Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

01/07/1915

Date of Discharge

08/02/1920

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

02/01/1896

Place of Birth

Townsville, Queensland

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

School(s) Attended

Mundingburra State School, Townsville Grammar School

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

James and Alice Wackett (parents), Hermit Park, Townsville, Queensland

Final Rank

Major

Final Unit

Australian Flying Corps

Wackett entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon on 12 March 1913 and graduated on 28 June 1915. He transferred to the newly created Australian Flying Corps and qualified as a pilot in October 1915 and arrived in Egypt with No.1 Squadron in April 1916. There he was involved in reconnaissance and attacking the Turkish forces as well as being involved in air combat with enemy pilots. In January 1917 he was in charge of the overhaul and repair of Royal Flying Corps aircraft and his success in this role not only saw him promoted to Captain and mentioned in despatches, but he was also sent to the Aircraft Invention Depot in England.

He was transferred to No.3 Squadron and sent to France in June 1918 where he perfected a method of dropping ammunition to ground forces by parachute. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his work on 25 September 1918 when he "rendered conspicuous service in taking oblique photographs and supplying troops with ammunition". Flying at 1500 feet he obtained a complete series of oblique photographs of an area several miles behind enemy lines. Although his radiator was hit he succeeded in landing at an aerodrome where it was found that there were 80 bullet holes in his plane.

Wackett married married Letitia Wood at Cardiff, Wales in 1919 and after returning to Australia he pioneered the experimental testing of former RAF aircraft given to Australia and was responsible for the production in Australia of the Wirraway, Wackett and Boomerang aircraft. He headed the aircraft section of the Cockatoo Naval Dockyard from 1930-1934. In 1936 he managed the establishment of the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Pty Ltd at Fishermens Bend in Melbourne. Wackett was knighted in 1954 and retired in December 1960. A fall left him an incomplete quadriplegic in 1970 and he died in Sydney on 18 March 1982. Lawrence Wackett Crescent in Theodore is named after him.

Description - height 6 feet, weight 176 pounds, chest 37 inches.

Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
AWM First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
AWM Honours & Awards
AWM Collections Record : DAAV00011
F.M. Cutlack, 'Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18' (Vol. VIII, p37-39, 43-45, 48, 272n, 316, 328)
Sydney Mail - 16 January 1918