Air Vice Marshal
Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes u ...
Henry Neilson Wrigley,
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
,
DFC,
AFC (21 April 1892 – 14 September 1987) was a senior commander in the
Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
(RAAF). A pioneering flyer and aviation scholar, he piloted the first trans-Australia flight from
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
to
Darwin in 1919, and afterwards laid the groundwork for the RAAF's air power doctrine. During World War I, Wrigley joined the
Australian Flying Corps and saw combat with
No. 3 Squadron on the
Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to:
Military frontiers
*Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...
, earning the
Distinguished Flying Cross; he later commanded the unit and published a history of its wartime exploits. He was awarded the
Air Force Cross for his 1919 cross-country flight.
Wrigley was a founding member of the RAAF in 1921 and held staff posts in the ensuing years. In 1936, he was promoted to
group captain
Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...
and took command of
RAAF Station Laverton
RAAF Williams is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military airfield, military air base set across two locations, at Point Cook, Victoria, Point Cook and Laverton, Victoria, Laverton, located approximately south-west of the Melbourne centr ...
. Raised to
air commodore soon after the outbreak of World War II, he became
Air Member for Personnel in November 1940. One of his tasks was organising the newly established
Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force and selecting its director,
Clare Stevenson
Clare Grant Stevenson, AM, MBE (18 July 1903 – 22 October 1988) was the inaugural Director of the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), from May 1941 to March 1946. As such, she was described in 2001 as "the most significant ...
, in 1941. He was appointed a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
the same year. Wrigley served as
Air Officer Commanding RAAF Overseas Headquarters
RAAF Overseas Headquarters was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) administrative unit established in London during World War II.
Under Article XV of the Ottawa Agreement, signed in 1939, the Australian government agreed to form RAAF squadrons ...
, London, from September 1942 until his retirement from the military in June 1946. He died in 1987 at the age of ninety-five. His writings on air power were collected and published posthumously as ''The Decisive Factor'' in 1990.
Early life and World War I
![DAAV00055Wrigley1916](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/DAAV00055Wrigley1916.jpg)
Henry Neilson Wrigley was born on 21 April 1892 in
Collingwood, a suburb of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, to Henry and Beatrice Wrigley.
[Dennis et al., ''The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History'', pp. 606–609][Draper, ''Who's Who in Australia 1985'', p. 924] He was educated at
Richmond Central School and at
Melbourne High School, where he joined the
cadets.
Studying at the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
, he became a state school teacher and a member of the
militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
before the outbreak of World War I.
He joined the
Australian Flying Corps (AFC) on 5 October 1916.
Wrigley trained as a pilot under the tutelage of Lieutenant
Eric Harrison
Sir Eric John Harrison, (7 September 1892 – 26 September 1974) was an Australian politician and diplomat. He was the inaugural deputy leader of the Liberal Party (1945–1956), and a government minister under four prime ministers. He was lat ...
at
Central Flying School in
Point Cook
Point Cook is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Point Cook recorded a population of 66,781 at the 2021 census.
Point Cook ...
, Victoria, before departing Melbourne on 25 October aboard a troopship bound for Europe.
[Stephens, ''The Royal Australian Air Force'', pp. 9–10]
After further training in England, Wrigley was posted to France and flew on the
Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to:
Military frontiers
*Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...
with
No. 3 Squadron AFC (also known until 1918 as No. 69 Squadron,
Royal Flying Corps
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colors =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries =
, decorations ...
).
Operating
Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8
The Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8 was a British two-seat biplane reconnaissance and bomber aircraft of the First World War designed and produced at the Royal Aircraft Factory. It was also built under contract by Austin Motors, Daimler, Standar ...
s, the unit was engaged in
reconnaissance
In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities.
Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...
,
artillery-spotting and
ground support
In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and moveme ...
duties.
[Wilson, ''The Brotherhood of Airmen'', pp. 19–21] Having been promoted to
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
, Wrigley was awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross for his "exceptional devotion to duty", in particular his persistence in pressing home an attack against enemy infantry on 29 October 1918 in the face of "intense machine gun and rifle fire"; the honour was promulgated in the ''
London Gazette
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
'' on 3 June 1919. Wrigley later observed that most wartime aircraft were "impossible to fight in", and that senior officers were "too occupied with coaxing aeroplanes into the air and teaching pilots to bring them down again without breaking their necks" to consider the wider implications of air power.
[O'Loghlin; Stephens, "The Air Power Notebooks of Air Vice-Marshal H.N. Wrigley", pp. 43–51]
Between the wars
![MurphyWrigley1919](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/MurphyWrigley1919.jpg)
Wrigley became No. 3 Squadron's commanding officer in January 1919, and returned to Australia on 6 May.
Later that year he took part in the first transcontinental flight across Australia, from Melbourne to
Darwin, to coincide with the first
England-to-Australia flight. Accompanied by his mechanic and former schoolmate, Sergeant
Arthur "Spud" Murphy, Wrigley departed Point Cook on 16 November and arrived in Port Darwin on 12 December, having travelled some in forty-seven flying hours. The men flew in a single-engined
Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2
The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 was a British single-engine tractor two-seat biplane designed and developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory. Most of the roughly 3,500 built were constructed under contract by private companies, including establish ...
, with no radio, over unmapped and often hazardous terrain, and surveyed seventeen potential landing fields along the way.
[Stephens, ''The Royal Australian Air Force'', p. 26][Wilson, ''The Brotherhood of Airmen'', p. 32] Wrigley considered the choice of Murphy as his cohort "a particularly happy one" but called the aircraft they were assigned "an obsolete type, even for training purposes", while conceding that "it was structurally sound and airworthy".
[Coulthard-Clark, ''The Third Brother'', pp. 14–17] In recognition of their achievement the men were each awarded the
Air Force Cross,
gazetted on 12 July 1920.
Such was the perceived danger of the expedition that while making preparations for the flight back they received a telegram from the Defence Department ordering them to dismantle the B.E.2 and return with it by ship.
On 1 January 1920, Wrigley transferred to the
Australian Air Corps
The Australian Air Corps (AAC) was a temporary formation of the Australian military that existed in the period between the disbandment of the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) of World War I and the establishment of the Royal Australian Air F ...
(AAC), a temporary organisation formed by the Army following disbandment of the wartime AFC. He was appointed
adjutant
Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...
at Central Flying School the following month. In 1921, Wrigley joined the newly established
Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
(RAAF) as a
flight lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...
. Popularly known as "Wrig", he was one of the original twenty-one officers on the Air Force's strength at its formation that March.
[Stephens, ''The Royal Australian Air Force'', p. 42] For the next seven years he held staff posts at RAAF Headquarters, Melbourne, beginning with the position of staff officer to the Director of Personnel and Training.
[Coulthard-Clark, ''Air Marshals of the RAAF'', p. 38] On 5 July 1922, Wrigley married Marjorie Rees; the couple had a son and a daughter.
The same month, he replaced Flight Lieutenant
Frank McNamara as Staff Officer (Operations and Intelligence). He served as RAAF Training Officer from March 1923 to April 1925—during which time he was promoted to
squadron leader
Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also ...
—before being appointed Director of Organisation and Staff Duties.
In November 1927, he took part in an attempt to make the first night flight from Sydney to Melbourne. Taking off from
RAAF Station Richmond in an
Airco DH.9
The Airco DH.9 (from de Havilland 9) – also known after 1920 as the de Havilland DH.9 – was a British single-engined biplane bomber developed and deployed during the First World War.
The DH.9 was a development of Airco's earlier successful ...
, Wrigley and his co-pilot were in the air for six hours and covered before a broken fuel line forced them to land for repairs; they completed the journey the following day.
![A05022MurphyWrigley1919](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/A05022MurphyWrigley1919.jpg)
Wrigley travelled to England in 1928 to attend
RAF Staff College, Andover, becoming one of the first RAAF officers to complete the course.
[Stephens; Isaacs, ''High Fliers'', pp. 36–39] Remaining in England, he was appointed Australian
Air Liaison Officer to the
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
in 1929.
That October, he initiated correspondence with the British Air Council to discuss a proposal for the RAAF to adopt as its own the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
's motto ''
Per Ardua Ad Astra''; informal approval was granted by letter to Wrigley in March 1930. Returning to Australia, he became Director of Operations and Intelligence at RAAF Headquarters in October 1930, and Director of Organisation and Staff Duties in December 1931.
[Department of Defence, ''Personnel File'', p. 8] He was promoted to
wing commander in December 1932.
In 1935 he published his history of No. 3 Squadron, ''The Battle Below'', which was considered an authoritative treatment on the subject of
army co-operation.
He was promoted
group captain
Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...
in July 1936, and that October took over as commanding officer of
RAAF Station Laverton
RAAF Williams is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military airfield, military air base set across two locations, at Point Cook, Victoria, Point Cook and Laverton, Victoria, Laverton, located approximately south-west of the Melbourne centr ...
, Victoria, from Group Captain McNamara. Wrigley handed over the station's command to Group Captain
Adrian Cole in February 1939.
In May 1939, Wrigley served as the senior expert assessor on the panel of an inquiry into three recent accidents involving
Avro Anson
The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) a ...
s; the full report handed down in October found that training on the type followed the syllabus, but that pilots needed more practical experience in dealing with in-flight incidents, as human error was the likely explanation for at least one crash.
World War II
![136321WrigleyWAAAF1942](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/136321WrigleyWAAAF1942.jpg)
As part of the RAAF's reorganisation following the outbreak of World War II, No. 1 Group was formed under Wrigley's command in Melbourne on 20 November 1939, to oversee the operations of air bases and units in Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. Promoted
air commodore, in 1940 Wrigley served as
Air Officer Commanding (AOC)
Southern Area, the successor organisation to No. 1 Group, before taking up the position of Air Member for Personnel (AMP) in November that year. He was appointed a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in the 1941
New Year Honours. As AMP, Wrigley's responsibilities included organising the
Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), established on 25 March 1941 as the first uniformed women's branch of an armed service in the country.
[Gillison]
''Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942''
pp. 99–100. He believed that recruiting servicewomen was essential to augment the many ground staff required to support the war effort, and considered that although such an organisation should be constitutionally separate from the RAAF, its members should be closely integrated within the current force structure.
The
Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) was at this time an RAF officer, Air Chief Marshal
Sir Charles Burnett, who hoped to see his daughter Sybil-Jean, a veteran of Britain's
Women's Auxiliary Air Force
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...
, take charge of the WAAAF. Wrigley successfully argued against this, telling Burnett that there had already been "enough public outcry" over a non-Australian being named CAS, and there would be "a further public outcry" if anyone other than an Australian was appointed WAAAF Director.
On 21 May, he selected
Berlei
Berlei is a brand of women's lingerie and in particular bras and girdles.
History
The company began in Sydney in 1910. The Berlei brand originated in 1917. Berlei undergarments are now sold in Australia by Hanesbrands and in the United King ...
executive
Clare Stevenson
Clare Grant Stevenson, AM, MBE (18 July 1903 – 22 October 1988) was the inaugural Director of the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), from May 1941 to March 1946. As such, she was described in 2001 as "the most significant ...
as WAAAF Director, passing over temporary appointee
Mary Bell, wife of a serving RAAF group captain. Wrigley chose Stevenson on the basis of her management background and because she was not a "socialite".
[Dennis et al., ''The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History'', p. 606.] Bell, who was offered the position of Deputy Director, chose to resign from the WAAAF on learning of Stevenson's appointment, but Wrigley later convinced her to rejoin.
Meanwhile, Wrigley played a leading part in the development of the
Air Training Corps, formed in April 1941 to facilitate basic training for youths aged sixteen to eighteen who hoped to become RAAF aircrew.
![MEC1144Wrigley1943](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/MEC1144Wrigley1943.jpg)
Wrigley's promotion to acting
air vice marshal
Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes u ...
was announced in May 1941, making him only the third member of the RAAF—after
Richard Williams and
Stanley Goble—to attain this rank. In September 1942, he was posted to London to take over from Frank McNamara as AOC
RAAF Overseas Headquarters
RAAF Overseas Headquarters was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) administrative unit established in London during World War II.
Under Article XV of the Ottawa Agreement, signed in 1939, the Australian government agreed to form RAAF squadrons ...
.
For a time, he was involved in a tug-of-war with Air Marshal Williams over just who was in charge.
[Ashworth, ''How Not to Run an Air Force!'', pp. 200–203.] Williams, who commanded Overseas Headquarters at its inception in December 1941, with McNamara as his deputy, had subsequently been appointed as the RAAF's representative to
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
, leaving McNamara in charge of the London office until Wrigley arrived. The Minister for Air,
Arthur Drakeford, was in favour of Williams commanding the RAAF offices in both the US and UK while Wrigley acted for him in London, despite Wrigley having been appointed AOC. Wrigley's diary recorded that when Williams returned to London in October 1942 to attend a conference, he began "throwing his weight around" and "intriguing to have himself made AOC, and possibly AOC in C
ir Officer Commanding-in-Chiefof all RAAF units and personnel outside Australia and the SW Pacific".
Although Williams departed England in January 1943, the matter was only fully laid to rest in mid-1943, when the CAS, Air Vice Marshal
George Jones, advised Williams that it was impractical for him to command offices in both Washington and London.
As AOC RAAF Overseas Headquarters, Wrigley was responsible for looking after the interests of RAAF aircrew stationed in the European and the Middle Eastern theatres, liaising between the British Air Ministry and the Australian government regarding technical developments and information on the
war in the Pacific
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the Theater (warfare), theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, ...
, and negotiating revisions to the terms of the
Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS). The role had little influence on the deployment of Australian personnel for the air offensive in Europe, who were subject to RAF policy and strategy even when they belonged to RAAF squadrons.
[Stephens, ''The Royal Australian Air Force'', pp. 65–66.] According to the
official history of Australia in the war, Wrigley and his predecessors could hardly do more than "retard the centrifugal forces affecting Australian disposition, and repair the worst administrative difficulties arising from wide dispersion".
![SUK14422Wrigley1945](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/SUK14422Wrigley1945.jpg)
Wrigley became a familiar and popular figure for the thousands of Australian airmen who passed through London during the war, and was known to take off his jacket and tend bar at Codgers, the headquarters' watering hole.
An EATS graduate later remarked that "under Air Vice-Marshal Wrigley we got tremendous service ... I was in North Africa, Italy, Sardinia, Corsica and then back in the United Kingdom. We got our mail, we got our comforts ... Not only that, when some cow went and pinched 100 quid from me when I was on leave in London, the next day, with a shaking hand, I was able to sign for another 100 quid and have a good time."
In March 1943, following negotiations that had begun the previous year, Wrigley signed a revision of EATS that finally recognised Australia's "national aspirations" regarding concentration of her airmen in RAAF squadrons as opposed to them being scattered throughout RAF units, reasonable prospects of promotion and rotation for staff, and pay and other conditions of service confirmed as being per RAAF stipulations. The official history contended that "for the most part Australia was still left chasing a dream rather than a reality", as many clauses in the agreement were "subject to operational exigencies" and to be adhered to only "as far as possible". Wrigley toured the Mediterranean in September, visiting
No. 459 Squadron in the Middle East, and travelling to
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
to interview ground staff of
No. 450 Squadron over their grievances concerning lack of promotion and leave; his presence was considered to have defused this situation.
Wrigley's son Ronald enlisted in the
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
in September 1944 and served until his demobilisation in 1946. The end of hostilities in Europe on 7 May 1945 raised a major logistical challenge for Wrigley as the senior officer responsible for some 13,500 RAAF personnel spread across Britain, the Mediterranean, and the continent, only a minority of whom were in nominally Australian squadrons, the bulk serving with RAF establishments. "The task was energetically met", according to the official history; fewer than 1,000 RAAF personnel remained in RAF units by 1 September, although repatriation continued through into the new year.
Retirement and legacy
![Wrigley1917](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Wrigley1917.jpg)
Wrigley was forcibly retired from the RAAF in 1946, along with other senior commanders and veterans of World War I, ostensibly to make way for the advancement of younger and equally capable officers.
[Stephens, ''The Royal Australian Air Force'', pp. 179–181] Keenly disappointed with the decision, Wrigley was officially discharged on 6 June.
He found it difficult to secure civilian employment because, "by the time I got back, all the worthwhile jobs round Australia had been snapped up by people, not only air force people but other people on the spot". After an unsuccessful attempt to run his own retail business, he "eventually earned a living by taking on some administrative jobs which carried on for a few years".
Wrigley was made an honorary air vice marshal in July 1956.
In 1966 he became executive officer of the Victorian Overseas Foundation, and later a trustee.
[Legge, ''Who's Who in Australia 1971'', p. 993] He published ''Aircraft and Economic Development: The RAAF Contribution'' through the
Royal Aeronautical Society in 1969. In March 1971, he was among a select group of surviving founding members of the RAAF who attended a celebratory dinner at the
Hotel Canberra to mark the service's
Golden Jubilee
A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations.
Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু ...
; his fellow guests included Air Marshal Sir Richard Williams, Air Vice Marshal
Bill Anderson, Air Commodore
Hippolyte De La Rue, and Wing Commander
Sir Lawrence Wackett. After the death of his first wife, Marjorie, Wrigley married Zenda Edwards on 5 January 1972.
In December 1979, he was the guest of honour at celebrations marking sixty years of flying at Darwin; the RAAF flew him from Point Cook to Darwin to commemorate his historic 1919 flight with Arthur Murphy. Wrigley wrote a history of the Victorian branch of the United Services Institution in 1980. Aged ninety-five, he died in Melbourne on 14 September 1987.
An "inveterate note-taker" according to friends, during his career Wrigley compiled extensive documentation concerning the theory and practice of air power, on which he lectured among his colleagues in the RAAF during the 1920s.
The concepts that he propagated included
air superiority
Aerial supremacy (also air superiority) is the degree to which a side in a conflict holds control of air power over opposing forces. There are levels of control of the air in aerial warfare. Control of the air is the aerial equivalent of c ...
, the need for an air force to be separate from the other branches of the armed services, control of the air as a means of carrying out offensive strikes, and the substitution of aerial forces for ground troops.
Though always arguing for the independence of the air arm, Wrigley was quick to dispel any notion that it would simply "arrive from God knows where, drop
tsbombs God knows where, and go off again God knows where"; rather it should act in concert with the army and navy in furtherance of government policy.
He is thus credited with laying the foundations for the RAAF's modern air power doctrine, which would eventually be codified as the ''Air Power Manual'' in 1990. Wrigley's widow bequeathed twenty volumes of his writings, maps, and photographs to the
RAAF Museum at Point Cook after his death; they were edited and published by Air Commodore Brendan O'Loghlin and Wing Commander Alan Stephens in 1990 as ''The Decisive Factor: Air Power Doctrine by Air Vice-Marshal H.N. Wrigley''.
In 1996, Wrigley's former residence as commanding officer of RAAF Station Laverton before World War II was christened Wrigley House in his honour. His name is also borne by Henry Wrigley Drive, approaching
Darwin International Airport. In March 2010, the
Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal
Mark Binskin, established the AVM H.N. Wrigley Prize for air power analysis, as part of the annual Chief of Air Force Essay Competition.
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrigley, Henry Neilson
1892 births
1987 deaths
Australian aviators
Australian military personnel of World War I
Aviators from Melbourne
Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Military personnel from Melbourne
Australian recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)
Australian recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
Royal Australian Air Force air marshals of World War II