1. Donald Hardman was Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Australian Air Force from 1952 to 1954, after which he served as a member of the British Air Council until retiring in 1958.
13 Facts About Donald Hardman
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Donald Hardman was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1940 and a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1945, and was mentioned in despatches.
3.
Donald Hardman was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath the same year.
4.
Donald Hardman was raised to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in January 1958, shortly before his retirement.
5.
Donald Hardman achieved his first aerial victory in May 1918.
6.
The life expectancy of even an experienced RFC pilot on the Western Front was as little as three weeks; years later, Donald Hardman admitted that he was still surprised he had survived.
7.
At the onset of World War II, Donald Hardman was sent to France with the RAF element of the British Expeditionary Force.
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Donald Hardman remained in South-East Asia following the cessation of hostilities, taking over as Air Officer in Charge of Administration for ACSEA in January 1946.
9.
On 14 January 1952, Donald Hardman was appointed Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Australian Air Force, succeeding Air Marshal George Jones, who had served ten years in the position.
10.
Donald Hardman made two major changes to the structure of the Air Force to streamline command and control: integrating RAAF Headquarters, Melbourne, with the Department of Air, and supplanting the geographical area commands with three functional organisations, namely Home, Training, and Maintenance Commands.
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Donald Hardman formed a policy agreement with the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Sir John Collins, covering joint responsibility and cooperation for maritime warfare.
12.
Towards the end of his tenure as CAS, Donald Hardman gave an interview in which he criticised Army and Navy operations against a backdrop of continuing interservice rivalry for the defence budget.
13.
Donald Hardman joined the board of New Electronic Products Ltd in May 1959.