RAAF No.78 Kittyhawk Fighter Squadron

F/Sgt Len Waters Australia's 1st and only Aboriginal pilot

"Also joining 78 Squadron was F/Sgt Len Waters who was Australia's only Aboriginal fighter pilot and in fact our only aboriginal pilot. He joined the RAAF just a couple of months after his 18th birthday as ground crew and when the opportunity arose to remuster as aircrew he jumped at the chance. He was awarded his flying badge at 5 SFTS Uranquinty on 1st July 1944 . On completing his operational training at Mildura he was posted north."

excerpt from " This Smuttee Squadron " by Gordon Clarke

Leonard Victor (Len) Waters (June 29, 1924 – August 24, 1993) was the first Australian Aboriginal military pilot and was one of only four indigenous people to serve in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. Aboriginal people at the time suffered significant discrimination and disadvantages in Australian society, such as restrictions on movement, residence, employment, access to services and citizenship.he was born at Euraba Mission, near Boomi, New South Wales. He grew up at Nindigully, Queensland, near St George, and is said to have admired pioneering aviators Charles Kingsford-Smith and Amy Johnson, from an early age.

On November 14, 1944, he was posted to No. 78 Squadron, a fighter unit based on Noemfoor, an island off Dutch New Guinea (West Papua). When he arrived, he was allocated a P-40 Kittyhawk. By chance, a previous pilot had nicknamed the plane "Black Magic" and painted those words on its nose As is the case with other people of colour, Australian Aborigines are sometimes referred to as being "black". Waters found the name of his plane an amusing coincidence and chose to retain it.Waters' Kittyhawk, "Black Magic".
Len flew 95 sorties, from Noemfoor and later from the air bases at Morotai and Tarakan, in Borneo.On January 1, 1945 he was promoted to Flight Sergeant. By the end of the war, Waters was commanding operations which included commissioned officers.

Waters also held the RAAF middleweight boxing title. He left the air force with the rank of Warrant Officer, on January 18, 1946.
.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Waters

Australian Postage Stamp honouring Fl. Sgt Len Waters

Lest we Forget