The Empire Air Training Scheme: Identity, Empire and Memory

identity. Scholars have established that by 1939 the Australian cultural heritage hadalready developed the concepts of masculinity, hardihood, courage, andresourcefulness from the Australian bushman. 29 In the broader context the linksbetween masculinity and war have been well documented defining two areas ofinfluence. First, the concept of masculinity was traditionally linked to the site ofmilitary action where manliness could be attained through the glory of war. 30 Secondwas the heroic sense of responsibility linking the state and the individual in the duty toserve. Graham Dawson has defined the cultural link between masculinity and war inSoldier Heroes. Masculinities are lived out in the flesh but fashioned in theimagination, with the most durable form of idealized masculinity the soldier hero, ishis theme. 31 George Mosse provided further support in applying theories of masculinedominance directly to the emergence of the aviator hero. 32 He was one to recognize,that while the warrior was the dominant male, the airman was seen as the elite. 33The duty to serve had long been embedded in concepts of masculinity, findingits origin in the code of chivalry. 34 Duty to serve was part of the Australian culturalscene. 35 Part of every child’s daily mantra in Australian schools included, ‘I honour the29 Marilyn Lake, ‘Mission Impossible. How men gave birth to the Nation. Nationalism, Gender andother Seminal Acts.’ Gender and History 4. 1992. Marilyn Lake and Joy Damousi, eds. Gender andWar: Australians at war in the twentieth Century Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1995, 11.30 Graham Dawson, in Soldier Heroes: British Adventure, Empire and the imaginings of masculinitiesLondon: Routledge, 1994, has covered the construction of masculinity as it centres around the glory ofwar and the attainment of heroism as an ideal.31 Graeme Dawson, Soldier Heroes, 2-3.32 George Mosse, The Image of Man New York: Oxford University Press 1996. Mosse linksmasculinity to nationalism, and image of the masculine body.33 See Michael Paris who has identified the elitism of the aviator warrior in, The Wright Brothers toTop Gun: Aviation nationalism and popular cinema Manchester: Manchester University Press 1995.and ‘The Rise of Airmen: The origins of Air Force Elitism 1890-1918,’ Journal of ContemporaryHistory, 28, 1, 1993, 123-141.34 Allen Frantzen, Bloody Good: chivalry, sacrifice and the Great War Chicago: University of ChicagoPress 2004, 121. Also books such as Kenelm Digby’s, The Broad Stone of Honour. The True Sense andPractice of Chivalry London: Booker published 1823 as a ‘book of rules for the gentlemen ofEngland,’ traced the history of chivalric heroes who sacrificed for their country, outlining their sense ofduty, loyalty, obedience, devotion and honour with a romantic longing for these values to be returnedto the youth of England. He concluded, ‘chivalry reminds us why there is war: … because ideas andtraditions can be worth dying for—and worth killing for.’35 One example was Baden Powel’s Scout movement, Young Knights of the Empire. With the mottoTraining scouts for manhood, it was established in Australia in 1908 and promoted the spirit of selfdiscipline, self regulation sense of honour, helpfulness to others, loyalty and patriotism which go tomaking good character.9