David Evans (RAAF officer)
Air Marshal Selwyn David Evans AC, DSO, AFC was a senior commander of the Royal Australian Air Force. He served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1982 until 1985. After leaving the RAAF he published two military treatises and an autobiography. He died of a heart attack at his home in Sydney on 6 November 2014.
About David Evans (RAAF officer) in brief
Air Marshal Selwyn David Evans AC, DSO, AFC was a senior commander of the Royal Australian Air Force. He served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1982 until 1985. After leaving the RAAF he published two military treatises, A Fatal Rivalry: Australia’s Defence at Risk and War: A Matter of Principles, as well as an autobiography. He was a board member of and defence advisor to British Aerospace Australia from 1990 to 2009, and chairman of the National Capital Authority from 1997 until 2003. In 2001 he was awarded the Centenary Medal for his services to the ADF and the Canberra community. Selwyn Evans, known by his middle name of David, was born in the Sydney suburb of Paddington on 3 June 1925. He avidly followed reports of Allied fighter aces during the Battle of Britain, and resolved that, once he was old enough, he would serve as a pilot. After spending a short time as a bank clerk, Evans enlisted in the Air Force on 5 June 1943. After graduating as a sergeant pilot, he was posted in October 1944 to the flying staff of No. 1 Air Observer School at Evans Head, New South Wales. He married Dorothy Campbell, the daughter of a Merchant Navy captain, on 23 August 1948. They had three daughters and a son, a son-in-law, a grandson and a great-grandson. Evans was commissioned as the most junior Air Force officer in the 1947 Air Force List of junior officers according to seniority.
The couple had planned to wed on 29 August 1947, but he was transferred to No.38 Squadron, with which he flew C-47 Dakota transports. In the early 1950s he was a flying instructor, before becoming a VIP captain with the Governor-General’s Flight in 1954. Evans held senior staff positions in the early 1970s, before serving as Officer Commanding RAAF Base Amberley from 1975 until 1977. Promoted to air vice marshal, he then became Chief of Air Force Operations. In 1981 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1981, before his promotion to air marshal and elevation to Chief ofThe Air Staff in April 1982. He focussed on morale, air power doctrine, and improving defensive capabilities in northern Australia, to fully exploit the “air-sea gap” on the northern approaches to the continent. In May 1985, Evans began to write and lecture on defence matters, and also stood for election in Federal politics. He died of a heart attack at his home in Sydney on 6 November 2014. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, and their three daughters, two sons, a daughter and a grandchild, and a step-son. He also had a son and a daughter-in granddaughter. He had a daughter, a granddaughter and two step-great-grandchildren. He has been awarded the Distinguished Service Order after completing his tour in Vietnam.
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