Foreword by Sir Robert Menzies. xii, 241 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. First Edition. #0919/0721

Wackett entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon on 12 March 1913 and graduated on 28 June 1915. He transferred to the newly created Australian Flying Corps and qualified as a pilot in October 1915 and arrived in Egypt with No.1 Squadron in April 1916. There he was involved in reconnaissance and attacking the Turkish forces as well as being involved in air combat with enemy pilots. In January 1917 he was in charge of the overhaul and repair of Royal Flying Corps aircraft and his success in this role not only saw him promoted to Captain and mentioned in despatches, but he was also sent to the Aircraft Invention Depot in England.

He was transferred to No.3 Squadron and sent to France in June 1918 where he perfected a method of dropping ammunition to ground forces by parachute. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his work on 25 September 1918 when he “rendered conspicuous service in taking oblique photographs and supplying troops with ammunition”. Flying at 1500 feet he obtained a complete series of oblique photographs of an area several miles behind enemy lines. Although his radiator was hit he succeeded in landing at an aerodrome where it was found that there were 80 bullet holes in his plane.

Wackett married married Letitia Wood at Cardiff, Wales in 1919 and after returning to Australia he pioneered the experimental testing of former RAF aircraft given to Australia and was responsible for the production in Australia of the Wirraway, Wackett and Boomerang aircraft. He headed the aircraft section of the Cockatoo Naval Dockyard from 1930-1934. In 1936 he managed the establishment of the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Pty Ltd at Fishermens Bend in Melbourne. Wackett was knighted in 1954 and retired in December 1960. A fall left him an incomplete quadriplegic in 1970 and he died in Sydney on 18 March 1982.

Wackett, Lawrence James, Sir, 1896-1982. | Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (Australia) | Aeronautical engineering. Sir Lawrence James Wackett, 1896-. Australia. Autobiographies | Aircraft industries. Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, 1936-1959. Personal observations | Airplanes — Design and construction. | Aircraft industry — Australia.