These profiles and stories were donated to the RAAF Museum by the Gold Coast Branch of the Air Crew Association.

Service Profile: Eric Cathcart

World War II

Eric Robert Cathcart was accepted as a member of the RAAF Aircrew Reserve in April 1942 at the age of 18. Within two weeks he was drafted into the Army's Citizen Military Forces (CMF) and sent to 11th Training Battalion at Hughenden in north-western Queensland. Four months later, following the Japanese token bombing of Townsville, the training battalion made way for American Army troops. Having qualified as a marksman, Eric was posted to 5th Infantry Specialist Group at Boobera Lagoon near Boggabilla, New South Wales, just across the border from Goondiwindi, Queensland.

There was an inter-service agreement that aircrew reservists would be released from the Army if the RAAF had training positions before the reservist was posted to an operational area. After one month in his new environment Eric was released to the RAAF. Aircrew training was not immediately available so, following another recruit course, he became an AC2 guard until November 1942. After being given a further recruit course at Initial Training School (ITS) at Kingaroy, Queensland, he finally got to see an aeroplane.

Flying training started on Tiger Moths at Elementary Flying Training School, Narromine, NSW, followed by a return to Queensland for Service Flying Training at No. 8 SFTS, Bundaberg, flying Avro Ansons (with wind-up undercarriage).

As a Sergeant-Pilot Eric was posted to a Personnel Depot at Bankstown, Sydney, pending on-movement. In November 1943 he was posted to an Embarkation Depot in Victoria and based at Melbourne Cricket Ground where his dormitory was a roofed spectator stand. During his waiting period he was attached to RAAF Point Cook for a Beam Approach Course flying Airspeed Oxfords. He and some hundreds of other RAAF aircrew zig-zagged their way to Durban, South Africa, on the Dutch troopship-converted liner Nieuw Amsterdam. Further stops were made at Cape Town and Freetown (Sierra Leone) on their way to the UK for further training to operational standard prior to service in the European theatre.

Initially, Eric spent some time at Personnel Reception Depot at Brighton before being sent to a physical training establishment at Whitley Bay, near Newcastle. His next posting was as an aerodrome controller at Watchfield, a satellite airfield of Little Rissington. During that time the RAAF Reception Depot moved from Brighton to Padgate, west of Manchester. He went to Padgate long enough to be cleared-on and cleared-off strength for a posting to Advanced Flying Unit (AFU), Little Rissington, flying Oxfords. The next link in the training chain was was a posting to Operational Training Unit (OTU), Silverstone, flying Wellingtons, then to Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) for conversion onto Lancasters.

By that time Eric was a Flight Sergeant, and his all-NCO crew comprised five Australians and one Englishman, who was the engineer. He had been trained as a Spitfire pilot and elected to become an engineer as there was then a surplus of fighter pilots in the UK. He did not even attempt to leave the top button of his tunic undone. Final aircrew posting was to No. 550 (RAF) Squadron at North Killinghome in the early part of 1945. Eric was commissioned just after arrival and saw out the remainder of the European conflict as a Pilot Officer.

As one of thousands of RAAF aircrew awaiting redeployment to the Pacific region for the war against Japan, Eric roamed the UK until that war ended, finally leaving UK shores in the Stirling Castle via the Meditteranean and Suez Canal to collect sun- bronzed RAAF aircrew from the Italian and African war zones.

Eric arrived back in Sydney in November 1945 and was discharged in January 1946 as a Flying Officer.

RAAF Permanent Air Force

As a result of involvement in the Korean conflict the RAAF began recruiting former aircrew for a variety of aircrew-related activities. Married to a former WAAAF, and with a young family, Eric, morally supported by his wife, took advantage of the opportunity to participate in the regrowth of the world's second-oldest Air Force and became an Air Traffic Controller.

Following his training at Point Cook in southern Victoria, Eric spent three days on a train, travelling to his posting in Townsville in tropical north Queensland. After four years, and by then a Flight Lieutenant, he was posted to East Sale in eastern Victoria as Senior Air Traffic Control Officer. Specialising in Ground Control Approach (GCA) Radar, he was in charge of the mobile unit which was positioned at Melbourne airport during the 1956 Olympic Games, subsequently instructing GCA controllers at East Sale.

In early 1958, Eric led a mixed bag of 20 as a vanguard of the take-over of RAF Butterworth, Malaysia, by the RAAF. They flew backwards by RAF Hastings to Singapore, then by New Zealand Bristol Freighter to Butterworth to find that Eric had been appointed Housing Officer. When the dust of the take-over settled and the organisational structure was in place, he was able to take up his appointment as OIC/GCA.

During his posting at Butterworth he experienced an example of the flexibility of rank. A South-East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) exercise being held in Bangkok, Thailand, required a radar-trained Flight Lieutenant to attend, so the non-current Senior Air Traffic Controller, a Squadron Leader, took the appointment. As a 'sop', Eric was later attached (in lieu of the SATCO) to a Senior Officers' Jungle Survival Course held in Changi and the secondary jungles of Mersing where the Communist Terrorists were still operating.

Eric and his family returned to Australia in late 1960 to the RAAF's fighter base at Williamtown where he was OIC/GCA, also becoming involved in RAAF–Army co-operation exercises. His next posting was to the (then) Department of Air in Canberra for three years, before being promoted Squadron Leader and posted to RAAF Base Fairbairn to undergo the RAAF Staff Course for twelve months. A two-year posting as Senior Air Traffic Control Officer at RAAF Base Richmond (near Sydney) followed.

Eric's next appointment was to Operational Command, situated in the lower Blue Mountains west of Sydney, as ATC1, subordinate to a very good friend, Arthur Drury. On Artie's retirement, Eric stepped into his shoes as Command ATC Officer and was promoted Wing Commander. In May 1975, at the age of 51, he elected to take early retirement and moved to his home state of Queensland.

Post-Retirement

With the family of two daughters and one son having flown the coop, retirement palled. So Eric and his wife, Eileen, started a personnel consultancy business which flourished for eight years before they again retired...but not for long. For the next eight years they managed an education supplies organisation covering Queensland and the Northern Territory from their home base on Queensland's Gold Coast, finally calling it quits at the end of 1992.

After a nomadic existence, Eric and Eileen have settled down in their 30th domicile in 55 years of married life. Eric writes for pleasure and a bit of profit. Eileen has sold over 50 of her paintings since they both retired for the third time. Life is good and being enjoyed. They live each day as it comes.

As It Happened: Who Am I and Why? (200K PDF)