12 April 1974(1974-04-12) (aged 79) Subiaco, Western Australia
Allegiance
Australia United Kingdom
Service/branch
First Australian Imperial Force Royal Flying Corps Royal Australian Air Force
Years of service
1912–1919 1921–1947
Rank
Air Commodore
Commands held
No. 11 Group (1945–46) Western Area (1943–45) No. 1 Training Group (1941–42) RAF Sembawang (1940–41) RAAF Base Pearce (1938–40) No. 23 (City of Perth) Squadron (1938–40) No. 1 Squadron (1926–28)
Battles/wars
First World War
Gallipoli Campaign
Western Front
Battle of the Somme
Battle of Pozières
Italian Campaign
Second World War
South-East Asian theatre
South West Pacific theatre
New Guinea campaign
Awards
Commander of the Order of the British Empire Military Cross Military Medal
Air Commodore Raymond James Brownell, CBE, MC, MM (17 May 1894 – 12 April 1974) was a senior officer in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and a First World War flying ace. Born in Hobart, Tasmania, Brownell was working as a clerk with a firm of accountants when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on the outbreak of the First World War. He served during the Gallipoli Campaign before transferring to the Western Front. Awarded the Military Medal for his actions during the Battle of Pozières, he was accepted for a transfer to the Royal Flying Corps in 1917. After flight training in the United Kingdom, Brownell was commissioned as a second lieutenant and posted for operational service over the Western Front in September 1917. Moving with his squadron to Italy, he was awarded the Military Cross and credited with shooting down 12 aircraft by war's end. Taking his discharge in 1919, Brownell returned to Australia.
Commissioned in the RAAF in 1921, Brownell had risen to the rank of group captain by the beginning of the Second World War. Establishing the RAAF base in Singapore, he returned to Australia in 1941 as an air commodore and was appointed to lead No. 1 Training Group. He was Air Officer Commanding Western Area from January 1943 until July 1945, when he took charge of the recently formed No. 11 Group on Morotai. Retiring from the Air Force in 1947, Brownell assumed a partnership in a stockbroking firm. He died in 1974 aged 79; his autobiography, From Khaki to Blue, was published posthumously.
^Cite error: The named reference ADB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Air Commodore Raymond James Brownell, CBE, MC, MM (17 May 1894 – 12 April 1974) was a senior officer in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and a First...
the coffin to the cemetery. Captains Adrian Cole, Frank Lukis and RaymondBrownell acted as pallbearers along with five other officers who had served...
of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, Deputy Chief of Army RaymondBrownell – Air Commodore, WWI flying ace Sir Neil Hamilton Fairley – Brigadier...
Japanese surrender talks. Left to right: Commodore John Collins; Lieutenant General Frank Berryman; Captain Roy Dowling; Air Commodore RaymondBrownell....
Gerald A. Birks Clement G. Boothroyd Quintin Brand Edwin C. Bromley RaymondBrownell Oliver Bryson Walter M. Carlaw Percival V. G. Chambers Edwin A. Clear...
inductees included Flying Officers George Jones, Arthur Murphy, and RaymondBrownell. During the 1920s, De La Rue held a series of postings at RAAF Point...
Commodore RaymondBrownell, the head of Western Area Command, disagreed with Bostock's decision to station three squadrons at Exmouth Gulf. Brownell believed...
sending it crashing out of control. On 20 September 2nd Lieutenant Moody and Brownell each dived on a German Albatros and fired at it until it dived away, Smith...
pallbearers included Air Vice Marshal Henry Wrigley, Air Commodore RaymondBrownell, Group Captain Allan Walters, and Wing Commander Henry Winneke. Elwyn...
over control of the formation from Air Commodore RaymondBrownell in July 1945, following Brownell's departure to command No. 11 Group in the Dutch East...
Type C over Passchendaele with Second Lieutenants Emerson Smith and RaymondBrownell. On 13 November Moody drove down a Junkers J.I north-east of Comines...
of Australia 30 April – H.V. Evatt (died 1965), politician 17 May – RaymondBrownell (died 1974), WW1 flying ace 14 August – Frank Burge (died 1958), rugby...
Air Force recruiting. He was shown to the office of Squadron Leader RaymondBrownell, also a former Scotch College boy, who admitted him. Lerew undertook...
Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin...
opponent Peter C. Brownell although Brownell was able to take the Burlington police union's endorsement from Clavell. On March 3 Brownell unexpectedly defeated...
novelist The Book of Cold Cases, The Sun Down Motel, The Broken Girls Anna Brownell Jameson 1794 1860 Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada J. Robert...
Albert Van Antwerp Eva Gordon Alexis B. Luce Cinematography Hobort BrownellRaymond Johnson Production company Alaska Moving Pictures Corporation Distributed...
early years that lacked any support or contribution from Sonia Brownell. Sonia Brownell then commissioned Bernard Crick, a professor of politics at the...
Butler Work Huston Fess Sanders Fletcher Hamilton Martin Walsh Spangler Brownell Reece Scott Gabrielson Summerfield Roberts Hall Alcorn T. Morton Miller...