Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Dick Cresswell

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The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Article promoted by Hawkeye7 (talk) via MilHistBot (talk) 10:07, 28 September 2016 (UTC) « Return to A-Class review list[reply]

Dick Cresswell[edit]

Nominator(s): Ian Rose (talk)

Dick Cresswell (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

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Unusually among the subjects of my Air Force bios, Dick Cresswell was not an ace, nor did he achieve high rank, but he did have the knack of being in the right place at the right time to achieve several 'firsts' in RAAF history. His main claim to fame was commanding No. 77 Squadron three times, most notably during the Korean War, when he oversaw its conversion from Mustangs to Meteors, and so became the first man to command an RAAF jet squadron in combat. He also seems to have had a reputation as a bit of a cowboy, so perhaps it's no surprise that he once got himself into hot water for practicing with his revolver near the feet of a fellow officer who was ticking him off... I plan on taking this to FAC if things go all right here -- tks in advance for your comments! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 16:37, 18 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Comments Great work as usual Ian, and a fine tribute to this remarkable airman. I have the following comments:

  • "Cresswell took command of No. 77 Squadron in combat for a record third time" - this record is noted in the first para of the lead, and could be omitted here
    • Will do.
  • Can the first para of the "World War II" section be expanded? At present it's not clear why Cresswell was appointed to what must have been one of the most significant squadron commands in the history of the RAAF (those three fighter squadrons service in 1942 now having near mythical status). Is there material you can add on Cresswell's flying and leadership skills here?
    • Funnily enough, Odgers doesn't give any clear reason why Cresswell, with so little experience, was chosen for such a responsible job. The implication is that he had useful familiarity with the P-40 as liaison with the 9th USAAF Squadron, and one can surmise that commanding 77 Squadron in Perth wasn't considered as big a deal as commanding 75 or 76 Squadrons up north, but nothing explicit.
  • Perhaps note what the role of a wing leader was
    • Heh, I'd considered that and searched long and hard to nail down a decent definition, only finding one in Darwin Spitfires -- didn't add it in the end but happy to do so now someone else thinks it might be worthwhile... ;-)
  • "he believed that attempting to resign their commissions en masse was not an appropriate response" - do we know what response he preferred?
    • Odgers states "He felt that other courses of action could have been pursued" but doesn't elucidate.
  • Why was Cresswell selected to command No. 77 Squadron in 1950? Presumably the RAAF decided that this unusual move was justified as the squadron needed an experienced combat leader with a record of whipping units into shape, but can this be said explicitly? Nick-D (talk) 10:47, 19 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
    • We don't have an official reason why, but Odgers offers his thoughts on Cresswell's suitability, and I can always add something along the lines of "According to his biographer..."
      • Given Odgers' status, that would be sensible. Nick-D (talk) 11:34, 19 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Tks as always for your review, Nick! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 11:30, 19 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, Nick, I think I've actioned everything. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 14:32, 19 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Support My comments are now addressed. As a final suggestion for improvements as the article heads towards FAC, extra material on Cresswell as a person (rather than as an aviator) would be particularly valuable. If Odgers doesn't have much extra material here, it would be worth checking Trove. Nick-D (talk) 10:59, 20 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Tks Nick -- I was wondering when I finished the article if I'd included too much potentially extraneous detail but I think you're telling me that isn't the case! I've combed Odgers and Trove once more and added a couple more snippets, see what you think. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 16:47, 20 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Comments. As always, feel free to revert my copyediting. - Dank (push to talk)

  • "subsequently": soon, later, consequently, or none of the above?
  • "further offensive sweeps with USAF Sabres, and escorting": I can't tell which is meant, "and escorted" or "escorting".
    • Think I've dealt with those, tks Dan. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 00:37, 22 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support on prose per my standard disclaimer. These are my edits. - Dank (push to talk) 23:20, 21 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
    • Tks Dan. Have to admit I prefer my wording in a few of those instances, and reverted a couple where I felt the meaning was changed...
      • I realise that "three times" might sound repetitive with "twice" and "again" following, but the sources do tend to emphasise the total of three and I feel we should too -- left as is for now.
      • The lead now makes it appear that the conversion to Meteors took place upon Cresswell's arrival in Korea, which isn't the case, so I've changed back.
      • "Fired" is as in "fired the imagination" -- don't know if it's an EngVar thing but I've changed that back for now too ("Motivated" might also be correct but seemed less engaging somehow and "fired up" sounds a bit extreme to my ears)...
      • To me, "returned to Korea in March and April" sounds like he made a couple of trips but it was only one, so again changed back pending further discussion. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 00:37, 22 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support - this is in very good shape to me, some minor points / suggestions:
    • All the tool checks are fine - no dabs, external links work, no citation consolidation errors, no duplicate links (that aren't necessary at least), Earwig tool shows no issues with close paraphrase / copy violations etc [1] (no action req'd);
    • The lead is a bit repetitive in that it mentions each of his "firsts" twice, I wonder if that is necessary?
      • I take your point, AC, and the possibility that this would come up was in my mind when I wrote it. My rationale was that given he wasn't an ace or senior commander, I wanted to establish his notability in the first paragraph in part by listing his "firsts", then expand upon those and the rest of his combat career in the second para. If you think there are other ways to achieve that, of course I'm happy to discuss.
    • Minor inconsistency in presentation / hyphenation of rank "Lieutenant General" Sir Horace Robertson vs "Lieutenant-General" Sir Horace Robertson (in the image caption);
      • Tks, made consistent.
    • Otherwise I couldn't find any major issues after reading through it completely. Quite an interesting article and I certainly learnt a few things about RAAF operations in Korea that I hadn't been aware of before. Anotherclown (talk) 23:20, 24 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
      • Tks for stopping by, AC! I guess I'm on a bit of a crusade to help drag Korea out of its "forgotten war" state, at least as far as the Air Force goes. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 04:21, 25 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
        • Sorry, AC, did you happen to verify image licensing? Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 12:59, 26 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
          • Actually I did, but then I forgot to include it in my review (my appleoggies). Images are all public domain and have the required information to verify this. Anotherclown (talk) 04:33, 27 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
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