PropertyValue
rdf:type
rdfs:label
  • James Rowland (RAAF officer)
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  • Air Marshal Sir James Anthony (Jim) Rowland, AC, KBE, DFC, AFC (1 November 1922 – 27 May 1999) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), serving as Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) from 1975 to 1979. He later held office as Governor of New South Wales from 1981 to 1989, and was Chancellor of the University of Sydney from 1990 to 1991. Born in rural New South Wales, Rowland cut short his aeronautical engineering studies at the University of Sydney to join the RAAF in 1942. He was posted to Britain and served as a bomber pilot with the Pathfinders in the air war over Europe, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1944. The following year he was forced to bail out over Germany following a collision with another Allied aircraft, and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner
owl:sameAs
Office
  • Governor of New South Wales
Unit
monarch
dcterms:subject
honorific suffix
dbkwik:military/property/wikiPageUsesTemplate
serviceyears
  • 1942
term start
  • 1981-01-20
dipstyle
  • His Excellency
Birth Date
  • 1922-11-01
Commands
death place
  • Sydney, New South Wales
Name
  • Sir James Rowland
Align
  • left
Caption
  • Official RAAF portrait of Air Marshal Rowland
Width
  • 35
altstyle
  • Sir
Birth Place
  • Armidale, New South Wales
Title
Awards
term end
  • 1989-01-20
death date
  • 1999-05-27
Rank
Battles
  • World War II
Successor
Years
  • 1975
  • 1981
  • 1990
Alt
  • Formal head-and-shoulders portrait of man in blue military uniform and peaked cap
Profession
Order
  • 33.0
offstyle
  • Your Excellency
Source
  • —The four "immutable laws" of aircraft acquisition related by Wing Commander Rowland in an address to the Royal Aeronautical Society, Canberra, 1965.
honorific prefix
Quote
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
Nationality
  • Australian
Predecessor
abstract
  • Air Marshal Sir James Anthony (Jim) Rowland, AC, KBE, DFC, AFC (1 November 1922 – 27 May 1999) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), serving as Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) from 1975 to 1979. He later held office as Governor of New South Wales from 1981 to 1989, and was Chancellor of the University of Sydney from 1990 to 1991. Born in rural New South Wales, Rowland cut short his aeronautical engineering studies at the University of Sydney to join the RAAF in 1942. He was posted to Britain and served as a bomber pilot with the Pathfinders in the air war over Europe, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1944. The following year he was forced to bail out over Germany following a collision with another Allied aircraft, and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner. After repatriation and demobilisation, Rowland gained his engineering degree and rejoined the RAAF. He became a test pilot, serving with and later commanding the Aircraft Research and Development Unit in the 1950s, and also a senior engineering officer, being closely involved in preparations for delivery to Australia of the Dassault Mirage III supersonic fighter in the 1960s. In 1972 he was promoted to air vice marshal and became Air Member for Technical Services, holding this post until his elevation to air marshal and appointment as CAS in March 1975. He was the first engineering officer to lead the RAAF, and the first man to personally command it in a legal sense, following abolition of the Australian Air Board in 1976. Knighted in 1977, Rowland retired from the Air Force in 1979 and became Governor of New South Wales in January 1981. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1987. Retiring from the Governorship in 1989, he held a place on several boards as well as the Chancellorship of the University of Sydney. He died in 1999.
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