Vale Air Marshal David Evans

I was very saddened to read of the recent death of Air Marshal David Evans. As many of you know, he wrote the foreword to my Australian Eagles. I had met him briefly at the ACT’s 2012 Wreathlaying Ceremony which was held on 14 September. How uncanny that his death falls within the 80th anniversary period of the Battle of Britain. In that commemorative address almost exactly eight years ago – the day before Battle of Britain day – Air Marshal David Evans AC DSO AFC, former Chief of the Air Staff of the RAAF and Patron, Australian Flying Corps and Royal Australian Air Force Association (ACT Division), recognised that many who bravely fought against the Luftwaffe experienced fear and had acknowledged and put aside their terror so they could carry out their important duty. 

Air Marshal Evans spoke of the lives of the young fighter pilots who displayed the true meaning of courage during the brief period when Britain’s defence depended on them. One moment they were lounging around dispersal, reading, desultorily chatting or playing cards, all the while listening with half an ear for the call to battle. Then, after the harsh ring of the ops phone, there was the mad scramble to aircraft, take off, and combat and, perhaps minutes later, watching the chap they were talking to plummet to earth with black smoke pouring from his stricken aircraft. Before they knew it, with adrenaline still pumping, they were back on the ground. Then, after refuel, rearm and debrief, back to dispersal to wait for the ops phone to ring again. And all this, four, five or six times a day. There was an incredible physical and psychological toll on these young airmen.

Air Marshal Evans remembered all of ‘The Few’ but he spoke of one man in particular—James Coward, a much loved and missed member of Canberra’s air force fraternity. He told of how James was shot down on 31 August 1940, how he baled out, only to see his foot almost totally severed, bobbing along as he floated down in his parachute, blood spurting out. He told of how James fashioned a tourniquet out of his wireless cord, thus saving his life. He quipped that it was ‘pretty good thinking for a fighter pilot’. And that coming from a former transport and bomber pilot! It was an affectionate vale for a brave man in a warm and intimate ceremony where politicians, representatives of the Battle of Britain countries and members of their armed services, former and current serving members of the air force and Canberrans once again gathered to remember those dubbed by Air Marshal Evans, ‘the immortal “Few”’. With his own inimitable and exemplary air force career, Air Marshal Evans has earned his own place within aviation’s ‘immortal Few’. You can read about his aviation career in his autobiography, Down to Earth.

David Evans’ 42-year career in the RAAF began during the closing stages of World War II. Post-war, he flew to Japan in support of occupation forces, then from Germany during the Berlin Airlift. In Vietnam he commanded one of the only bomber unit which the RAAF contributed to that conflict. He also led the Wing operating the RAAFs new F-111Cs, Australia’s premier strike aircraft for most of the next four decades. Added to that operational experience were jobs flying VIPs (including the Governor-General and Prime Minister) around Australia and beyond, conducting training in New Zealand, and representing the RAAF in the capital of our principal ally, the United States. His career culminated in him serving as Air Force chief for three years, from 1982 to 1985 during a period of enormous change, evolution and modernisation within the Australian Defence Organisation. With his flying days now 25 years behind him and both feet planted firmly on the ground, Air Marshal Evans provides a vivid and forthright account of his Air Force experiences, and reflects back on one of the most varied personal careers of the modern RAAF.