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Adrian Cole (RAAF officer)

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Adrian Lindley Trevor Cole
Lieutenant Adrian Cole in Palestine, 1917
Nickname(s)"King" [1]
AllegianceAustralia Australia
Service / branch Royal Australian Air Force
Years of service1914–1946
RankAir Vice Marshal
UnitNo. 1 Squadron AFC (1916–17)
No. 2 Squadron AFC (1917–18)
CommandsRAAF Station Laverton (1929–32)
RAAF Station Richmond (1936–38)
No. 2 Group (1939–40)
Southern Area (1940–41)
RAF Northern Ireland (1942–43)
North-Western Area (1943–44)
Battles / warsWorld War I

World War II

AwardsCommander of the Order of the British Empire
Distinguished Service Order
Military Cross
Distinguished Flying Cross
Other workCompany director

Air Vice Marshal Adrian Lindley Trevor Cole CBE, DSO, MC, DFC (19 June 1895 – 14 February 1966) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Joining the army at the outbreak of World War I, Cole transferred to the Australian Flying Corps in 1916 and flew with No. 1 Squadron in the Middle East and No. 2 Squadron on the Western Front. He became an ace, bringing down ten enemy aircraft, and earned the Military Cross as well as the Distinguished Flying Cross. In 1921, he was a founding member of the RAAF.

Cole had risen to the position of Air Member for Supply by 1933 and gained promotion to Group Captain in 1935. The following year he was appointed the first Commanding Officer of Headquarters RAAF Station Richmond. During World War II, Cole led North-Western Area in Darwin, and held a series of overseas posts in North Africa, England, Northern Ireland, and Ceylon. As Forward Air Controller during the Dieppe Raid in 1942, he was wounded in action and awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Cole became a company director following his retirement from the RAAF in 1946. He died in 1966 at the age of seventy.

Early life and World War I

Adrian Cole was born in Glen Iris, a suburb of Melbourne, to barrister and doctor Robert Cole, and his wife Helen. He was educated at Geelong Grammar School and Melbourne Grammar School, where he was a member of the cadet corps.[2][3][4] When World War I broke out in August 1914, Cole gained a commission in the Australian Military Forces, serving with the 55th (Collingwood) Infantry Regiment.[5] He resigned his commission to join the Australian Imperial Force on 28 January 1916, with the intention of becoming a pilot in the Australian Flying Corps.[5][6]

Middle East

Posted to No. 1 Squadron (also known until 1918 as No. 67 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps), Cole departed Melbourne aboard HMAT A67 Orsova on 16 March 1916, bound for Egypt.[6][7] He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in June and began his flying training in August.[2] By February 1917, he was flying reconnaissance and scouting missions in Sinai and Palestine.[8] On 20 April, Cole and fellow squadron member Lieutenant Roy Maxwell Drummond attacked six enemy aircraft that were threatening to bomb Allied cavalry, scattering the formation and chasing the machines back to their own lines.[9] Both men were awarded the Military Cross for their actions; Cole's citation was published in a supplement to the London Gazette on 16 August 1917, reading:

Lieutenant Cole in a No. 1 Squadron Martinsyde "Elephant" equipped with a camera for aerial reconnaissance in Palestine, 1917

2nd Lt. Adrian Trevor Cole, Flying Corps. For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. With another officer he attacked and disorganised six enemy machines that were about to attack our cavalry with bombs. The engagement was continued until all six machines were forced to return to their lines. His skill and courage on all occasions have been worthy of the greatest praise.[10]

The following day, he was flying a Martinsyde G.100 "Elephant" over Tel el Sheria when he was hit by ground fire and forced to land behind enemy lines; after setting fire to his aircraft he was picked up and rescued by Captain Richard Williams. On 26 June, following an eight-plane raid on Turkish Fourth Army headquarters in Jerusalem, Cole and another pilot both had engine seizures while undertaking a similar rescue of a downed comrade; all three were forced to walk through no man's land before being picked up by a friendly patrol.[11]

Western Front

S.E.5 of No. 2 Squadron AFC landing at Lille, November 1918

Promoted to Captain in August 1917,[12] Cole was posted to France as a flight commander with No. 2 Squadron AFC (also known until 1918 as No. 68 Squadron RFC).[7][13] Flying S.E.5s on the Western Front, he destroyed nine enemy aircraft between July and October 1918 to finish the war with a total of ten victories including one brought down in Palestine.[1][5] In a single sortie over the Lys Valley on 19 August, he shot down two German fighters and narrowly avoided being shot down himself immediately afterwards, when he was attacked by five Fokker Triplanes that were being pursued by Allied Bristol Fighters.[14] Cole was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions on 7 October, when he led No. 2 Squadron through "a tornado of anti-aircraft fire" in a major bombing raid on transport infrastructure in Lille.[2][15] During the mission he successfully bombed a goods engine and a troop train, and put a number of anti-aircraft batteries out of action, before leading his formation back to base at low level.[16] The announcement and accompanying citation for his decoration was gazetted on 8 February 1919, reading:

Capt. Adrian Trevor Cole, M.C. (Commonwealth Mil. forces and Australian F.C.).

(FRANCE)

On 7th October this officer carried out a most successful flying raid on enemy railway lines and stations. The success of the attack was largely owing to his cool and determined leadership, and our freedom from casualties was mainly due to the methodical manner in which he collected and reorganised the machines after the raid. He himself displayed marked initiative and courage in attacking troops and other objectives. Since May Capt. Cole has destroyed four hostile machines.

(M.C. gazetted 16th August, 1917.)[17]

Between the wars

Poster for the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race, deputy chaired by Cole

Returning to Australia in February 1919,[6] Cole briefly spent time as a civilian before accepting a commission in the Australian Air Corps, the short-lived successor to the AFC, in January 1920.[5][3] On 17 June, accompanied by Captain Hippolyte De La Rue, he flew a DH.9 to a height of 27,000 feet (8,200 m), setting an Australian altitude record that stood for more than ten years.[18] Cole transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force as a Flight Lieutenant in 1921, becoming one of the original twenty-one officers on its strength when it was formed that March.[19] On 30 November, he married his cousin Katherine Cole in St Peter's Chapel at Melbourne Grammar School; the couple would have two sons and two daughters.[2] Squadron Leader Cole was posted to England in 1923–24 to attend RAF Staff College, Andover,[3][20] returning to become Director of Personnel and Training in 1925.[21] Promoted to Wing Commander, he was in charge of No. 1 Flying Training School (1FTS) at RAAF Station Point Cook, Victoria, from 1926 to 1929.[5][22] The first Citizens Air Force (reserve) pilots' course took place during Cole's tenure at 1FTS; although twenty-four accidents occurred, injuries were minor, leading him to remark at the graduation ceremony that the students were either made of India rubber, or had learned how to crash "moderately safely".[23][24]

Cole held command of RAAF Station Laverton from 1929 until his appointment as Air Member for Supply (AMS) in January 1933.[3] The AMS occupied a seat on the Air Board, which was chaired by the Chief of the Air Staff, and was collectively responsible for control and administration of the RAAF.[25] In March 1932, Cole accepted an invitation from the Lord Mayor of Melbourne to serve as Deputy Chairman of the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race from England to Australia.[1][26] Though he later recorded that it involved "twenty months' hard work, without pay ... with loads of scurrilous and other criticism", provision of the RAAF's radio facilities and technicians was considered a boon for contestants.[26] Promoted to Group Captain in January 1935,[22] Cole became the inaugural Commanding Officer (CO) of Headquarters RAAF Station Richmond, New South Wales, on 20 April 1936. The new headquarters, which had been formed from elements of two of the base's lodger units, No. 3 Squadron and No. 2 Aircraft Depot, supplanted an earlier arrangement where the CO of No. 3 Squadron had doubled as the station commander.[27] Cole was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Coronation Honours of 11 May 1937,[28] and attended the Imperial Defence College in London the following year.[5] He returned to RAAF Station Laverton as its CO in February 1939.[29]

World War II

As part of the RAAF's reorganisation following the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, No. 2 Group was formed in Sydney on 20 November, with Cole in charge.[30] He was raised to temporary Air Commodore in December, and took command of Southern Area when it was established in the new year.[2][31] In September 1941, Cole was sent to North Africa as Officer Commanding No. 235 Wing RAF of the Desert Air Force, where he helped establish a new anti-submarine warfare unit, No. 459 Squadron RAAF.[32] Posted to England with Headquarters No. 11 Group in May 1942, he served as Forward Air Controller of the Dieppe Raid on 19 August, responsible for co-ordinating Allied air cover off the French coast aboard HMS Calpe.[32][33] In doing so, Cole was seriously wounded in the jaw and upper body when German fighters strafed the ship; he spent time recuperating, and required plastic surgery.[2][33] His gallantry during the action earned him the Distinguished Service Order,[34] the announcement being published in a supplement to the London Gazette on 2 October 1942.[35] The same month, he was made Air Officer Commanding (AOC) RAF Northern Ireland, with the acting rank of Air Vice Marshal,[2] though the command was described in the official history of Australia in the war as a "backwater".[36]

Air Vice Marshal Cole (left) as Air Officer Commanding North-Western Area at Adelaide River, Northern Territory, 1943

In May 1943, Cole returned to Australia, taking over as AOC North-Western Area from Air Commodore Frank Bladin in July.[5][37] Based in Darwin, he was responsible for regional air defence, reconnaissance, protection of Allied shipping and, later, offensive operations in the New Guinea campaign.[38] Cole found the command in "good shape" but considered its air defence capability inadequate, recommending augmentation by long-range fighters such as the P-38 Lightning. In the event, he had to make do with the three squadrons of Spitfires already on his strength, and the possibility of calling on the USAAF's Fifth Air Force for reinforcements as necessary.[37] During August–September, Cole reduced regular reconnaissance missions to "increase bombing activity to the limit", following a request from General Douglas Macarthur to provide all available support for Allied assaults on Lae–Nadzab. North-Western Area B-24 Liberators, Hudsons, Beaufighters and Catalinas carried out raids to destroy Japanese bases and aircraft, and divert enemy forces from Allied columns.[38] By March–April 1944, Cole had thirteen squadrons under his control, and was supporting amphibious operations against Hollandia and Aitape.[39] In May, he directed bombing from North-Western Area on Surabaya as part of Operation Transom.[40]

Cole handed over North-Western Area to Air Commodore Alan Charlesworth in September 1944.[41] He took up an appointment as Air Member for Personnel (AMP) in October,[5] but was removed soon afterwards following an incident at RAAF Headquarters. The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal George Jones, received an anonymous letter alleging that Cole had been drunk and lost control at a mess meeting on 8 November. Investigating the matter, Jones was unable to establish whether or not Cole had been drunk but was satisfied that he had not behaved appropriately, and issued him a warning without charging or otherwise disciplining him.[42] Under pressure from the government, Jones dismissed Cole from the position of AMP and posted him to Ceylon in January 1945 as RAAF Liaison Officer to South East Asia Command.[5][42] Cole served in this role until the end of the war, taking part in negotiations for the Japanese capitulation and acting as Australia's senior representative at the formal surrender ceremony in Singapore on 12 September 1945.[2]

Retirement and later life

Cole (far left) as RAAF Liaison Officer to South East Asia Command shortly before the surrender of Japan, with Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park (centre) and Air Marshal Sir Hugh Saunders (far right), near Penang, c. August 1945

Cole was summarily retired from the RAAF in 1946, along with a number of other senior commanders and veterans of World War I, primarily to make way for the advancement of younger and equally capable officers. In an earlier minute to the Minister for Air, Arthur Drakeford, regarding post-war command prospects, Air Vice Marshal Jones had assessed Cole as having failed to display "certain of those qualities expected to be possessed by senior officers of such rank". In any case, his role overseas was redundant.[43][44] Cole, for his part, later wrote to the Melbourne Herald that he considered the RAAF's administration during World War II to be "weak", and that as a consequence he felt "a lot happier to serve most of the War with the Royal Air Force".[45]

Ranked substantive Air Commodore and honorary Air Vice Marshal,[2] Cole was officially discharged from the RAAF on 17 April 1946.[46] He was the Liberal Party candidate for the Victorian Division of Maribyrnong in the Federal election that year, but lost to Drakeford as the sitting member. Cole subsequently served as a director with Pacific Insurance and Guinea Airways. Survived by his wife and four children, he died in Melbourne of chronic respiratory disease on 14 February 1966. Adrian Cole was buried in his family vault in Camperdown Cemetery, following a funeral at RAAF Base Laverton.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Newton, Australian Air Aces, p.29
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Eaton, Australian Dictionary of Biography, pp.459–460
  3. ^ a b c d Knox, Who's Who in Australia 1935, p.123
  4. ^ Malvern, a neighbouring suburb of Glen Iris, has also been given as Cole's birthplace, for example in Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, p.466
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Dennis et al, The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History, p.136
  6. ^ a b c Adrian Trevor Cole at The AIF Project. Retrieved on 24 March 2009.
  7. ^ a b Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p.9
  8. ^ Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, pp.52–54
  9. ^ Recommendation for Adrian Trevor Cole to be awarded a Military Cross at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on 6 April 2009.
  10. ^ "No. 30234". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 14 August 1917.
  11. ^ Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, pp.63,66–67
  12. ^ AWM Collection Record: P01034.050 at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on 24 March 2009.
  13. ^ Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, p.69
  14. ^ Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, pp.349–350
  15. ^ Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, pp.365–367
  16. ^ Recommendation for Adrian Trevor Cole to be awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross at Australiam War Memorial. Retrieved on 6 April 2009.
  17. ^ "No. 31170". The London Gazette. 7 February 1919.
  18. ^ Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p.23
  19. ^ Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, p.16
  20. ^ Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p.90
  21. ^ Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, p.712
  22. ^ a b Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p.467
  23. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p.37
  24. ^ Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p.238
  25. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p.54
  26. ^ a b Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p.401
  27. ^ Roylance, Air Base Richmond, pp.46,113
  28. ^ "No. 34396". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 11 May 1937.
  29. ^ RAAF Historical Section, Units of the Royal Australian Air Force, pp.144–145
  30. ^ Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, p.67
  31. ^ Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, pp.91–92
  32. ^ a b Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, p.237
  33. ^ a b Herington, Air War Against Germany and Italy, p.351
  34. ^ Recommendation for Adrian Trevor Cole to be awarded a Distinguished Service Order at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on 4 April 2009.
  35. ^ "No. 35729". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 2 October 1942.
  36. ^ Herington, Air Power Over Europe, p.278
  37. ^ a b Odgers, Air War Against Japan, p.104–105
  38. ^ a b Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp.111–112,121
  39. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp.215–219
  40. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, p.229
  41. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, p.246
  42. ^ a b Helson, 10 Years at the Top, pp.187–190
  43. ^ Helson, 10 Years at the Top, pp.234–237
  44. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp.179–181
  45. ^ Helson, 10 Years at the Top, p.246
  46. ^ Cole, Adrian Lindley Trevor at World War 2 Nominal roll. Retrieved on 24 March 2009.

References


Military offices
Preceded by Air Officer Commanding RAF in Northern Ireland
1942–1943 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Air Commodore Frank Bladin
 Air Officer Commanding North-Western Area
1943–1944 		Succeeded by
Air Commodore Alan Charlesworth


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