William Hely, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

William Hely

RAAF senior commander

Date of Birth: 24-Aug-1909

Place of Birth: Wellington, New South Wales, Australia

Date of Death: 20-May-1970

Profession: aircraft pilot

Nationality: Australia

Zodiac Sign: Virgo


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About William Hely

  • Air Vice Marshal William Lloyd (Bill) Hely, CB, CBE, AFC (24 August 1909 – 20 May 1970) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
  • He graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1930 before transferring to the RAAF as a cadet pilot.
  • Hely came to public attention in 1936–37, first when he crashed on a survey flight in the Northern Territory, and later when he undertook two successful missions to locate missing aircraft in the same vicinity.
  • His rescue efforts earned him the Air Force Cross.
  • After occupying staff positions during the early years of World War II, Hely was appointed Officer Commanding No.
  • 72 Wing in Dutch New Guinea in May 1944.
  • Later that year he formed No.
  • 84 (Army Cooperation) Wing, commanding it during the Bougainville Campaign until the end of the Pacific War. Hely spent the immediate post-war period on the staff of RAAF Headquarters, Melbourne.
  • From 1951 to 1953 he served as Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Western Area Command in Perth, after which he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
  • He was Deputy Chief of the Air Staff from 1953 to 1956, AOC Training Command from 1956 to 1957, and Head of the Australian Joint Services Staff in Washington, D.C.
  • from 1957 to 1960.
  • He then served as Air Member for Personnel (AMP) for six years, his tenure coinciding with a significant increase in manpower to meet commitments in South East Asia and the demands of a major re-equipment program.
  • Having been promoted acting air vice marshal in 1953 (substantive in 1956), he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1964 for his service as AMP.
  • He retired from the Air Force in 1966 and made his home in Canberra, where he died in 1970 at the age of sixty.

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