 Air Vice Marshal George John William Mackinolty , OBE ( 24 March 1895 – 24 February 1951 ) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) . Commencing his service in the Australian Flying Corps ( AFC ) as a mechanic during World War I , he rose to become the RAAF 's chief logistics officer for more than twenty years . Mackinolty was born in Victoria and joined the AFC in 1914 . He first saw active duty the following year in the Middle East with No. 30 Squadron Royal Flying Corps ( formerly the Mesopotamian Half Flight ) . In 1916 he was mentioned in despatches and posted to No. 2 Squadron AFC . By the end of the war he had been commissioned a second lieutenant . 
