From Camels to Cats: Experimenting with Medicine in the Australian Flying Corps

As a nascent air force, the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) relied largely upon other services for medical evaluation of its personnel. In 1918, however, the AFC experimented with a dedicated medical board to gauge the suitability of recruits and convalescents as aircrew. This article examines the formation of the AFC’s Medical Board, which was paired with another innovation: laboratory research. Conducted by the board’s head, Charles Kellaway, animal studies into anoxaemia were intended to provide a means of determining suitability of aviators for high-altitude flight. In matching data derived from cats with front-line service conditions, Kellaway sought to enshrine a particular type of ‘steady’ man to conquer the novel realm of airspace.