Allan Murray Jones MC DFC (1895 - 1963)

Born 25 Feb 1895 in Caulfield, Victoria (Australia)

Died 8 Dec 1963 at age 68 in Double Bay, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Allan Murray Jones was born on 25th February 1895 in Caulfield, Victoria (Australia). He was the son of John Jones, a pharmacist from Wales, and his English-born wife Emily Gertrude, née McIsaac. ^[1] He preferred to be known as Murray Jones and was educated at Melbourne High School and then began study at the Melbourne College of Pharmacy.

Murray Jones MC DFC is a Military Veteran.
Served in the Australian Imperial Force 1914-1919
No.1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps; No.2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps

Jones joined the Victorian Cadet Corps as a Second Lieutenant in the 47th Battalion in June 1912 and just before the (First World) War interrupted his pharmacy course he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 46th Infantry Battalion, Australian Military Forces (AMF). He applied for training at the Central Flying School, Point Cook, Victoria, and received his Pilot's Certificate on 15 June 1915. On 1 July he was seconded to the Australian Flying Corps (AFC), Australian Imperial Force (AIF), as a Lieutenant. With Lieutenant (later Air Marshal Sir Richard) Dicky Williams he completed an advanced flying course in preparation for service in Mesopotamia. On 5 January 1916 Jones joined the No.1 Squadron AFC. ^[2]

He embarked from Melbourne on 16th March 1916 aboard the HMAT Orsova A67. ^[3] The squadron arrived in Egypt in April 1916 and between June 1916 and November 1917 Jones was constantly in action against German and Turkish forces in the Sinai Desert. In B.E. 2c, 2e, 12a and Martinsyde aircraft, he developed a reputation for flying prowess and daring and aggressive tactics. In 1916 he was mainly involved in desert reconnaissance and was promoted Captain and Flight Commander in December. In February 1917 he was in a bombing raid on Beersheba, destroying three German aircraft, and next month near Gaza took part in the squadron's first serious aerial combat. On 6 April while escorting a patrol after the 1st Battle of Gaza he fought off five enemy planes before his own machine was damaged and forced to land; although the Germans bombed his grounded aircraft he escaped unhurt. After an engagement with a German scout over Rafa in May he was again forced to land and this time was hospitalised in Cairo, Egypt where 'large pieces of petrol tank' were removed from his leg. He was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in April for 'carrying out a raid on a hostile aerodrome. He descended to a height of 500 feet (152 metres) under very heavy fire and destroyed two hangars'. ^[4][5] He was Mentioned in Despatches, equivalent to today's Commendation for Gallantry, for his Middle East service. ^[6]

Jones took over as commanding officer, No.2 Squadron AFC, in France in May 1918. 'If we had one officer outstandingly suited for such an appointment, it was Murray Jones', Williams recalled in his autobiography. Under Major Jones's inspired leadership the squadron emerged as one of the finest on the Western Front. It was equipped with S.E. 5a fighters, and was one of seven squadrons comprising the 80th Wing, Royal Air Force. Lieutenant-Colonel L. A. Strange, the officer commanding the wing, recorded in his Recollections of an Airman that Murray Jones was 'a quiet, unassuming fellow, but a most resolute leader … No.2, A.F.C., accounted for over 100 machines in one way or another in four months'. Jones was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in June 1918. ^[7] No.2 Squadron operated until the Armistice and Jones was again Mentioned in Despatches ^[8] and awarded a Bar to his DFC for service on 10 November when 'he led his whole squadron on a low bombing raid against an enemy railway station. Descending to 100 feet (30 metres) he remained at this low altitude till all his machines had completed the attack, though subject to heavy fire from machine-guns'. ^[9] He was officially credited with shooting down seven enemy aircraft.

Returning to Melbourne in May 1919, Jones was registered as a pharmacist on 14 April 1920.

On 9 March 1921 Murray married Phyllis Adelaide Brown in Christ Church Church of England (now Anglican Church), South Yarra. ^[10]

Murray Jones MC DFC is a Military Veteran.
Served in the Royal Australian Air Force 1921-1924

When invited by Williams, he gave up pharmacy and on 31 March was commissioned in the (Royal) Australian Air Force as a flight lieutenant and honorary squadron leader. In January 1922 he was appointed commanding officer, No.1 Station, R.A.A.F., Point Cook, a position he retained until he resigned his commission on 30 June 1924.

Murray was an orchardist

For the next five years he was an orchardist, then on 10 May 1929 joined the Department of Civil Aviation as superintendent of flying operations. 'He was an excellent pilot and able administrator', recalled Arthur Butler, adding that during Jones's term of office 'the greatest expression of flying activities, up to that date, occurred in Australia'.

Jones resigned from the department on 21 July 1931 to become general manager of de Havilland Australia Pty Ltd. Thirty-two years later he was still with the company, having progressed to chairman in 1953 and deputy chairman of Hawker de Havilland Australia Pty Ltd in 1960. 'Murray Jones firmed and widened greatly the de Havilland spheres of service to Australia, and made possible manufacturing developments which vitally helped our war effort, and added an important industrial echelon to our Air Arm', Norman Ellison commented in Aircraft, March 1957. ^[11]

Survived by his wife, son and two daughters, Jones died of cancer at his Double Bay home, Sydney, on 8 December 1963 and was cremated after an Anglican service. ^[12] His estate was valued for probate at £54,788.

Sir Hudson Fysh observed that 'If anyone lived a full life it was Allan Murray Jones and none of us will forget his infectious laugh with which he would preface the suggestion for a party or some dare, or some shrewd observation on a business topic. He was a kindly, friendly soul, a characteristic which cloaked shrewd judgement and efficiency'.

Sources

1. ↑ Victoria Birth Index #2097/1895
2. ↑ Australian War Memorial nominal roll: Major Allan Murray Jones; accessed 5 Oct 2022
3. ↑ Australian War Memorial embarkation roll: Lieutenant Allan Murray Jones; accessed 5 Oct 2022
4. ↑ Australian Honours: MC; accessed 7 Oct 2022
5. ↑ Australian War Memorial honours and awards: MC; accessed 7 Apr 2022
6. ↑ Australian War Memorial honours and awards: Mention in Despatches; accessed 7 Apr 2022
7. ↑ Australian War Memorial honours and awards: DFC; accessed 7 Apr 2022
8. ↑ Australian War Memorial honours and awards: Mention in Despatches; accessed 7 Apr 2022
9. ↑ Australian War Memorial honours and awards: Bar to DFC; accessed 7 Apr 2022
10. ↑ Victoria Marriage Index #829/1921
11. ↑ Aircraft (Melbourne), Mar 1957, Jan 1964
12. ↑ New South Wales Death Index #30432/1963

See also

• Butler, C A. Flying Start (Syd, 1971)
• King Cole. Merry Old Souls (manuscript, privately held)
• Cutlack, F M. The Australian Flying Corps: in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War, 1914-1918 (Syd, 1923)
• Fysh, Wilmot Hudson. Qantas Rising: The Autobiography of the Flying Fysh. Angus & Robertson, Sydney, New South Wales, 1965. Re-published by Pictorial Press Australia, Corinda Queensland, 2009. ISBN 978 1 876561 53 6.
• Isaacs, Keith. Jones, Allan Murray (1895–1963), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1983; accessed online 5 Oct 2022.
• Isaacs, Keith. Military Aircraft of Australia, 1909-1918 (Canb, 1971)
• Strange, L A. Recollections of an Airman (Lond, 1933)
• Sutherland, L W and Ellison, N. Aces and Kings (Syd, 1935)
• Reveille (Sydney), Nov 1934, Feb 1938