AUSTRALIAN CHEMICAL WARFARE RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTAL SECTION
AUSTRALIAN ARMY
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WW2

visits since 31 March 2007

Captain Howard E. Skipper, of the Australian Chemical Warfare Research and Experimental Section (CWR & ES) at Innisfail, Queensland sent a Letter of Appreciation to the Commanding General, Fifth Air Force Service Command, APO 925 (= Hqs. 5th Air Force) dated 3 April 1944 through the Chief Chemical Officer, Hq. USASOS, APO 501. Captain Skipper was the American Liaison - Aust. CW Research Section.

On behalf of the Australian, British and American personnel at the Chemical Warfare Research Section in Innisfail, Captain Skipper thanked the Fifth Air Service Area Command, APO 922 (= Base Section No. 2, Townsville, Queensland) for the excellent support given with their recent experimental work.

Captain Skipper went on to state:-

"Colonel Sebastian, Major Clark, of the 4th Air Depot Group, and Captain Ewing, Flight Test Section, all exhibited a fine spirit of co-operation and a high degree of technical skill in helping to plan and carry out the subject experiments, the results of which have been most gratifying."

Lt. Colonel Robert W. Smith, CWS, Actg. Chief Chemical Officer then forwarded this letter on to the Commanding General, Fifth Air Force Service Command, APO 925 on 3 April 1944 noting "with pleasure the co-operation and help given by the Fifth Air Service Area Command at APO 922."

The experiments referred to were possibly associated with the Brook Island Trial which took place on North Brook Island in February 1944.

Sylvia Stoltz worked in Innisfail. Sylvia was transferred from 5 AWAS Admin. Cadre to the "Australian Chemical Warfare Research & Experimental Section" on 5 November 1943 and was transferred from Vic L of C to QLD L of C. She wore Land Headquarters (LHQ) color-patches.

After the first expedition to Innisfail (November 1943 to May 1944) the unit was disbanded and the AWAS and AAMWS returned to Melbourne. Most of the personnel were posted elsewhere and only the English team and two Australian civilian bio-chemists made their HQ at the Physiology Building at Melbourne University. AWAS secretaries remained with them as plans were made for a larger unit to move back to Queensland after the winter.

 The Aust. C.W. Research and Experimental Section compared the efficiency of various American Anti-Gas Ointments with that of Ointment No. 5. Large stocks of the latter ointment were held in Australia. It was know that all known ointments were of limited value only from the point of view of personal decontamination against liquid mustard gas. Experiments under tropical conditions had shown that the American Ointment M.5 was markedly superior to the British No. 5 which offered little protection to troops inuncted with it immediately prior to being exposed for one hour to mustard gas vapour. CWR & ES advised that it was possible that protection would be afforded if the ointment was renewed at frequent intervals.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Susan Wolfe (nee Ewing), daughter of Captain Ewing, and Sylvia Stoltz for their assistance with this web page.

REFERENCES

Letter of Appreciation to Commanding General, Fifth Air Force Service Command, APO 925 dated 3 April 1944 from Captain Howard E. Skipper, of the Australian Chemical Warfare Research and Experimental Section (CWR & ES) at Innisfail, Queensland.

Heaps of WW2 books available at Amazon.com

"Australia @ War"

This page first produced 31 March 2007

This page last updated 02 April 2007