The CAC Boomerang

Don Williams grew up absorbing the host of television programs, books and movies about the titanic World War Two aerial battles in Europe’s skies that pervaded Australia in the 1960s and 1970s. His childhood bedroom was filled with models of Spitfires, Hurricanes, Messerschmidts and Stukas.  Later in life, Don sought to better understand the role of Royal Australian Air Force in the Pacific War. He was surprised and disappointed to find that no book telling the complete story of Australia’s own wartime emergency fighter, the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Boomerang, had been published.  Don decided to fill this gap by writing a book dedicated to the Boomerang. He is also a keen amateur photographer and is pleased that some of his photographs are included in the book. Sound research and writing were foundations of Don’s career as a policy analyst and these skills were further honed when he completed a mature age PhD. He also researched and published an article that identified the Royal Air Force squadron responsible for the death of Nazi Germany’s Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, the most senior German officer killed by enemy fire in World War Two.