Garing

Bill Garing joined the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) as a Cadet at the Royal Military College Duntroon in 1929. He made his first flight as a pilot at Point Cook two years later in 1931 in a DH60X Moth. Over the next 15 years as pilot in command he flew almost every type of trainer, fighter, bomber and seaplane used by the RAAF close to 50 different types of aircraft in all. This book includes every flight Bill made from January 1931 until December 1946, with details of aircraft type and serial number, names of crew, and reason for the flight. Bill also flew in aircraft operated by the RAF including in 1935 the giant six engine biplane flying boat the Sarafand and later the Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster bomber. He flew aircraft operated by the USAAF including the B17, B18, A24, P38, P39, P40, P47, P51B, P63 and also the Boeing B29 Superfortress in 1945.

Bill Garing joined the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) as a Cadet at the Royal Military College Duntroon in 1929. He made his first flight as a pilot at Point Cook two years later in 1931 in a DH60X Moth. Over the next 15 years as pilot in command he flew almost every type of trainer, fighter, bomber and seaplane used by the RAAF close to 50 different types of aircraft in all. This book includes every flight Bill made from January 1931 until December 1946, with details of aircraft type and serial number, names of crew, and reason for the flight. Bill also flew in aircraft operated by the RAF including in 1935 the giant six engine biplane flying boat the Sarafand and later the Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster bomber. He flew aircraft operated by the USAAF including the B17, B18, A24, P38, P39, P40, P47, P51B, P63 and also the Boeing B29 Superfortress in 1945. Whilst in Hawaii in August 1941, Bill met with Admiral Halsey who for a whole week asked him specific, questions about the war in Europe. Early in 1943 Bill met with General George C Kenny and later presented to him a detailed plan for attacking a Japanese convoy which was being assembled in Rabaul. The Battle of the Bismarck Sea took place in March 1943 and Bill’s plan for the attack resulted in every ship in the convoy headed for Lae being sunk. This was the last time the Japanese attempted this method to re-supply their troops. Bill served in the RAAF until 1964 when he retired but continued flying for more than 20 years with 97 different types of aircraft in his Log Books when he made his last flight as a pilot in command.

BIO Jim Turner became interested in aircraft at an early age and when he was around six years old he visited the RAAF Base Richmond open day taking photos of aircraft using a Box Brownie camera. His interest in aircraft increased after watching the movie Reach for the Sky the story of WW2 fighter pilot Douglas Bader which gave him a desire to fly. Then almost three months to the day after his sixteenth birthday he took his first flight with an instructor in Sydney and just over two months later with a total 10 hours 55 minutes of dual instruction a flew solo for the first time in a Victa 115. Then he moved Melbourne and learnt to fly real aircraft the Mk III Auster and DH82 Tiger Moth and undertook aerobatics training. He flew a Cessna 172 to complete the long navigation flights to obtain his Unrestricted Private Pilots Licence when he was 18 and he learnt to drive a car at 20 years of age. In 1996 he began writing and illustrating several books and in 1997 Kangaroo Press in Sydney published Australian Steam Locomotives 1896-1958. In 1998 as an imprint of Simon & Schuster Australia, Early Australian Steam Locomotives 1855-1895 was published followed in 1999 by the RAAF at War. In 2000 he was involved in publishing three children’s books he had written and illustrated and Ellen the Echidna received the Dymocks Critics Choice award and was followed by Kylie the Kookaburra and Paulina the Platypus. In 2004 he had two books he had written and illustrated published by Pensoft in Bulgaria they were Frogs of Australia and Mammals of Australia. At the present time he is revising Prangs a 1300 page day by day history of 30 Squadron RAAF (Beaufighter) from 1942-1945 which he self published in 2013, doing all the artwork, layout, printing and binding himself. He has a number of ebooks planned for release in 2014.