Peter Jeffrey (RAAF officer)
Peter Jeffrey, DSO, DFC was a senior officer and fighter ace in the Royal Australian Air Force. Born in Tenterfield, New South Wales, he joined the RAAF active reserve in 1934, and transferred to the Permanent Air Force shortly before World War II. Posted to the Middle East in July 1940, Jeffrey saw action with No. 3 Squadron and took command of the unit the following year. He was appointed wing leader of No 234 Wing RAF in November 1941, and became an ace the same month with his fifth solo victory. Jeffrey died in 2007 at age 83, after a long battle with lung cancer, which he had battled for more than a decade.
About Peter Jeffrey (RAAF officer) in brief
Peter Jeffrey, DSO, DFC was a senior officer and fighter ace in the Royal Australian Air Force. Born in Tenterfield, New South Wales, he joined the RAAF active reserve in 1934, and transferred to the Permanent Air Force shortly before World War II. Posted to the Middle East in July 1940, Jeffrey saw action with No. 3 Squadron and took command of the unit the following year, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross for his energy and fighting skills. He was appointed wing leader of No 234 Wing RAF in November 1941, and became an ace the same month with his fifth solo victory. In 1942, Jeffrey was posted to the South West Pacific, where he helped organise No. 75 Squadron for the defence of Port Moresby, and No.76 Squadron prior to the Battle of Milne Bay. He served two stints in charge of No. 2 Operational Training Unit in southern Australia before the end of the war, broken by command of No 1 Wing in the Northern Territory and Western Australia during 1943–44, at which time he was promoted to temporary group captain. Jeffrey was transferred to RAAF reserve after the war but returned to the PAF in 1951, holding training posts in Victoria and command of RAAF Base Edinburgh in South Australia, before resigning in 1956. Outside the military, he was a grazier and stockbroker. He died in 1997 at the age of 83, and was survived by his wife, two children and six grandchildren.
He is buried at the Royal Adelaide National Cemetery, in Adelaide, Australia, with the rest of his family, including his brothers and sisters. His son, A. L. Jeffrey, is a former Australian politician and former member of the Australian House of Representatives and a former Member of Parliament for the South Australian Legislative Council. Jeffrey died in 2007 at age 83, after a long battle with lung cancer, which he had battled for more than a decade. He also had a son, Peter Jeffrey Jr, who died in 2011. He had served in the Australian Army Air Corps and the Australian National Air Force during the Second World War, and died in 2012. Jeffrey is survived by two children, Peter and Peter Jeffrey, Jr, and a daughter, Sarah Jeffrey, who was born in Sydney in 1913. Jeffrey served with No 22 Squadron from July 1936, and later with No 3 Squadron at RAAF Station Richmond. He flew obsolescent Gloster Gladiator biplanes in support of Australian 6th Division during the North African Campaign; he claimed no victories at this stage. In June 1940, he took over No.3 Squadron from Wing Commander Ian McLachlan on 13 February 1941, by which time the unit had converted to Hawker Hurricane monoplane fighters. Jeffrey claimed his first aerial victory on 15 April 1941, shooting down four German Junkers Ju 52 transports near Capo Capo, Libya.
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