David Coles
With a lifetime interest in both aviation and history, Warrant Officer David Coles is a 40 year veteran of the RAAF and continues to serve as a reservist to this day. Trained as an Avionics Technician, the author has worked on Lockheed P-3 Orion and Boeing P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, and the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 (classic) Hornet. He has also trained as an aviation accident investigator and maintenance instructor. He worked for three years with the RAAF Air Power Development Centre, teaching air power doctrine.
Aviation history
Australian Military Aircraft
Australia began developing military aviation less than 10 years after the Wright brothers made their first successful powered flight, and just 3 years after the first heavier-than-air military forces were created in the USA and France. With such a long history of military aviation, the three arms of the Australian military have operated a large number of aircraft types, first by the Army (1914), then by the Royal Australian Navy (1915) and then by the RAAF, an entity that was established in 1921 expressly for the purpose of operating in the third dimension. This book has been written as a guide to the large and varied collection of aircraft types that have been operated by, and fo, all three services. With descriptions for over 300 aircraft types, illustrated by more than 350 photographs, the reader will gain an appreciation of the aircraft that have served Australia from the first flight of the Bristol Boxkite in March 1914 through to the latest projects being undertaken by the Australian Defence Forces today.
