a new record for the fastest flight between New Zealand and Australia, completing the crossing between Auckland and Sydney in two hours and 49 minutes. On 31 December, Raw was awarded the Air Force Cross for his role in the London to Christchurch air race; the decoration was presented to him by Queen Elizabeth II at Brisbane on 10 March 1954. A September 1954 story in The Courier-Mail described Raw as a "shy young commander". After completing his term as commanding officer of No. 2 Squadron on 11 July 1955, Raw was posted to the UK to undertake training at the Royal Air Force Flying College. Upon his return to Australia in January 1956, he was promoted to wing commander and assigned a planning role at RAAF Headquarters in Melbourne. From December that year he was a liaison officer to the RAAF force supporting the British nuclear weapons tests in the Montebello Islands off the coast of Western Australia. Raw was posted to the Joint Planning staff in 1957. In this role, he was part of the Australian delegation to a SEATO military advisers' conference held in Canberra during March 1957. He and Dorothy divorced during 1958, and Raw subsequently married Helen Dorothy Hammond on 21 June that year at St Margaret's Presbyterian Church in Balaclava. This marriage produced another daughter and a son. In December 1960, Raw joined the directing staff of the RAAF Staff College in Canberra. In 1963 he became the first president of the amateur Canberra Astronomical Society. Later in 1963 he undertook further training at the United States Armed Forces Staff College, after which he became the assistant air attaché in the Australian Embassy in Washington, D.C. In February 1965 Raw assumed command of No. 82 Wing, which controlled all of the RAAF's bomber squadrons. He was raised to acting group captain at this time, and was confirmed in this rank in January the next year. Vietnam War In May 1966, Raw was posted to South Vietnam as the air support commander for the 1st Australian Task Force (1 ATF). This force was composed primarily of Australian Army units, and had recently arrived in the country as part of an expansion of Australia's commitment to the Vietnam War. Although he did not have any background in air/land warfare, Raw's main responsibility in this position was to co-ordinate helicopter support for the Task Force's two infantry