Joe Hewitt ( RAAF officer ) Air Vice Marshal Joseph Eric ( Joe ) Hewitt , CBE ( 13 April 1901 – 1 November 1985 ) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) . A Royal Australian Navy officer who transferred permanently to the Air Force in 1928 , he commanded No . 101 ( Fleet Cooperation ) Flight in the early 1930s , and No . 104 ( Bomber ) Squadron RAF on exchange in Britain shortly before World War II . Appointed the RAAF ' s Assistant Chief of the Air Staff in 1941 , Hewitt was posted the following year to Allied Air Forces Headquarters , South West Pacific Area , as Director of Intelligence . In 1943 , he took command of No . 9 Operational Group , the RAAF ' s main mobile strike force , but was controversially sacked by the Chief of the Air Staff , Air Vice Marshal George Jones , less than a year later over alleged morale and disciplinary issues . Described as a " small , dapper man " who was " outspoken , even ' cocky ' " , Hewitt overcame the setback to his career during the war and made his most significant contributions afterwards , as Air Member for Personnel from 1945 to 1948 . Directly responsible for the demobilisation of thousands of wartime staff and the consolidation of what was then the world ' s fourth largest air force into a much smaller peacetime service , he also modernised education and training within the RAAF . Hewitt was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1951 , the same year he became Air Member for Supply and Equipment . Retiring from the military in 1956 , he went into business and later managed his own publishing house . He wrote two books including " Adversity in Success " , a first - hand account of the South West Pacific air war , before his death in 1985 at the age of 84 . Early career . Born in Tylden , Victoria , Joe Hewitt was the son of Reverend J . H . Hewitt . He attended Scotch College , Melbourne , before entering the Royal Australian Naval College at Jervis Bay in 1915 , aged 13 . Graduating in 1919 , Hewitt rose to lieutenant in the RAN before volunteering for secondment to the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) as a flight lieutenant in January 1923 . He undertook the pilots ' course at No . 1 Flying Training School , Point Cook , and graduated at the end of the year . Hewitt was further seconded to the Royal Air Force on 4 May 1925 , holding a temporary commission as a flying officer ; this commission was cancelled on 25 September . He married Lorna Bishop on 10 November ; they had three daughters . Hewitt joined the newly formed No . 101 ( Fleet Cooperation ) Flight , operating Seagull III amphibians , in August 1926 . Prior to the unit deploying to Queensland to survey the Great Barrier Reef with HMAS " Moresby " , he practiced manoeuvres around the centre of Melbourne , landing in the Yarra River near Flinders Street Station . Media criticism of the escapade led to him being brought before the Chief of the Air Staff , Group Captain Richard Williams , who rather than upbraiding Hewitt expressed himself " reservedly pleased about the publicity " . After completing its survey work in November 1928 , the unit served aboard the seaplane carrier HMAS " Albatross " . Hewitt ' s transfer to the Air Force was made permanent the same year . He became commanding officer of No . 101 Flight in February 1931 , and supervised embarkation of the Seagull aboard the cruiser HMAS " Australia " in September – October 1932 , by which time he had been promoted to squadron leader . Finishing his tour with No . 101 Flight the following year , Hewitt was posted to Britain in 1934 . He attended RAF Staff College , Andover , in his first year abroad , and served as Assistant Liaison Officer at Australia House , London , in 1935 . Although a specialist seaplane pilot , he converted to bombers while in England , flying Hawker Hind s and Bristol Blenheim s as the commanding officer of No . 104 Squadron RAF from 1936 . Returning to Australia in 1938 , Hewitt was appointed senior air staff officer at RAAF Station Richmond , New South Wales , and by July that year had been promoted wing commander . In May 1939 , he was chosen to lead No . 10 Squadron , due to be formed on 1 July at the recently established RAAF Station Rathmines , near Lake Macquarie . Hewitt was preparing to depart for England to take delivery of the unit ' s planned complement of Short Sunderland flying boats when he broke his neck riding his motor cycle near Richmond , and had to forgo the assignment while he recovered . Fit for duty by August , he was given command of the Rathmines base to manage the deployment of No . 10 Squadron and its aircraft , but this was suspended due to the outbreak of World War II in September , and the Sunderlands and their RAAF crews remained in Britain for service alongside the RAF . World War II . Director of Personnel Services to AOC No . 9 Operational Group . On 20 November 1939 , the RAAF formed No . 1 Group in Melbourne , which evolved into Southern Area Command early in 1940 with Hewitt as senior administration staff officer . Having been promoted group captain , he was made Director of Personnel Services ( DPS ) after completing his posting to Southern Area , and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 11 July . Described as having " a Calvinist background and rigid ideas on women ' s place in society " , as DPS he opposed the creation of the Women ' s Auxiliary Australian Air Force ( WAAAF ) and later advocated that its members be enrolled on a contractual basis rather than enlisted or commissioned as Permanent Air Force staff . In 1941 , Hewitt became Assistant Chief of the Air Staff , before being assigned in April the following year to the newly formed Allied Air Forces Headquarters ( AAF HQ ) , South West Pacific Area ( SWPA ) , as Director of Intelligence . He established cordial working relations with his American peers at AAF HQ , becoming a confidant of its commander , Major General George Kenney . Promoted air commodore , in February 1943 Hewitt was appointed Air Officer Commanding ( AOC ) No . 9 Operational Group ( No . 9 OG ) . The RAAF ' s premier mobile strike force , No . 9 OG initially comprised seven Australian combat squadrons and came under the control of the US Fifth Air Force . The month he took over , Hewitt ' s squadrons were reorganised into two wings based in New Guinea : No . 71 Wing , comprising units at Milne Bay , New Guinea , and No . 73 Wing , comprising those at Port Moresby . In March , No . 9 OG led the RAAF ' s contribution to the Battle of the Bismarck Sea , " the decisive aerial engagement " in the SWPA according to General Douglas MacArthur , resulting in 12 Japanese ships being sunk . By April 1943 , however , Hewitt had been dragged into the divisive personal conflict between the Chief of the Air Staff , Air Vice Marshal George Jones , and the AOC of RAAF Command , Air Vice Marshal Bill Bostock . RAAF Command was the Air Force ' s main operational formation in the Pacific , controlling 24 Australian squadrons . Jones , administrative and " de jure " head of the RAAF , sought to extend his authority into the sphere of operations by posting a " more accountable " officer into Bostock ' s position , namely Hewitt . The Minister for Air , Arthur Drakeford , backed Jones ' manoeuvre but was informed by Prime Minister John Curtin that General MacArthur , as Supreme Commander SWPA , " would insist on the replacement of AVM Bostock by an equally able officer " , and that " Air Commodore Hewitt . . . was not considered an adequate replacement . " No changes were made to command arrangements in the South West Pacific following this episode , and Hewitt continued to lead No . 9 OG in its bombing and strafing campaign against Japanese airfields and lines of communication in New Britain , north - east of New Guinea . By mid - June 1943 , he had set up Group Headquarters at Milne Bay , and No . 73 Wing HQ at Goodenough Island . On 22 July , he mounted an operation against Gasmata airfield using 62 aircraft from five of his squadrons , the largest strike undertaken by the Australians to that date . No . 9 OG would take most of the credit for the RAAF reaching a peak of 254 tons of bombs dropped in October , as against 137 tons delivered the previous month . On 8 November , Hewitt sent out a formation of three Bristol Beaufort s in a severe electrical storm to attack the heavily defended harbour at Rabaul . This was conceived as a " make or break " effort to prove the worth or otherwise of the Beaufort as a torpedo bomber , in which role it had so far been a disappointment ; in what the official history of the RAAF in World War II described as " an heroic attack " , at least one enemy tanker was struck , for the loss of one Beaufort . AOC No . 9 Operational Group to Air Member for Personnel . Although Hewitt was performing an " excellent job " according to Fifth Air Force commander Major General Ennis Whitehead , he was controversially removed from his post in mid - November 1943 by Air Vice Marshal Jones , over accusations of poor discipline and morale within No . 9 OG . RAAF historian Alan Stephens later described the circumstances of Hewitt ' s dismissal as " murky " , and the allegations leading to it as unofficial . Drakeford defended Hewitt ' s service record , informing the Prime Minister that " the present position may be largely , if not entirely , due to some temporary physical stress brought about by the strain of his important duties as A . O . C . of No . 9 Group . " Hewitt himself believed that he had been smeared by a disgruntled former staff officer ; historian Kristen Alexander identified Wing Commander Kenneth Ranger , who would play a leading part in the " Morotai Mutiny " of 1945 , as having made allegations regarding Hewitt ' s supposed " lack of balance , vanity and lack of purpose in the prosecution of the war " . As a result , Hewitt returned to his previous position as Director of Intelligence at Allied Air Headquarters , while the Air Member of Personnel , Air Commodore Frank Lukis , took over as AOC No . 9 OG in December . General Kenney considered Hewitt ' s removal " bad news " . After completing his tour as Director of Intelligence at AAF HQ at the end of 1944 , Hewitt became acting Air Member for Personnel ( AMP ) in 1945 . As AMP , Hewitt sat on the Air Board , the RAAF ' s controlling body that consisted of its most senior officers and was chaired by the Chief of the Air Staff . Along with the other members of the board , he reviewed the findings of the inquiry by Justice John Vincent Barry into the " Morotai Mutiny " , which had involved senior pilots of the Australian First Tactical Air Force ( No . 1 TAF ) attempting to resign their commissions to protest the relegation of RAAF fighter squadrons to strategically unimportant ground attack missions . Hewitt recommended that the AOC No . 1 TAF , Air Commodore Harry Cobby , be removed from command , along with his two senior staff officers . The majority of the Air Board saw no reason to take such action , leaving Hewitt to append a dissenting note to its decision . However , Minister for Air Arthur Drakeford supported Hewitt ' s position , and the three senior No . 1 TAF officers were later dismissed from their posts by Air Vice Marshal Jones . Post - war career . Demobilisation and rationalisation . Hewitt ' s appointment as Air Member for Personnel was made permanent following the end of World War II in August 1945 . In this role he was directly responsible for the demobilisation of what had become the world ' s fourth largest air force , and its transition to a much smaller peacetime service . Hewitt considered that the RAAF was in danger of losing some of its best staff through rapid , unplanned demobilisation , and recommended that its workforce be stabilised for two years at a strength of 20 , 000 while it reviewed its post - war requirements . Although the Air Board supported Hewitt ' s proposal , government cost - cutting resulted in the strength of the so - called Interim Air Force remaining lower than planned , being reduced to some 13 , 000 by October 1946 and under 8 , 000 by the end of 1948 . Despite claiming that employing women in the Air Force was an important factor in reducing " antagonism and prejudice " against them in the work force in general , Hewitt also recommended that the WAAAF be disbanded after the war . As AMP , Hewitt was responsible for reviewing the potential employment of senior officers in the post - war Air Force . This review led to the early retirement of such figures as Air Marshal Richard Williams and Air Vice Marshals Stanley Goble , Bill Bostock , Frank McNamara , Bill Anderson , Henry Wrigley and Adrian Cole , ostensibly to make way for the advancement of younger and equally capable officers . Hewitt helped draft the letters to each of the retirees , explaining the reasons for the decision and redundancy payments involved . He also had the " thankless task " of rationalising the " Air Force List " of officers and their seniority , which had become a source of numerous irregularities due to the temporary and acting promotions granted during wartime . This resulted in many officers of senior rank being ' demoted ' as many as three levels , such as group captain to flight lieutenant , in the first post - war " List " released in June 1947 . RAAF education and other work . Hewitt was responsible for initiating major improvements in Air Force education that took place between 1945 and 1953 , playing a key role in the establishment of RAAF College and the introduction of an apprenticeship training programme . The purpose of the College was , in Hewitt ' s words , to " sow the seeds of service " for future leaders , helping create a special RAAF " esprit de corps " . He added that it was " almost a truism that the future RAAF can be no better than the Air Force College " . Founded at Point Cook in January 1948 , RAAF College ' s inaugural commandant was Air Commodore Val Hancock , who also drafted its first charter . With the support of the Air Member for Engineering and Maintenance , Air Vice Marshal Ellis Wackett , Hewitt developed the Apprenticeship Training Scheme to raise the standard of technical roles in the Air Force , introducing it with a nationwide publicity campaign to attract recruits . Its base was the Ground Training School , which opened at Wagga , New South Wales , in early 1948 to provide education and technical training for youths aged 15 to 17 . It was renamed RAAF Technical College in 1950 and then the RAAF School of Technical Training in 1952 . Parallel to his initiatives in Air Force education and training , Hewitt introduced a revised aircrew ranking scheme that consisted of skill categories with various levels , such as navigator level 4 or pilot level 1 , rather than the regular military ranks such as sergeant or flight lieutenant . This was abandoned in 1950 due to dissatisfaction caused by the lack of obvious equivalence between these specialist ' ranks ' and the traditional ranking system common to the rest of the RAAF and other defence forces . After completing his term as Air Member for Personnel in 1948 , he was posted to London as the Australian Defence Representative . By now promoted air vice marshal , Hewitt was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1951 New Year Honours . Returning from Britain the same year , he took over as Air Member for Supply and Equipment ( AMSE ) from Air Vice Marshal George Mackinolty , who had died suddenly of cancer . Hewitt served as AMSE until his retirement from the RAAF in April 1956 . In this role , he again cooperated with Air Vice Marshal Wackett — now the Air Member for Technical Services — to introduce the concept of acquiring spare parts based on ' life - of - type ' , whereby the forecast number and type of spares necessary for an aircraft ' s projected service life would be ordered when it was first deployed operationally , to reduce support costs and delivery times . Later life and legacy . Following his retirement from the Air Force in 1956 , Hewitt joined International Harvester Co . Australia as Manager of Education and Training . He became a trustee of the Services Canteen Trust the same year , serving in this position until 1977 . Having retired from International Harvester in 1966 , Hewitt became an author in later life and wrote two books on his experiences in the military . The first , " Adversity in Success " , was published in 1980 and gave his account of the air war in the South West Pacific . He followed it in 1984 with " The Black One " . Hewitt also acted as chairman and managing director of his own publishing house , Langate Publishing . Predeceased by his wife Lorna , he died on 1 November 1985 . Hewitt is credited with being primarily responsible for the " education revolution " that took place in the RAAF between 1945 and 1953 , his initiatives while Air Member for Personnel being carried on by his successor in the position , Air Vice Marshal Frank Bladin . According to Air Force historians Alan Stephens and Keith Isaacs , the importance of RAAF College and the Apprenticeship Training Scheme in contributing to the professionalism of the post - war service " cannot be over - stated " . Air Vice Marshal Ernie Hey , the Air Member for Technical Services from 1960 through 1972 , declared that the apprenticeship programme was " one of the best things " the RAAF ever established and its graduates — numbering some 5 , 500 from 1952 to 1993 — as " absolutely outstanding " . Joe Hewitt is commemorated by Hewitt Reef in Great Barrier Reef Marine Park , named in his honour by the survey team on HMAS " Moresby " , with whom he worked as a member of No . 101 Flight in 1926 – 28 .