 McNamara was promoted to air marshal and became Chief of the Air Staff ( CAS ) in March 1979 . He succeeded Air Marshal Sir James Rowland , who had been the first CAS to personally command the RAAF in a legal sense , following the abolition of the Australian Air Board in 1976 . Previously , the CAS position was more akin to a chairman , " first among equals " with the other members of the Air Board . Under this earlier arrangement , McNamara considered that some senior commanders tended to behave like " regional war lords " who thought that the CAS existed purely to handle politicians and paperwork , while they ( the commanders ) got on with the Air Force 's " real work " . As CAS , McNamara put in train development of new strategies for the air defence of Australia , later remarking that " capability must be matched by ideas " . He also supervised the selection process that chose the F / A @-@ 18 Hornet to the replace the RAAF 's Mirage III fighters . McNamara personally favoured the F / A @-@ 18 due to its multi @-@ role capability . Appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( KBE ) on 31 December 1980 , he was the last CAS to be knighted before Australia abandoned the imperial honours system . 
