 After a spell in civilian life following the war , Malley joined the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) in 1925 , serving with No. 3 Squadron . He became an aviation adviser to China in 1931 , and worked closely with Madame Chiang Kai @-@ shek , Soong Mei @-@ ling , from 1937 . Malley was able to observe air tactics in the Sino @-@ Japanese War at first hand , though his reports were given little weight in Australia . Returning home in 1940 , he served in intelligence roles with the RAAF and later the Commonwealth government . After the war he bought a plantation in Fiji , where he died in 1961 . 
