ARMAGEDDON AND OKRA
Australia's Air Operations in the Middle East a
century apart
by Lewis Frederickson
The dispatch of an Ottoman Army by Australian-led
Imperial air power in the Wadi Fara on 21 September 1918 occurred
just five years after the advent of military aviation in Australia.
In 1914, the fledgling Australian air service operated the flimsy
Bristol Boxkite; four years later it was flying the far more
advanced Bristol F2B Fighter. This leap forward represented a
profound progress in technology that has typified the technical
development of aviation, particularly in Australia ever since.
Ironically, on 21 September 2014, 96 years after the events of the
Wadi Fara, Australian squadrons were again deployed to the same part
of the world where they would remain for more than three years on
operations against extremist terrorism. Armageddon and OKRA contrasts these events, a century apart, in the context of the development of Australian air power. The book tracks the history where Australia has maintained a balanced air service compelling high technical, logistics and engineering standards, and effective training and command and control systems, for more than 100 years. These processes were as applicable a century ago as they are today. By examining these operational events, the author establishes the connection that access to the technology associated with air power is intrinsically linked to Australia’s enduring foreign and defence policy – more so, that military power is a means to an end, and never an end unto itself. |
Soft Cover 245mm x 170mm
231 pages including 11 pages of Index
Order your copy of this great book via links
on the
Big Sky Publishing web site
"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products
© Peter Dunn OAM 2020 |
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This page first produced 7 November 2021
This page last updated 07 November 2021