Air Vice Marshal Alan Moorhouse Charlesworth, CBE, AFC (17 September 1903 – 21 September 1978) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Born in Tasmania, he graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, and served with the 2nd Light Horse Regiment in Queensland before transferring to the Air Force in 1925. Most of his pre-war flying career was spent with No. 1 Squadron at RAAF Station Laverton, Victoria. In 1932 he undertook a series of survey flights around Australia, earning the Air Force Cross. Charlesworth's early wartime commands included No. 2 Squadron at Laverton, and RAAF Station Pearce in Western Australia. Appointed Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Eastern Area in December 1943, he was promoted temporary air commodore the following year and took over as AOC North-Western Area in Darwin, Northern Territory.
Charlesworth's control of air operations during the North-Western Area Campaign led to his appointment as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire following the end of World War II. Retaining his wartime rank, he took charge of the newly formed School of Land/Air Warfare from 1947 until 1949, when he assumed command of RAAF Station Williamtown, New South Wales. He was posted to Japan later that year as Chief of Staff, British Commonwealth Occupation Force, and organised support for RAAF units involved in the Korean War. Returning to Australia in 1951, he was raised to acting air vice marshal and became AOC Southern Area. Charlesworth's final appointment before retiring from the Air Force was commanding RAAF Overseas Headquarters, London, in 1954–55. After leaving the military he served as Director of Recruiting in the late 1950s, and later as a judge's associate at the Supreme Court of Victoria. He died at his home in Glen Iris, Victoria, in 1978.
Early career Born in Lottah, Tasmania, on 17 September 1903, Alan Charlesworth was the son of a storeman, Edwin Charlesworth, and his wife Louisa. The youth attended Lottah Public School and St Virgil's College, Hobart, before entering the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1920. He won the Silver Boomerang trophy, awarded to the college's champion athlete, three years running in 1921–23.Moore, Duntroon, pp. 329, 339 In 1923 he was appointed company sergeant major at Duntroon, and received the Sword of Honour upon graduating as a lieutenant later that year.O'Neill, Australia in the Korean War, p. 630 Following service as adjutant and quartermaster with the 2nd Light Horse Regiment in Queensland, Charlesworth transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as a flying officer on 27 January 1925.Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, p. 712 Among his classmates on the 1925 pilots' course at Point Cook, Victoria, was fellow Duntroon graduate Frederick Scherger.Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p. 192 During a training flight on 25 March, Charlesworth's Avro 504K stalled and spun into a field, injuring him and killing his instructor.Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, pp. 315–316 Recovering, he was subsequently involved in an accident with future lieutenant general and Governor of New South Wales Eric Woodward, when their plane flipped on landing and came to rest upside down on a fence; neither man was badly hurt.Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, pp. 125–126
Charlesworth graduated as a pilot in July 1925, and was posted to No. 1 Squadron at RAAF Station Laverton, Victoria. In January 1926, he took part in experiments to test parachutes by attaching them to dummies and throwing them out of aircraft in flight.Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p. 337 His secondment to the Air Force was made permanent in January 1928, and he was promoted to flight lieutenant the following month. On 30 April, Charlesworth married Edith Bennett at All Saints Anglican Church, St Kilda; the couple had a daughter. The next month, he was posted to the United Kingdom on attachment to the Royal Air Force (RAF). He attended the RAF School of Photography at Farnborough, before serving with the RAF Survey Flight in British Somaliland during 1929–30.
Returning to Australia, Charlesworth was again posted to No. 1 Squadron, taking command of a round-Australia aerial survey conducted in three phases during 1932 in association with the Commonwealth Geologist, Doctor Walter Woolnough. Charlesworth's study in Britain and his experience in Somaliland had made him the RAAF's leading expert in photographic reconnaissance, which was to be utilised in the search for potential oil fields.Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, pp. 424–427 The first phase of the survey took place in January–February, employing two Westland Wapitis and seven other Air Force personnel from Nos. 1 and 3 Squadrons to photograph sites in southern Queensland. Despite both aircraft being damaged in a gale at Bourke in northern New South Wales while returning to base, the expedition was considered a success.Roylance, Air Base Richmond, pp. 38–39 For the second phase, lasting from July to September, Charlesworth and his team journeyed around the whole of Australia from New South Wales to Queensland, thence to the Northern Territory and Western Australia, before returning to Laverton. The final phase in December explored Tasmania. Charlesworth was awarded the Air Force Cross (AFC) for his leadership of the survey, described in the official history of the pre-war RAAF as a "milestone" in the country's exploration.
Following his survey work, Charlesworth was appointed Staff Officer Photography at RAAF Headquarters, Melbourne.Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p. 429 In 1934 he returned to Laverton to take up his third and final posting with No. 1 Squadron. By September 1937, he had been raised to squadron leader and was in temporary command of the unit.Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p. 343 He had overall charge of a training flight in November–December that ended in disaster, when a Hawker Demon crashed near Cootamundra, New South Wales, and its pilot burned to death; this was one of a spate of incidents during the year that led to serious questions being raised about the level of flying safety in the RAAF.Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, pp. 344–346 In March 1939, Charlesworth was raised to wing commander and took command of No. 2 Squadron, operating Avro Ansons out of Laverton.2 Squadron RAAF at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on 10 January 2011.
World War II
As part of the RAAF's reorganisation following the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, No. 2 Group was formed in Sydney on 20 November; Charlesworth was appointed its Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO).Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, p. 67 He continued to serve in this position when the group was re-formed as Central Area in March 1940.Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, pp. 91–92 Posted to Western Australia to take command of RAAF Station Pearce in August, he was promoted to temporary group captain on 1 September 1940.Ashworth, How Not to Run an Air Force, p. 290 He became Senior Administration Officer at the newly established Western Area, Perth, in January the following year. In September 1942, Charlesworth took over No. 2 Bombing and Gunnery School in Sale, Victoria. He handed over to Group Captain Charles "Moth" Eaton in August 1943, before briefly taking charge of RAAF Headquarters Forward Echelon in Brisbane.RAAF Historical Section, Units of the Royal Australian Air Force, p. 12 Charlesworth was appointed Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Eastern Area, headquartered at Bradfield Park, Sydney, in December 1943.Ashworth, How Not to Run an Air Force, p. 303 Eastern Area was responsible for maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare off the coast of New South Wales and southern Queensland. Japanese submarine activity had decreased in the months before Charlesworth took command, and he was concerned that Allied ships were becoming complacent. He observed "a general slackening off in procedure; ships are seldom where they should be, and a minority of merchant ships identify themselves to aircraft". The RAAF's patrols had also settled into a predictable pattern that would have been easy for an observant submarine captain to avoid.Odgers, Air War Against Japan, p. 349 Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, p. 258
Charlesworth was promoted to temporary air commodore on 1 August 1944. The following month he was appointed AOC North-Western Area (NWA) in Darwin, Northern Territory, replacing Air Vice Marshal Adrian "King" Cole.Ashworth, How Not to Run an Air Force, p. 291 By this stage of the war, the Allies were advancing north and the tempo of operations in the Darwin area had decreased.Horner, "The Evolution of Australian Higher Command Arrangements", pp. 17–18 Charlesworth immediately raised concerns regarding No. 80 Wing, which operated three squadrons of Spitfire fighters, warning higher command that its morale could drop if it was not either given a more active role in the war or transferred to southern Australia for rest.Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 246–247 By October, the wing had received orders to depart NWA for the forward base of Morotai to join the RAAF's main mobile strike force, First Tactical Air Force; this move would leave Charlesworth with twelve squadrons at his disposal, including one B-24 Liberator heavy bomber unit and three other Spitfire squadrons.Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 297–299 Odgers, Air Force Australia, p. 121 In the meantime, NWA supported the assault on Leyte with attacks on enemy ports, oil facilities, and shipping in the Dutch East Indies using Beaufighters, B-25 Mitchells, and Liberators. These operations continued through November–December.Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 301–302, 313–316 In April 1945, Charlesworth sent Mitchells and Liberators against a Japanese convoy led by the cruiser ; the bombers damaged the cruiser, and it was subsequently sunk by Allied submarines.Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 407–409 The same month, NWA's Liberators attacked targets in Java in the lead-up to the Battle of Tarakan that commenced on 1 May.Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 451–455 By July, Charlesworth's command had been denuded of much of its strength as two of its bomber wings were transferred to First Tactical Air Force.Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 476–477
Postwar career
Among a small coterie of wartime RAAF commanders considered suitable for further senior roles, Charlesworth retained his rank of air commodore following the cessation of hostilities.Stephens, Going Solo, pp. 24–25Helson, Ten Years at the Top, p. 238–239 He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1946 King's Birthday Honours for his "conspicuous service in operations against the Japanese" while leading North-Western Area Command.Recommended: Commander of the Order of the British Empire at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on 10 January 2011. The same year, he relinquished command of North-Western Area and briefly took charge of Eastern Area Command. He was then posted to Britain to undertake a course at the RAF School of Air Support. Returning to Australia, he became the inaugural commandant of the School of Land/Air Warfare at Laverton in April 1947. The school transferred to RAAF Station Williamtown, New South Wales, the following year.Joint Warfare, Doctrine and Training Centre at Department of Defence. Retrieved on 14 January 2011. Charlesworth took overall command of Williamtown in 1949. In June that year, he succeeded fellow Duntroon graduate Air Commodore John McCauley as Chief of Staff, British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF), in Japan.Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p. 213