Sir Lawrence James Wackett (2 January 1896 – 18 March 1982) is widely regarded as "father of the Australian aircraft industry". He has been described as "one of the towering figures in the history of Australian aviation covering, as he did, virtually all aspects of activities: pilot, designer of airframes and engines, entrepreneur and manager". He was knighted for his services to aviation and was a winner of the Oswald Watt Gold Medal. He was also a keen angler and wrote two books on the subject.
Early years, war service and education Wackett was born in Townsville, Queensland, on 2 January 1896.University of Melbourne Bright Sparcs biographical website retrieved 2007-08-16. He joined the Australian Army and graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, then with the rank of lieutenant joined No. 1 Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) which had formed at Point Cook the day before his 20th birthday. He was one of twelve pilots that went to Egypt with the Squadron to operate in support of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, embarking on 16 March 1916 and arriving at Suez four weeks later.
In Egypt he designed a mounting to attach a Lewis Gun to the upper wing of his BE2c; considerably improving the fighting ability of a type that was described by Hudson Fysh (who served with Wackett in No. 1 Squadron.) as the "poorest of all offensive, or defensive aircraft". The BE2c was normally armed with a machine gun at the observer's position, but the observer sat in front of the pilot and behind the engine, and between the upper and lower wings. This meant that the machine gun could only be fired in fairly narrow arcs if the Observer was to avoid hitting his own aircraft. Wackett's modification meant that all he had to do was point the whole aircraft at his adversary and that he had a measure of protection when on a bombing mission (because the BE2c could carry bombs or an Observer, but not both).
Wackett used his modified BE2c to good effect on several occasions. He once gave the enemy pause when while on a reconnaissance mission he was attacked by two Rumpler C.Is. Wackett flew towards them firing the gun and the Rumplers broke off the fight.1 Sqn AFC History retrieved 2007-08-17. On 11 November 1916 he was in his BE2c on a 7-hour bombing mission to Beersheba with four other BE2s and a Martinsyde G.100 when the formation came under attack by two much superior German aircraft. Wackett was able to use his aircraft to assist the Martinsyde in defending their comrades and fighting off the attack.Military Aircraft of Australia 1909–1918. On the night of the 14/15 January 1917, 16 Jewish workers (mostly masons, carpenters and plumbers) who had been working in Beer Sheba under the Turkish Military Authority, were sleeping in a railway carriage at Beer Sheba Railway Station when a RAF BC2c dropped a 45 kg bomb very near the carriage killing all of them. Later investigations by British and Australian air-force historians confirmed that the pilot was an Australian. Further investigation and in-depth study of British, Australian and Turkish records by researcher Dr. Ilan Gal Peer, confirmed that the most likely pilot was Wackett of Number 1 Squadron attached to EEF, who believed a non-existent ammunitions shed was located in the immediate vicinity.Centenary of Deaths of 16 Jewish Civilian Workers in Beer Sheva Station, HaRakevet, Issue 119, p. 23.
Wackett later transferred to No. 3 Squadron AFC in France and played a significant role in the Battle of Hamel fought on 4 July 1918. Captured German documents revealed that they had been experimenting with dropping ammunition from aircraft and No. 3 Squadron was asked to investigate doing the same. Wackett was asked to do the work as his reputation had spread; 'he had a gift for mechanical inventions' according to his superiors. Now a captain, he devised a small parachute that could be used to drop supplies to troops, designed a modified bomb rack to hold the supplies and then trained No. 3 Squadron personnel in the required technique. General Monash's battle plan for Hamel involved resupplying the engaged machine-gunners with ammunition dropped by aircraft. In the event No. 3 Squadron was assigned other tasks during the battle and the ammunition dropping was performed by No. 9 Squadron RAF. Monash later wrote, "at least 100,000 rounds of ammunition were [dropped] during the battle with obvious economy in lives and wounds. The method thus initiated became general in later months".The Royal Australian Air Force: An Illustrated History p. 41.The A.I.F. In France p270. Later that year, on 25 September, Wackett undertook a daring reconnaissance mission in 3 Squadron's first Bristol F.2 Fighter, when he with his rear gunner / observer Lieutenant Max Robert Shelley penetrated six miles (10 km) behind enemy lines to take aerial photographs of the German Joncourt-Villers Outreaux line, that were needed for a forthcoming attack. Two days later he carried out an ammunition resupply flight to some isolated troops using the equipment he had designed. As a result of these two actions he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.AWM honours records search retrieved 2007-08-22. By the end of the war two months later he had been promoted to the rank of major. On 6 January 1919 he was appointed the Commanding Officer of No. 7 Squadron AFC based at Leighterton in England. 7 Sqn. had acted as the training unit for No. 3 Squadron during the recent conflict and Wackett remained the CO until the Squadron was disbanded in March that year, at which time he returned to Australia.
Post-war, Wackett was one of just 21 officers who formed the nucleus of the new Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1921. He had a strong belief in the need to develop an indigenous aircraft industry and completed a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Melbourne, then had two years of advanced training in aircraft design under Frank Barnwell, designer of the F.2 Fighter aircraft that he had flown while serving with No. 3 Squadron AFC. He entered and won second prize in the 1924 Low-Powered Aeroplane Competition (held at Richmond in December that year) with his first design, the Warbler. This was a parasol wing monoplane powered by an engine also of his own design, the Wizard, a two-cylinder horizontally-opposed monosoupape-type pusher engine developing .Wackett engine retrieved 2007-08-16.
Wackett and the RAAF Experimental Section Wackett learned of war surplus machine tools slated for disposal from a workshop in Randwick, Sydney, and prevailed upon his superiors to acquire the workshop. The RAAF Experimental Aircraft Section was thus established in January 1924 and Wackett, by then a squadron leader, was placed in charge. He tried to obtain permission to design and build an entirely Australian aircraft, but the RAAF had no money in its budget for this and would not give the go-ahead unless Wackett could obtain funds from some other source. Wackett then approached the Controller of Civil Aviation Colonel H. C. Brinsmead and managed to persuade the Civil Aviation Branch (of the Department of Defence, there not being a separate Department of Civil Aviation at this time) to fund the construction of a small flying boat.
The result was the Widgeon, a wooden hull biplane flying boat powered by an Armstrong Siddeley Puma of located below and forward of the upper wing. This aircraft, the first flying boat to be wholly designed and constructed in Australia, was registered to the Civil Aviation Branch out of the Australian sequence (i.e. G-AUxx) as G-AEKB, after E. K. Bowden, Minister for Defence. The aircraft was launched on 7 July 1925 into Botany Bay. The following day it hit a sandbank during taxi tests and later overturned whilst attempting a takeoff. Wackett was on board with Brinsmead and two mechanics; all were unhurt. The aircraft was repaired and made its first flight on 3 December that year. Wackett subsequently installed a more powerful ADC Nimbus engine and an undercarriage, converting it into an amphibian. Following the modifications the Widgeon I was transferred to the RAAF and used at Point Cook for flying boat training from 1927. The aircraft operated with the RAAF until 1929, when it was scrapped. A larger amphibian, the Widgeon II, powered by a Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar engine, was the next aircraft to emerge from the Experimental Section workshop. Wackett himself flew the Widgeon II extensively, later saying, "I proved its capability by flying it on a journey across and around part of the Australian continent in 1928".Quoted on Flying Boats of the World page retrieved on 2007-08-17. The next aircraft developed at Randwick was the two-seat Warrigal I of 1929, a biplane trainer of conventional design, powered by a Armstrong Siddeley Lynx radial engine. This was followed in 1930 by the improved Warrigal II, powered by a Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar radial engine.Meggs, pp. 294–301
On 21 March 1927, Wackett was elected the inaugural chairman of the NSW Division of the Institution of Aeronautical Engineers (IoAE) in Sydney. The following year, after the amalgamation of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) and the IoAE parent body in Britain, he was appointed the inaugural deputy chairman of the Australasian Branch of the RAeS.RAeS Australian Division History retrieved 2077-08-24. He also found time to act as the New South Wales RAAF Aide de Camp to the Governor General, although the duties were not onerous.Helson, Peter (2006). Ten Years at the Top; an online version of a biography of RAAF Chief of Air Staff George Jones . Australian Defence Force Academy campus of the University of New South Wales, submitted as a postgraduate thesis. There is a footnote on p24 referring to Wackett's own autobiography Aircraft Pioneer and mentioning his serving as NSW RAAF ADC. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
Wackett in the 1930s As a result of a government-sponsored report and pressure from British manufacturers, who saw Wackett as a threat to their monopoly on Australian orders, the Randwick Station was closed in 1931.Technology in Australia 1788–1988 p. 498.Randwick City Council Social History web page about Wackett, retrieved 2007-08-16. Wackett resigned from the RAAF with the rank of wing commander and transferred (with some personnel and equipment) to the Cockatoo Island Naval Dockyard. Here he was involved in the design of watercraft as well as aircraft. He continued working for the RAAF – a single de Havilland D.H.60G Gipsy Moth was built at the Dockyard under his supervision and entered RAAF service in 1933.Tiger Moth, CT-4, Wackett & Winjeel in Australian Service p38.ADF serials D.H.60 list retrieved 2007-08-16. He also undertook civilian aviation projects including repair and modification projects, and built the Cockatoo Docks & Engineering LJW.6 Codock, a six passenger airliner powered by two Napier Javelin engines of , for Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. A later design for a larger aircraft, the 4-engined Corella, did not leave the drawing board, nor did his other aircraft concepts; VH-URP, the solitary Codock, was the only Wackett aircraft design built at the Dockyard. His marine designs at the Dockyard included small motorboats such as the Cettien (which won the Griffith Cup in 1934 and 1935)E. C. Griffith Cup History retrieved 2007-08-17. and the racing hydroplane Century Tire II, and larger commercial passenger-carrying vessels as well.National Archives of Australia list of Wackett Cockatoo Island papers. Retrieved 2007-08-16.