 Anderson handed over command of Eastern Area to Air Commodore John Summers in July 1943 . Group Captain Alister Murdoch became senior air staff officer ( SASO ) . On 22 October , Avro Lancaster Q @-@ for @-@ Queenie , piloted by Flight Lieutenant Peter Isaacson , " buzzed " the Eastern Area headquarters building in Edgecliff before flying under the Sydney Harbour Bridge , flouting regulations and becoming the largest aircraft to pull such a stunt . The same month , the Air Board proposed carving a new area command out of Eastern Area , which by then was considered too large to be controlled by one headquarters and therefore ripe for division . The new command , to be known as Central Area , would have been responsible for training and operational units in southern Queensland ; the War Cabinet deferred its decision on the proposal . The concept was raised again in August 1944 , and this time Central Area Command was to control maintenance units , as well as training and operations , in southern Queensland ; once again , nothing came of the proposal . 
