Australian Dictionary of Biography

Roy Goon, 1934

Supplied by Goon family

Roy Francis Goon (1913-1999), aviator, was born on 22 September 1913 at Ballarat East, Victoria, third of eight children of Frank Shum Fook Goon, a herbalist born at Guangzhou, China, who emigrated to Australia in 1896, and his Victorian-born wife Ada Elizabeth, née Mah Look. At the age of ten, Roy reportedly was deeply impressed by a joy flight provided by a local aviator.

After attending Ballarat College (1919–31) followed by training in art, in 1933 Goon began work as a commercial artist in Melbourne. As a result of a job promoting the Australian Aero Club, Victorian Section (from 1935 the Royal Victorian Aero Club, commonly called the ‘Royal Vic’), at the age of twenty he decided to learn to fly. He was soon known as an outstanding pilot of light aircraft, ‘one of the best in the country … [who] … could do anything with them’ (Piper 1989). On 7 May 1934 he married Ballarat-born Maudine Harriet Stanley at the Methodist parsonage, Flemington, Melbourne; they were to have four children—Patricia (1935), Janette 1937), Colin (1950), and Christopher (1955).

In 1935 Goon commenced his professional career in aviation when he started as a part-time instructor at the Royal Vic. He relocated to Hong Kong late that year where he flew some charter flights, and appears to have crossed the border to help Chinese forces oppose growing Japanese aggression. Although details are sketchy, he probably served as a fighter pilot and instructor. In August 1936 he returned to Australia and subsequently resumed at the Royal Vic as an instructor, working at airfields across Victoria.

With the outbreak of World War II, Goon took a civilian position at Essendon airport training pilots for the Royal Australian Air Force. He applied to join the RAAF, recalling later that he ‘was intent on defending Australia’ and ‘didn’t feel other than British-Australian’ (Loh 1989, 60), yet was twice rejected due to the Defence Act excluding individuals substantially not of European origin or descent. At Essendon he met James Fairbairn, minister for air, and explained that he was thinking of returning to Hong Kong to join the war effort. Fairbairn promptly intervened on his behalf, and on 22 July 1940 Goon became the first Chinese Australian commissioned into the RAAF. Five of his siblings also served with Australian forces during World War II: while the colour bar enlistment restrictions remained in force, they were relaxed in a number of cases.

Goon began his RAAF service instructing with No. 3 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) at Essendon, and was promoted to flying officer in August 1940. From January 1941 he served successively with No. 9 EFTS at Cunderdin, Western Australia, the Central Flying School at Camden, New South Wales, and No. 11 EFTS at Benalla, Victoria. He trained hundreds of pilots, including the well-known Melbourne footballer Keith ‘Bluey’ Truscott. In January 1942 he was promoted to temporary flight lieutenant.

Anxious to switch to operational flying, in May 1942 Goon was posted to No. 34 Squadron in the Northern Territory, a transport unit. Two months later he was assigned to No. 24 Squadron, but he stated in a postwar interview that in Townsville while awaiting his new posting he informally attached himself to a United States Army Air Forces bomber unit whose members said they had been expecting him. The missions he recollected having flown in New Guinea with his new colleagues convinced him that he preferred serving with Australians. After formally joining No. 24 Squadron he flew coastal patrols from Bankstown, Sydney, and served as a controller of fighter operations, followed by a posting in January 1943 to No. 2 Operational Training Unit at Mildura, Victoria.

From April 1943 Goon flew with No. 85 Squadron from Exmouth Gulf and Guildford, Western Australia, including some of the first operational sorties to use the Australian-made Boomerang fighter. Promoted to temporary squadron leader in August 1943, and, amidst press interest concerning the ‘Australian-born Chinese who has fought against the Japanese in China and New Guinea’ (Herald 1943, 3), from January 1944 he commanded No. 83 Squadron. This Boomerang fighter unit flew out of Gove, Northern Territory, protecting Allied shipping, and in May 1945 he was mentioned in despatches for ‘conspicuous leadership and devotion to duty’ (NAA A9300). In February 1945 at Sandgate, Queensland, he took command of the new ground-based No. 111 Mobile Fighter Control Unit, that used radar to guide patrolling fighters. The unit moved to Morotai in May, and the following month took part in the landing on Labuan. He remained with No. 111 until the end of the war, after which his request to join the occupation forces in Japan was denied because, as he recalled, ‘the Air Board did not consider it diplomatic’ (Loh 1989, 64). Goon at once sought to be demobilised, granted in October 1945.

After the war Goon pursued a varied but distinguished career in Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia flying for commercial and survey airline companies including Gulf Aviation Services, and Brown and Dureau. He also flew with the Royal Flying Doctor Service as a contractor. In April 1958 he became chief test pilot with the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, starting with testing the Ceres crop duster. He continued to train commercial pilot cadets, taught both his sons to fly, and in the 1970s worked at the Royal Vic as chief flying instructor. His many awards included the Aviation Clubman of the Year trophy in 1978.

Goon always saw the potential in people: one of his subordinates recalled that ‘you couldn’t but like the man’ (McDonell 2004). He was gentle and unassuming, played the ukulele, grew orchids, and frequently brought home stray or injured animals. An aviator well into his seventies, flying remained his passion and work. Maud died in 1985. Goon enjoyed good health until his mid-eighties, but died on 15 November 1999 at a nursing home in Frankston, Victoria, and was cremated, survived by Janette, Colin, and Christopher. Goon Moor in southern Tasmania’s Arthur Range was named in recognition of his air drops to survey teams.