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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by GrahamColm 16:57, 5 January 2014 (UTC) [1].[reply]

Frank Headlam

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Frank Headlam (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

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Nominator(s): Ian Rose (talk) 06:23, 26 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Another red link in the list of Royal Australian Air Force air marshals turned to blue. Although not exactly in the first rank of Air Force personalities, Headlam did have a long and interesting career, seeing service in three South-East Asian conflicts (four if you count the brief time he spent in Vietnam preparing for Australia’s first Huey deployment to the war). Thanks as ever to all who participated in the article's recent GAN and MilHist ACR, and in advance to everyone who comments here. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 06:23, 26 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Support on prose per standard disclaimer. I've looked at the changes made since I reviewed this for A-class, and made one tweak. - Dank (push to talk) 14:07, 26 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Tks Dan! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 22:06, 26 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Images - Plane and helicopter captions should end in periods, but licensing is fine. Nikkimaria (talk) 14:49, 29 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Will do, tks Nikki. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 21:38, 29 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
The squadron deployed to Dutch Timor in December, --> "The squadron was deployed to Dutch Timor in December," (active tense for deploy looks funny to me...)
It's not uncommon in militarese to employ the term that way, but I don't mind altering it... Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 14:38, 16 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]
ummm.what's a conversion course? Can we link or explain somehow?
Pilots who've learnt to fly on training aircraft have to undergo conversion to the specific types of aeroplane they fly in operational squadrons. I guess I could pipe "conversion course" to operational conversion unit, or else I could make the concept a bit clearer by just saying "seaplane conversion course" (which I would've done except I decided to avoid repeating "seaplane"). Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 14:38, 16 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I think piping the link is fine - whole new idea to me.....Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 09:11, 22 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Cool. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 15:01, 22 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Overall, looks good - prose is pretty tight and it looks like you've gone through the references so I am presuming it is comprehensive. I was wondering if you'd come across any anecdotes in any of the material that might add a little colour or feel for the man and help bring him to life for the reader. It is a touch on the dry side. However, if there isn't anything that fits the bill then this is nonactionable and a non deal-breaker. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 13:35, 16 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Tks for reviewing, Cas. To be honest I agree with you about it being on the dry side. I always try to find personal anecdotes or interesting quotes by or about the subject but in Headlam's case they seem to be lacking, apart from his youthful ideas on the defence of Australia being considered somewhat prescient by a major Air Force historian... Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 14:38, 16 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Ok - I sorta guessed if there was anything, you'd have found it....Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 09:11, 22 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Tks for your support (and understanding)... ;-) Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 15:01, 22 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Comments This is a very strong article, and I have only the following comments:

  • "Headlam was promoted to flying officer, on 1 July" - the relevant year isn't identified in this para (I presume that it's 1935)
    • Well spotted!
  • In regards to the paper Headlam wrote on the defence of Australia at about this time, do the sources place this in the context of the anti-raid concept which the Army (and, to a lesser extent, Navy) was concerned with at the time? The view was that while Australia didn't face any credible threat of invasion, there was a need to be able to repel small forces of raiders through coastal artillery and mobile forces (of course, this came back into vogue in the 1970s/1980s, but that's a bit off topic).
    • The source does mention "enemy raids" but doesn't discuss the Army's and Navy's concerns explicitly. I could reword "national defence" to "defending against enemy raids", although it seems to me that the RAAF had grander plans for the concepts developed in the papers than simply repelling the odd raid, which is why I used my original expression.
      • Fair enough: there hasn't been much scholarship joining the dots together on the pre-war defensive thinking in the services (to the extent that the dots can be sensibly joined together). Nick-D (talk) 09:26, 28 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • It would be fascinating to know why Headlam mainly served in (very important) training and support roles after early 1942 rather than combat positions, but I imagine that the sources don't describe this. His experiences at Timor would have been terrifying and many of the other RAAF survivors of this period seem to have been posted mainly to training roles.
    • Yes, John McCauley was described by Alan Stephens in one history as being "exhausted" after Singapore, and this was a guy who went on to become Chief of the Air Staff. I imagine also that Headlam's long navigation credentials probably had something to do with his assignments to training posts. Unfortunately none of the secondary sources state this explicitly.
  • In regards to his role as CO of No. 90 Wing, I'd suggest noting that No. 38 Squadron mainly undertook courier duties across Asia at the start of his posting, so the wing's duties were broader than just supporting the war in Malaya.
    • Reworded, see how it reads now.
  • "He was also one of two RAAF members to serve on a committee..." when was this?
    • Stephens isn't explicit in the text and that plus the footnotes gives a slightly contradictory indication. The committee appears to have been set up in 1958, but Headlam is supposed to have served on it while acting AMP, which he was in 1957 and 1959–60 only. The latter term is presumably the applicable one so I've just tried to place the info in the best position chronologically that I can.
  • "and with manpower shortages stemming from Australia's increasing involvement in the security of South East Asia" - this might be over-stating things given that the RAAF wasn't that big (especially compared with the Army or its WW2 strength). Was the problem recruiting and training enough personnel to keep up with the expansion rather than its involvement in South East Asia per se? Nick-D (talk) 06:57, 28 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Support My comments are now addressed. Great work with this article. Nick-D (talk) 09:26, 28 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Tks again. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 09:54, 28 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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