Royal Australian Artillery Historical Company
ENewsletter Edition No 7

December 2013

AIRBURST

In This Issue

Did You Know?

Gunners Fire First Shot

Thor's Hammer Strikes

2014 National Gunner Dinner

53 Bty WW2 Flag

Featured Article

Webmaster's Update

Have you held the position of a Commanding Officer, Regimental Sergeant-Major or Master Gunner? Then the Webmaster's contribution in this issue is of great importance to you!

Quick Links

RAAHC Website

Meet the Directors

Membership

Are you a member of the Royal Australian Artillery Historical Company? If not then visit our website, view membership details and benefits and join us today!

Memorial Walk Pavers

Become a part of history by purchsing your Australia's Memorial Walk paver today. For more informaion view website.

Army Newspaper

Australian Army Journal

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Publicise Your Upcoming Event

Are you a member of an Artillery association? Does your association have an upcoming event? Want to publicise it to a wider audience for free? Contact the Editor for further details.

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Dear Gunners (Readers) -

WELCOME TO AIRBURST NO 7 2013,

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours. There was so much going on in the Gunner world we had to burst into print for the last time in 2013.

The RAAHC Board met on 14 December and among other weighty matters it was able to accept the kind offer of LT COL Jason Cooke to join as a Director. A short bio on Jason is shown in "Meet the Directors".

Jason had wasted no time in getting involved as he agreed to attend the Museum Advisory Committee (MAC) for the temporary artillery museum held at Puckapunyal on 12 December.

The temporary museum will be housed in less than appealing facilities at the Armoured Museum. Efforts are also being made to recruit some ARes staff so if you are interested or know somebody in Victoria who may be interested please let the RAAHC Secretary know.

A limited Regimental Conference was also held at the School of Artillery in November. Funding restrictions precluded a full conference but hopefully a full conference will be held in November 2014.

The ANZAC Memorial Gun Project is up and running with a management team put in place and fund raising about to accelerate. There must be thousands of Gunners out there , serving and retired, who can contribute a TAX FREE donation to get this exciting project to the finish post. Watch the newsletter for reports on progress.

Finally from the Board and all our volunteers a very merry Christmas and a great 2014 to all members, Gunners and their families. Stay safe.

Ubique,

Ian Ahearn
Deputy Chair
RAAHC

Did You Know?

Did You Know: The Regimental badge worn by Gunner commissioned officers and warrant officers class one, has an additional wheel on the badge's gun (often referred to as the 'spinning wheel'). A majority of the British Army corps/regiments have two different cap/beret badge designs; this is to identify the wearer's 'rank classification' (ie. a commissioned officer/WO 1 as opposed to an 'other rank') and this tradition was adopted by the Australian Gunners. The Royal Australian Artillery is the only Australian Army corps/regiment to have two separate cap badges.

Gunners Around the Nation
Newsletters from Other Associations

A Field Battery Association - November Newsletter

131 Locators Association - November Newsletter

RAA Association S.A. - November Newsletter

12 Field Regiment (Vietnam) Association - Information Bulletin No 19

Historians Attempt to Find WW1's First Shot Deep in Australian Waters

The ABC News website has an excellent article that explore historians attempt to find WW1's first shot deep in Australian waters quote "As the nation marks Remembrance Day, historians say Australian gunners were the ones who fired the first shell at a German ship." unquote.

Thor's Hammer Strikes
Army Newspaper Article

The latest edition of the Army Newspaper has an article worthy of every Gunner's attention titled "Thor's Hammer Strikes". The article highlights the "Gunners from Darwin's 101 Battery, 8/12 Medium Regiment have put their construction and design skills to the test on exercise Thor's Hammer restoring the ancestral home of the Royal Australian Artillery at Manly's North Head in NSW.

This article is well worth the read and may be accessed by using the link to the Army Newspaper in the left hand column of Airburst then turning to Page 23.

Australian Artillery Association

2014 National Gunner Dinner

The Australian Artillery Association is holding a 2014 National Gunner Dinner on the 23 August 2014 at The Event Centre in Caloundra. The day will commence with a Military Concert performed by the Sunshine Coast Symphony Orchestra followed by the Gunner Dinner.

For full details visit the Australian Artillery Association's 2014 National Gunner Dinner webpage.

View the list of Registered Attendees which at present exceeds 290 and includes overseas attendees from the UK, USA, NZ and Thailand. Additionally we also have a WW2 Veteran of 551 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment registered to attend.

Presentation of WW 2 53 Bty Flag

Representative Colonel Comdt presents the flag to BC 53 Bty

The School of Artillery at Puckapunyal was the venue for a short ceremony conducted by the Representative Colonel Commandant, Brigadier A. G. Warner, AM LVO on Thursday, 28th November 2013.

On behalf of the RAA Historical Society WA, Brigadier Warner presented the World War 2 Flag of 53 Battery, 2/3rd Field Regiment RAA to 53 Battery RAA, the Depot Battery at the School.

Lieutenant Colonel David Edwards, the Commanding Officer and Chief Instructor of the School, addressed the assembled Battery and introduced Brigadier Warner to make the presentation to the outgoing Battery Commander, Major Derek Freeman and the incoming Battery Commander Captain Christopher Sandner. The Flag was accepted enthusiastically by all.

Also present on the occasion were the RSM School of Artillery and Colonels Commandant Eastern Region, Southern Region and South Australia/Tasmania.

The Flag was originally presented to 3 Field Regiment RAA (CMF) with the WW2 Regimental Flag of 2/3rd Field Regiment RAA by Ex Members of the Regiment in 1950. It was transferred to the Society for safe keeping in 1988. Because of current display restrictions the Society approved the donation to the Depot Battery as a fitting repository for this historic artifact.