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And Operations.:, Alister Entered The

Alister Murray Murdoch was born in 1912 in Victoria, Australia. He attended military college and entered the Australian Air Force in 1929 during the Great Depression. Murdoch completed his pilot training in 1931 and went on to qualify as a flying instructor and seaplane pilot. In 1935, Flying Officer Murdoch was selected to join an RAAF rescue mission to find explorer Lincoln Ellsworth and his pilot who were presumed lost in Antarctica. Murdoch located them near the Bay of Whales.

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Jorge De Felipe Moreira
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41 views1 page

And Operations.:, Alister Entered The

Alister Murray Murdoch was born in 1912 in Victoria, Australia. He attended military college and entered the Australian Air Force in 1929 during the Great Depression. Murdoch completed his pilot training in 1931 and went on to qualify as a flying instructor and seaplane pilot. In 1935, Flying Officer Murdoch was selected to join an RAAF rescue mission to find explorer Lincoln Ellsworth and his pilot who were presumed lost in Antarctica. Murdoch located them near the Bay of Whales.

Uploaded by

Jorge De Felipe Moreira
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Alister Murray Murdoch was born on 9 December 1912 in 

Elsternwick, Victoria, the son of


engineer Thomas Murdoch and his wife Kathleen. A lieutenant in the Commonwealth
Military Forces at the time of Alister's birth, Thomas was awarded the Distinguished Service
Order in World War I, and rose to the rank of brigadier as Director-General of Engineer
Services in World War II. Educated at Caulfield Grammar School Royal Military College, , Alister entered the 

Duntroon Ian major general  Alister was one of four cadets sponsored that year by the Royal
, in 1929, following his elder brother  (later a  ).

Australian Air Force Great Depression  Although offered


 (RAAF), which did not at that stage have its own officer training college. Budgetary constraints imposed during the   necessitated the transfer of these cadets out of Duntroon midway through their four-year course.

positions in the Australian Public Service Royal Air Force  or nominations for short-term commissions with the  , all were determined to serve with the RAAF and were more than pleased with the prospect of entering their chosen service early.

Murdoch enlisted in the Air Force on 10 December 1930, and completed his pilot training the
following year. He was commissioned in 1932 and later qualified as a flying instructor and seaplane pilot,
undertaking navy cooperation and maritime patrol operations. In December 1935, Flying Officer  Murdoch was selected to join an RAAF rescue mission for

Lincoln Ellsworth Herbert Hollick-Kenyon


explorer 
Antarctic de Havilland Gipsy
 and his pilot,  , who were presumed lost while journeying across the  . Flying a 

Moth Bay of Whales  Hollick-Kenyon led the search party to Ellsworth, who protested that he was not lost
, Murdoch located Hollick-Kenyon near the  .

and did not need rescuing. Murdoch was posted to England in 1936–37 to undertake a course in long navigation RAF  at 

Manston No. 114 Squadron Returning to Australia, he married Florence Miller on 27 December 1937; the
 and serve on attachment with  .

couple had a daughter.Murdoch spent the next two years on the staff of the Directorate of Operations and Intelligence at Air
Force Headquarters, Melbourne In June 1938, he helped inaugurate RAAF instruction in long navigation, with a nine-
.

month course in the discipline.

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