Air Marshal Sir John Patrick Joseph McCauley, KBE, CB was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1954 to 1957. A Duntroon graduate, McCauley spent four years in the Australian Military Forces before transferring to the RAAF in 1924. He was Director of Training from 1936 to 1938, and commanded engineering and flying training schools for the first eighteen months of World War II. Having been promoted to group captain in 1940, he was posted to Singapore in June 1941 to take charge of all RAAF units defending the area. He earned praise for his efforts in attacking invading Japanese forces before the fall of Singapore, and for his dedication in evacuating his men. After serving as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff in 1942–44, he was appointed to a senior operational role with the Royal Air Force's 2nd Tactical Air Force in Europe, where he saw out the rest of the war.
Air Vice Marshal McCauley as AOC Eastern Area, 1953
McCauley (second from left, second row) with fellow cadets in his graduation class at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, December 1919
RAAF Brewster Buffalos at Singapore's Sembawang air base, commanded by Group Captain McCauley, in October 1941
Group Captain McCauley, 1943
Chief of Air Force (Australia)
Chief of Air Force (CAF) is the most senior appointment in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), responsible to the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) and the Secretary of the Department of Defence. The rank associated with the position is air marshal (three-star). The role encompasses "the delivery of aerospace capability, enhancing the Air Force's reputation and positioning the Air Force for the future". It does not include direction of air operations, which is the purview of the Air Commander Australia, a two-star position responsible directly to CDF in such circumstances but nominally reporting to CAF.
Chief of Air Force (Australia)
The inaugural Air Board, including Group Captain Stanley Goble (front row, left) and Air Commodore Richard Williams (front row, centre)
Recently appointed CAS Air Vice Marshal George Jones (left) with Air Vice Marshal William Bostock (centre) and outgoing CAS Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett in 1942
Air Marshal (later Air Chief Marshal) Sir Frederick Scherger