William Bostock - Inter-war Years

Inter-war Years

Bostock married his Australian fiancée, Gwendolen Norton, in Southampton on 6 March 1919. The couple had two daughters, one of whom, Gwendolen Joan, would serve as a cipher officer in the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) during World War II. Bostock retired from the RAF and returned to civilian life in Australia that October. In September 1921, he joined the recently formed Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and was commissioned a flying officer. He became a friend and mentor to Flying Officer (later Air Marshal Sir) George Jones, another World War I veteran, who had flown with the Australian Flying Corps and had joined the Air Force in March. By mid-1922 Bostock had been promoted to flight lieutenant.

Having served at No. 1 Flying Training School (No. 1 FTS), Point Cook, since entering the RAAF, Bostock was posted to Britain in 1926 to attend RAF Staff College, Andover. While there he was admonished by the college's commandant, via letter, due to the particular school he had chosen for his daughter and because he did his own gardening; Bostock was said to have returned the letter marked "noted and ignored". On his return to Australia as a squadron leader in 1928, he took charge of No. 1 FTS, and became Director of Training at RAAF Headquarters, Melbourne, in December 1929. From 1931 to 1936 Bostock was commanding officer (CO) of No. 3 Squadron, flying Westland Wapitis and, later, Hawker Demons. At the time, his position as No. 3 Squadron commander doubled as CO of the unit's base, RAAF Station Richmond, New South Wales. A wing commander from 1934, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the King's Birthday Honours on 31 May 1935. Following a two-year posting in Britain on the staff of No. 1 Bomber Group, Bostock was promoted to group captain on 1 September 1938 and made Director of Operations and Intelligence. Within a year he had become Deputy Chief of the Air Staff.