Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/James Rowland (RAAF officer)

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Close as consensus to promote Woody (talk) 16:27, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

James Rowland (RAAF officer)

Nominator(s): Ian Rose (talk)

Yes, another Chief of the Air Staff ACR, and there's at least one more where this came from. It recently passed a GA review but, more importantly, did you know that this chap was the first CAS who:

• Joined the RAAF in World War II?
• Commanded the RAAF personally, rather than through a committee?
• Became Governor of New South Wales?

The other thing that made him unusual was that he’d spent the vast majority of his career in the RAAF’s engineering branch, rather than in general (i.e. flying) duties. Of course he'd been a decorated bomber and test pilot but he can still lay claim to being the first engineer to command the Air Force. He also had to transfer out the engineers and back into the pilot stream before becoming CAS. Ironically soon after the requirement for CAS to be a pilot was relaxed, though there’s never been a head of the RAAF who couldn’t fly, and there probably never will. C’est la vie for the fine engineering officers out there, tally-ho as usual for the scarf-and-goggles brigade... ;-) Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 11:20, 24 June 2011 (UTC)

Comments. As always, feel free to revert my copyediting. Please check the edit summaries. - Dank (push to talk)

• You're always careful, so I assume it sounds right to you, but in "Having earlier attended RAAF Staff College, Point Cook, and been promoted ...", "been" sounds wrong in AmEng. Also, some style guides generally advise against successive past perfects in a narrative, and of course there are a number of workarounds. YMMV.
  • Thanks mate. Actually I'm not particularly happy with this sentence either but I had no precise times for the college and the promotion, only that they happened after his marriage and before ARDU -- so I might just leave it for want of anything better until/unless I find some dates I can use to nix it up a bit. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 11:20, 29 June 2011 (UTC)
• In the following, "kerning" is needed per WP:MOS ({{" '}}, {{' "}}), and I can't figure out who he's quoting, or who's quoting him, or why:

believed the new arrangements led to "'paralysis and arrogation of decision making', and empire building in the Public Service component". Though known as a strong committee member who enjoyed a good argument, he "found that the sheer time involved in attending meetings made it very difficult for him to run the Air Force 'the way [he] wanted to'". - Dank (push to talk) 20:48, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

• Heh, I'm afraid the way I've put it is pretty well as it comes through in the sources, so I've attributed it to the overall author/editor of the works they come from to try and address your point. Thanks for stopping by! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 11:20, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

• Support - this looks ready to me, only very minor points from me:
  • no dabs, external links check out, and citation checker tool reveals no errors (no action required);
  • the Earwig tool reveals no copyright violations or close paraphrasing (see [1]) (no action required);
  • Images are all PD and appropriatly tagged as far as I can tell (no action required);
  • Some images lack alt text which you might consider adding (only a suggestion as its not a requirement under ACR);
  • "Rowland admitted that he didn't", should this be "did not" per WP:CONTRACTION?; and
  • minor inconsistency in presentation of isbns (mostly you don't use hyphens but for one you do). Anotherclown (talk) 08:13, 30 June 2011 (UTC)
    • Actioned all suggestions -- many tks for reviewing. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 09:09, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

• Support: not much for me to comment on really. I found one typo, which I've fixed myself, only one other issue/suggestion from me:
  • in the References, the Dennis et al work should possibly be presented as "1st edition", given that subsequent editions of the The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History have been produced. (Suggestion only). Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 14:09, 1 July 2011 (UTC)
    • Thanks Rupert. I got confused with the edition, first made notes on him from the 1995 one, but ended up using 2008 (no difference in the text, but looks better to use the latest version if possible I think and, yes, the pages number are correct for the 2008 edition)... Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 14:21, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

support. I always enjoy these, because the articles are good enough that little fixing is needed and these chaps always seem to have had such adrenaline-filled (or fuelled!) early careers. This is no exception. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 23:34, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

However:

• It would be nice to know where he was based with No. 635 Squadron (if it's available)
  • I'll see. If nothing explicitly connects him to a locale, I may be able to find a source that says where the sqn itself was based at his time of service, as a "context" bit.
• It would be fascinating to know more about why he was saved by the Luftwaffe pilots
  • This is an instance where a full-blown bio/autobio would be particularly useful but none appears to exist, and the sources for this unfortunately don't offer more detail.
    • A shame, but not much we can do about it. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 00:57, 2 July 2011 (UTC)
• The sentence about his marriage and daughter seems a little... abrupt.
  • I thought it was okay (I have no details on what location, church, etc) but welcome any suggestions for improvement....

—HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 23:34, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

• Thanks for that HJ. By the way, I notice the insertion of comma between surname and first postnom and I see now that this is the guideline; interesting because the convention I've previously been aware of in WP -- and have applied in every bio -- has been not to do that. I wonder if the guideline changed recently, or just that no-one cared/noticed before now... Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 00:01, 2 July 2011 (UTC)
  • I don't think it's changed within the last few months, but I don't pay too much attention. It doesn't make much difference really when the subject has lots of postnoms, but it was fresh in my mind from Dannatt. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 00:57, 2 July 2011 (UTC)