 On 30 January 1961 , <unk> joined the staff of Operational Command ( <unk> ) , the successor organisation to Home Command , responsible for the direction of RAAF operational units . He took over as Air Officer Commanding ( AOC ) <unk> from Air Vice Marshal <unk> Hancock in April . <unk> was promoted to air vice marshal on 29 May . On 17 July 1962 , he was posted to RAAF Base <unk> , Malaya , and took up the appointment of AOC No. 224 Group RAF in Singapore one week later . He was succeeded as AOC <unk> by Air Vice Marshal <unk> Murdoch . As AOC No. 224 Group , <unk> had overall responsibility for regional air defence and offensive air operations during the <unk> Rebellion in December 1962 , and the subsequent <unk> between Indonesia and Malaysia that officially began the following month . <unk> from his first wife in 1956 , he married widowed social worker Vernon Spence at the Sydney registry office on 20 January 1964 . He handed over No. 224 Group to Air Vice Marshal Christopher <unk> @-@ Norris on 30 November . 
