Fiat CR.42 biplanes near Rabia in western Egypt. The Australians claimed six CR.42s destroyed for the loss of one Gladiator. Rawlinson has been variously credited with one CR.42 destroyed, one probably destroyed, or one damaged. According to biographer Lex McAulay, Rawlinson believed he destroyed a CR.42 in a head-on attack but did not see it crash, so his claim was downgraded to "damaged". He flew Gauntlets on dive-bombing missions in December; the type was withdrawn from service mid-month.
  On 22 December 1940, as the Allies advanced along the Libyan coast to Bardia, Rawlinson's rank of flying officer was made substantive; it was the highest permanent rank he received during the war. Four days later, he was in a formation of eight Gladiators that attacked ten Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers and their escort of twenty-four CR.42s; the Australians claimed two CR.42s destroyed, and five damaged including one probably destroyed, which was credited to Rawlinson. On 22 January 1941, Rawlinson and Flying Officer Wilfred Arthur were despatched in Gladiators to attack an Italian schooner off Tobruk; they machine-gunned the vessel, setting it on fire. Three days later, Rawlinson claimed two Fiat G.50 fighters damaged after five of the Italian monoplanes attacked five Gladiators patrolling near Mechili. He was notified of his promotion to temporary flight lieutenant, effective from New Year's Day, on 27 January.
  No. 3 Squadron began re-arming with Hawker Hurricane fighters on 29 January 1941, and Rawlinson started his conversion on 3 February. A week later, the squadron moved to RAF Station Benina to take over the air defence of Benghazi, which had been occupied by the 6th Division. German aircraft began appearing at this time, as the Afrika Korps and a Luftwaffe contingent under General Erwin Rommel arrived in North Africa to reinforce the Italians; the Germans launched their offensive in March, and Benina was evacuated on 3 April. The same day, Rawlinson was credited with shooting down three German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers, and damaging another, during a single sortie in his Hurricane.
  As the Allies retreated, No. 3 Squadron transferred to Lydda in Palestine, and began re-equipping with P-40 Tomahawks on 14 May. Rawlinson was appointed a flight commander the same month. He became an ace during the Syria–Lebanon campaign against the Vichy French in June–July 1941. On 28 June, he was leading a patrol of nine Tomahawks near Palmyra that came upon six French Martin 167 bombers, and shot down all six; Rawlinson was credited with three victories, raising his total to six. The squadron remained in Syria following the armistice with the French on 14 July. Rawlinson was allocated a new Tomahawk, nicknamed Sweet FA, which he shared with another No. 3 Squadron ace, Peter Turnbull. On 22 August, Rawlinson was practising aerobatics in Sweet FA when the right tailplane detached, damaging the tailfin in the process; he could only control the aircraft by flying at 150 miles per hour (240 km/h) but was able to bring it in for a landing, without flaps, at the higher-than-normal speed.
  No. 3 Squadron transferred to Sidi Haneish in Egypt on 3 Sep
caption: Flying Officers Rawlinson (left) and Boyd (right) with Flight Lieutenant Pelly and a Gladiator biplane, after No. 3 Squadron's first combat on 19 November 1940
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