William Anderson (RAAF officer)

William Hopton (Bill) Anderson
30 December 1891 – 30 December 1975 (aged 84)
Air Vice Marshal William Anderson
Nickname	"Andy", "Mucker" [1]
Place of birth	Kew, Victoria
Place of death	East Melbourne, Victoria
Allegiance	Commonwealth of Australia
Service/branch	Royal Australian Air Force
Years of service	1910–1946
Rank	Air Vice Marshal
Unit	No. 1 Squadron AFC (1916–1918)
Commands held	No. 3 Squadron AFC (1918–1919) Chief of the Air Staff (1940) RAAF Central Area (1940–1941) RAAF Eastern Area (1942–1943) RAAF Staff School (1944–1946)
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Commander of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Flying Cross Croix de guerre (Belgium)

Air Vice-Marshal William Hopton (Bill) Anderson CBE, DFC (30 December 1891 – 30 December 1975) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He flew with the Australian Flying Corps in World War I, before joining the fledgling RAAF in 1921. Between the wars he held posts on the Australian Air Board. In 1940 Anderson acted as Chief of the Air Staff between the resignation of Air Vice Marshal Stanley Goble in January and the arrival of Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett (RAF) the following month. He retired in 1946.

Early career

Born in Kew, Victoria, Anderson was educated at Melbourne Church of England Grammar School. He commenced his military career with the Royal Australian (Garrison) Artillery in 1910.^[1]

World War I

Anderson transferred to the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force, based at Rabaul in what was then German New Guinea, in early 1915.^[1] The following year he joined the Australian Flying Corps as a Captain,^[2] serving with No. 1 Squadron in Palestine. In 1917 he was posted to No. 3 Squadron, operating R.E.8s in France.^[3] He was spotting for artillery near the Messines Ridge on 6 December 1917 when he engaged a German DFW that his observer, Lieutenant J.R. Bell, was able to shoot down; it was No. 3 Squadron's first confirmed kill.^[4] Anderson took command of the unit in October 1918. By the end of the war he had risen to the rank of Major and been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Belgian Croix de guerre.^[1][5][6]

Interwar years

On 31 March 1921 Anderson joined the newly-formed Australian Air Force (the 'Royal' prefix being added in August) as a Squadron Leader, its third-most senior officer after Wing Commanders Richard Williams and Stanley Goble.^[5][7] He commanded No. 1 Flying Training School at Point Cook in 1920–21 and 1925–26, interspersed with an ongoing position on the Air Board as Air Member for Personnel. Anderson was posted to England between 1927 and 1929, attending RAF Staff College, Andover and serving as Air Liaison Officer to the British Air Ministry. He was promoted Wing Commander on 23 March 1927. Anderson spent most of the 1930s on the Air Board, returning to London in 1935 to attend the Imperial Defence College. He was raised to Group Captain in December 1932 and Air Commodore in January 1938.^[1] Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1933 King's Birthday Honours,^[8] he was promoted to Commander in the same order (CBE) in the 1934 New Year Honours.^[9]

World War II

Air Vice Marshal Anderson (right) awarding an airman his wings at Point Cook, 1944

Anderson was Air Member for Supply when on 9 January 1940 he was appointed acting Chief of the Air Staff, following the resignation of Air Vice Marshal Stanley Goble. He remained in the position until 10 February 1940, when Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett, seconded from the Royal Air Force, arrived to take over.^[1][10][11] Anderson became Air Officer Commanding RAAF Central Area, covering most of New South Wales, on its formation in mid–1940, and remained at this post until the following year. He was made an acting Air Vice Marshal in September 1941. Anderson commanded RAAF Eastern Area, which had evolved from Central Area, in 1942–43.^[1][12][13] He returned to the position of Air Member for Personnel between November 1943 and October 1944.^[14] Anderson was then made the inaugural Commandant of the RAAF Staff School at Mount Martha, Victoria.^[15] He continued in this role until being forcibly retired, along with a number of other senior Air Force officers, in April 1946.^[14][16]

Later life

Following his discharge from the RAAF, Bill Anderson lived in East Melbourne, Victoria. He remained a bachelor and shared a house with his sister, who was also unmarried. He died in 1975.^[1]

Notes

References

• Coulthard-Clark, C.D. (1993). "Anderson, William Hopton (1891 - 1975)", Australian Dictionary of Biography: Volume 13. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. 
• Cutlack, F.M. [1923] (1941). The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 (11th edition): Volume VIII – The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War, 1914–1918. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. 
• Gillison, Douglas (1962). Australia in the War of 1939–1945: Series Three (Air) Volume I – Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. 
• Helson, Peter (2006). "Ten Years at the Top". University of New South Wales.
• Newton, Dennis (1996). Clash of Eagles. Kenthurst, NSW: Kangaroo Press. ISBN 0864177933. 
• Odgers, George [1957] (1968). Australia in the War of 1939–1945: Series Three (Air) Volume II – Air War Against Japan 1943–45. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. 
• Stephens, Alan [2001] (2006). The Royal Australian Air Force: A History. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195555414.