Australian officer was nominated to make the trip, and Jones avoided the disaster which killed 48 of the 54 passengers and crew. Returning to Australia in October 1930, Jones was made Chief Flying Instructor at Point Cook and Officer Commanding No. 1 FTS. He became Director of Training at RAAF Headquarters, Melbourne, in November 1931. On 2 April 1932, he was taking off from Mascot, New South Wales, in a de Havilland Moth when he struck the perimeter fence and crashed, resulting in major damage to the aircraft and injuries to himself and his passenger. His performance in the early 1930s was highly regarded by his superiors, regularly being assessed as "above average" or "exceptional". From late 1934 to early 1935, he collaborated with the Director of Equipment, George Mackinolty, on an investigation into the state of aircraft production in Australia to highlight shortfalls in local defence in the face of possible future conflict with Japan. Though the report was reviewed enthusiastically by the Air Member for Personnel, Bill Anderson, it apparently went no further in the chain of command and thus was effectively ignored. In January 1936, Jones was promoted to wing commander and appointed Director of Personnel Services. World War II Rise to Chief of the Air Staff Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, on 1 December 1939, Jones was raised to temporary group captain. In March 1940, he returned to the position of Director of Training and assumed responsibility for Australia's part in the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS), establishing many schools, acquiring hundreds of aircraft, and overseeing the training of thousands of airmen. The RAAF's Central Flying School was reformed in April 1940 to meet the vital requirement for more flying instructors, whose numbers would grow from 16 in the first year of the war to 3,600 by 1945. His performance in this role led to Jones being promoted to acting air commodore on 21 February 1941, and appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1942 New Year Honours for "diligence, devotion to duty and perseverance of outstanding merit". On 5 May 1942, Jones was appointed Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), the RAAF's senior position. He was considered an unlikely choice, a contemporary newspaper called him "the darkest of dark horses". Jones was still only a substantive wing commander and acting air commodore when he succeeded to the