No. 4 RAAF Recruiting Centre

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Brief History

The No. 4 Recruiting Centre was established on 24 September 1939 at the Perth Technical College but later moved to Yorkshire House in St George's Terrace. Its establishment provided for 34 personnel including six off1cers and five medical staff. From March until November 1940, Mobile Recruiting Unit 4A commenced operations in Kalgoorlie, operating from a train. After November recruitment from the goldfields was handled by staff visiting from Perth as for other regional areas of the state. In February 1941 the Centre moved to ANA House in St George's Terrace, Perth.

On 3 March 194J recruiting for the WAAAF was introduced for the non-technical musterings. By September 1942 there was a great falling off of applications for the RAAF and WAAAF owing to manpower regulations. In October 1942 lectures began for all personnel of the Centre on ship and aircraft recognition. Physical fitness and unarmed defence courses were run for the WAAAF. In January 1943 the first two members of the WAAAF in Western Australia were promoted to sergeant. A recruiting drive was conducted for the WRAAF in the same month. Appeals were made at interval time at the movies and radio broadcasts went through till February. Personnel from the Centre made regular visits to 9 Elementary Flying School to find out about the work performed by various musterings. By February !945 it was increasingly difficult to find suitable applicants for the aircrew musterings. With the cessation of hostilities in Europe recruiting numbers dropped further and in August 1945 when peace was declared with Japan, all recruiting activities ceased. The Centre was disbanded in October 1945.

Passing Through

All personnel who enlisted in the Perth Metro area, or had travelled to Perth to do so were documented by this unit before despatch to training units.

• Reginald William Jordan 4 Mar 1940
• Nicholas Keating 18 Mar 1940
• Lawrence Gerald McDonough 20 Mar 1940
• Roy Thomas Aston Wallis 7 Oct 1940
• Raymond Edward Morton Butcher 3 Mar 1941
• Alan Wesley Hain 28 Apr 1941
• Leslie John (Jock) Powell DFC 28 Apr 1941
• Alfred Ensor Hand 10 Jul 1941
• Ronald Victor Marshall 30 Oct 1941
• Frederick Walter Miller 30 Oct 1941
• Arthur George Berry 10 Dec 1941 - 11 Jan 1942
• Frederick Mervyn Cross 17 Dec 1941
• Eric William Mills 13 Jan 1942
• Frederick Matthew Howlett 1 Jun 1942

Notes

Content has come from Units of the Royal Australian Air Force - A Concise History - Volume 9 Ancillary Units - Australian Government Publishing Service - 1995