Australian Dictionary of Biography

Kenneth 'Black' Murray, c.1953

State Library of Victoria, H2002.199/4824

Kenneth James Murray (1925–1998), air force navigator and pilot, was born Lewis James Morgan on 1 June 1925 at St Leonards, Sydney, younger child of New South Wales-born parents Edward Lewis Morgan, tram conductor, and his wife Dorothy Maude, née Chapman. Ken attended Roseville Practice School and through a bursary North Sydney Boys’ High School (1938–42), where he attained his Leaving certificate, enjoyed swimming, water polo, and tennis, and was proficient at German, French, and Latin. While studying at Sydney Teachers’ College (January–May 1943), he enrolled in February as a cadet in No. 23 Squadron, Air Training Corps, Royal Australian Air Force Reserve, before enlisting in the Citizen Air Force, RAAF, on 17 June, as aircrew.

Trained as a navigator under the Empire Air Training Scheme, Morgan served (May–August 1944) with No. 38 (Transport) Squadron, which operated within and outside Australia in the South-West Pacific theatre from Richmond, New South Wales. He was demobilised with the temporary rank of warrant officer on 15 November 1945. After the war he was employed as a rural worker and played rugby league in central-western New South Wales and, under the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme, studied law at the University of Sydney (1946–47) but did not complete a degree. On 30 August 1949 he enlisted in the Permanent Air Force as a trainee pilot. In April 1950 he changed his name by deed poll to Kenneth James Murray, which he had been going by for more than a year. The change coincided with his being convicted on 13 April at Ballarat, Victoria, for being drunk in charge of a vehicle, for which he was fined £20 and had his licence suspended for twelve months. He completed pilot training at Point Cook, Victoria (1949–50), then in 1951 spent three months with No. 3 Squadron in Canberra before completing a jet conversion course on Vampire fighter aircraft at No. 78 Wing, Williamtown, New South Wales.

Murray left Australia in September 1951 to join No. 77 Squadron at Kimpo Air Base, Korea. He flew fighter sweeps on patrols as far north as the Yalu River, and cover for American bombing raids, for which he was awarded the United States of America’s Air Medal on 21 February 1952. After flying 195 missions, he was hospitalised for a month at Iwakuni, Japan, with glandular fever, and returned to Australia on 30 June 1952 for a two‑month recuperation. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal in July and promoted to flight sergeant on 22 August. On returning to Korea for a second tour on 11 September, he was involved mainly in rocket strikes. Appointed to a short service commission on 1 January 1953 with the rank of pilot officer, on completing his three-hundredth combat mission over Korea, he was granted permission to put on an air show: ‘they cleared the decks for him and all came out to watch as he cut the air to ribbons’ (Courier-Mail 1953, 1). He returned to Australia on 22 March 1953 having flown 333 missions, a record for United Nations aircrew in Korea, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

On 29 May 1953 Murray married Lois Joy Owens, a comptometrist, at St Andrew’s Anglican Church, Cronulla. He was subsequently posted to Trials Flight at the Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU), Laverton, Victoria, in September 1953, and immediately detached to the RAAF base at Woomera, South Australia. Promoted to flying officer in January 1954, he was posted to Farnborough, England, in January 1955 to undertake an Empire Test Pilots’ Course, before returning to Australia in January 1956. He was granted a permanent commission on 1 September 1955. Promoted to flight lieutenant in July 1956, he was awarded the Air Force Cross in January 1959.

Murray’s leadership potential saw him posted on exchange service with the Royal Canadian Air Force (1958–61), during which time he flew as a test pilot at the Central Experimental and Proving Establishment, Ontario. He earned high praise for his efforts in Canada, and in March 1961 returned to ARDU and was promoted to squadron leader the following January. Renowned for his skill and daring as a senior test pilot, he served at ARDU until January 1965.

A complex individual, Murray’s addiction to alcohol, which had probably been present throughout his RAAF career, became difficult to control toward the end of 1963. He received a formal warning in July 1968 for drinking on duty and was admitted to hospital for detoxification; another warning followed in March 1969. His misdemeanours affected his prospects for promotion, command roles, and representative postings overseas. Suspended from flying positions, he was posted to Joint Warfare Operations (Offensive Air Operations), Headquarters Operational Command, Penrith, New South Wales, where he was responsible for planning joint exercises. He completed a forward air controllers’ course at the Air Support Unit, Williamtown, and was deployed to Vietnam on 18 June 1969, where he flew two missions as a forward air controller, over Phan Rang and Vung Tau, before returning to his planning role.

Having been placed on the retired list on 2 December 1972 as medically unfit for further service, Murray worked as a clerk in the Department of Veterans’ Affairs in Brisbane until retiring on 28 May 1980. In his RAAF career, he contributed to the safe introduction of Australia’s earliest jet fighters, including the Gloster Meteor and the de Havilland Vampire. His reputation as an outstanding pilot and navigator, and his popularity with all ranks, might have seen him advance to senior command but for his struggles with alcohol. Survived by his wife and their sons Ross and Christopher, and predeceased by another son, Glenn, he died of pulmonary oedema and kidney failure in Brisbane on 5 November 1998 and was cremated.