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Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Thomas White (Australian politician)

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The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Article promoted by Cinderella157 (talk) via MilHistBot (talk) 08:30, 21 April 2018 (UTC) « Return to A-Class review list[reply]

Thomas White (Australian politician) edit

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Nominator(s): Ian Rose (talk)

Thomas White (Australian politician) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

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Tommy White had a remarkable career. He was one of the first military pilots trained in Australia and saw action in World War I in the Mesopotamian campaign, during which he was captured but escaped three years later. He then became a Federal parliamentarian, resigned on the eve of World War II, and served in the RAAF before getting his second bite of the political cherry as Minister for Air in Bob Menzies' Liberal government. I took this through GAN a couple of years ago but always felt it was pretty close to A-Class standard, so have recently added some further detail to produce what I think is a comprehensive but pacy account of his life. Tks in advance for your comments! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 12:37, 27 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Support: G'day, Ian, nice work. I have the following comments/suggestions: AustralianRupert (talk) 07:42, 29 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

  • there are no dab links (no action required)
  • there are a couple of duplicate links in the lead, but in the context they are used, they seem ok to me (no action required)
  • the images look correctly licensed to me (no action required)
  • one ext link appears to be dead per [1]
    • Just goes to show -- that one worked a week ago when I checked it prior to nominating here... Anyway, fixed and tks for picking it up.
  • despite the opposition of some of the Deakin family: do we know why they objected?
    • Double-checked ADB entries for White, his wife, and Herbert Brookes but none go into the reasons.
      • No worries, thanks for looking. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 11:22, 30 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
        • Follow-up: checking elsewhere in White's ADB entry, I was able to add something on his and Brookes' contrasting views, which might have something to do with it... Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 13:47, 1 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • surreptitiously flew on several sorties as a second-pilot: were these combat missions? If so, do we know anything more about these?
    • Neither Hansard nor ADB give details but the introductory notes to his papers held at NLA indicate bombing missions over the Ruhr; I've been tempted to use these notes for some details such as this but since, though attributable to the NLA, they're presumably based on the content of his papers, can they be considered an impartial source?
      • No worries, fair call with this source. I've certainly heard stories about other station commanders flying operations in similar circumstances (sometimes even as air gunners!), so it is definitely plausible that they were combat missions, but I can understand why you are wary of using this as a source. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 11:22, 30 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • discharge as an honorary group captain in October 1944: do we know why he was discharged?
    • Again, no detail I've found except in the notes to his papers at NLA (where it says "medical grounds") -- same query/caveat as above.
      • Follow-up: while trawling Trove to action PM's suggestions, I did find a newspaper reference to "medical grounds" and have added/cited it. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 13:47, 1 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Campbell-Wright appears in the citations, but not in the References
    • Oops -- tks!

Appreciate you taking a look, Rupert! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 10:30, 30 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

CommentsSupport by PM

  • suggest linking commissioned to Officer (armed forces)
    • Done.
  • suggest "who included Richard Williams, a future Chief of the Air Staff." The (Sir) seems incongruous to me at this point, but it's not a warstopper.
  • suggest linking Telegraphy, as not everyone knows what telegraph was/is these days
    • Good point -- done.
  • any info on the reason he was awarded the DFC? Citation?
    • There doesn't seem to be any info on this in the Gazette, or at AWM, or that I can find in Trove.
  • did he finish the war as a captain? Also, CMF service between 1920 and 1926?
    • I assume he finished a captain because I've seen nothing on a subsequent promotion; nothing seemed to pop up on a search in Trove for CMF activity 1920-26.
  • given he was a politician, a bit more on his electoral successes and defeats would be good, eg the margin he lost by in 1925, won Balaclava by in 1929 etc? There is no information on later elections. Also, any factors that helped those results? What faction was he in, if any?
    • I've added all his Federal election results and notable opponents; aside from the snippet about his being more a small business supporter than a big business one, and the fact that he managed to get a Liberal portfolio despite there being no love lost with Menzies, I don't think I have anything to add re. possible factions.

That's me done, the political information is really the area I think needs some work. In all other respects a very tidy article. Cheers, Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 00:22, 31 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Tks for reviewing PM! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 13:47, 1 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
No prob. A pleasure. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 23:09, 1 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Comments Support This has already had a good going over by AR and PM above, so I really only have a few points:

  • Suggestion only: The Parliamentary career and Second World War section is quite big so I suggest breaking the Second World War content into its own section, and combine his postwar career with the Later life section.
    • Tks, I have considered subdividing one or two sections since expanding the article recently -- see what you think of my take on it...
  • Infobox: there is no reference to the Citizens Air Force
  • In combination with the above, in the article body there seems to be no transition between the CAF and RAAF (and did his medical discharge apply to both RAAF/CAF?)
    • Good point(s), I've added something to make clearer the relationship between the RAAF and the CAF.
      • P.S. I've now made it CAF in the ibox for consistency with CMF. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 02:01, 14 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • "By May 1943, the Australian and New Zealand contingent at Bournemouth...": I feel the reference to the NZ contingent is not necessary since the reader doesn't know they were even there.
    • Yes, that makes sense.

That's it for me. Zawed (talk) 06:16, 13 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Tks for taking a look Zawed! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 14:58, 13 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Ian Rose: your changes look good, so have added my support. Cheers, Zawed (talk) 06:27, 14 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
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