Rise to senior command After the war, McNamara was stationed in Japan with
No. 82 Squadron, as part of the
British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF). He was promoted to temporary
flight lieutenant on 1 May 1946, and received a short-service commission in the Permanent Air Force on 23 September 1948, with the rank of flight lieutenant. In 1949 he was posted to
Headquarters North-Eastern Area for
air traffic control work. On 1 September 1950, McNamara was granted a permanent commission in the RAAF. From 1951 to 1953, he served as an instructor at
Central Flying School in
East Sale, Victoria, He then saw operational service in the
Korean War as the Executive Officer of
No. 77 Squadron, flying
Gloster Meteors. McNamara briefly took charge of the unit in November–December 1953 when there was a hiatus between commanding officers rotating out and rotating in. camp,
Panmunjom, September 1953|alt=Two seated men in conversation, one clean-shaven and wearing light-coloured military uniform with peaked cap, the other bearded and wearing dark overalls and cap Returning to Australia in 1954, McNamara was posted to
Headquarters Training Command as pilot training officer. In 1955–56 he served as staff officer fighter operations at the
Department of Air, before undertaking training at
RAAF Staff College. He was Commanding Officer
No. 25 Squadron at
Pearce, Western Australia, in 1957–58, He took charge of
No. 2 Operational Conversion Unit (No. 2 OCU) at
RAAF Base Williamtown, New South Wales, in 1959. His performance as commanding officer earned him the
Air Force Cross in the 1961
Queen's Birthday Honours. In 1960, McNamara was posted to the UK to attend the
Joint Services Staff College. The following year he became CO and senior air staff officer of the RAAF Staff in London. Completing his tour in Thailand, McNamara served as air staff officer at
RAAF Base Richmond, New South Wales, in 1967–68. His next appointment was as Director General Organisation at the Department of Air. McNamara became the last Commander RAAF Forces Vietnam and Deputy Commander Australian Force Vietnam (AFV) that month. Believing that the Air Force paid "lip service" to its army co-operation responsibilities in the 1950s and 1960s, he familiarised himself with the finer points of air/ground operations by accompanying
No. 9 Squadron helicopters on missions supporting
1st Australian Task Force in
Phuoc Tuy Province. Given the responsibility of overseeing the withdrawal of the RAAF from Vietnam in 1972, McNamara was praised for his "wise and patient counsel, devotion to duty and firm control", leading to his appointment as a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire in September that year. He had been promoted to substantive air commodore on 1 January. In 1973, he was posted to the United States as the Australian Air Attache to Washington, D.C. he returned to Australia that year and took up duties as the
Deputy Chief of Air Staff, which he later described as "an invaluable learning experience for the top job". McNamara was promoted to
air marshal and became
Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) in March 1979. As CAS, McNamara put in train development of new strategies for the air defence of Australia, later remarking that "capability must be matched by ideas". He also supervised the selection process that chose the
F/A-18 Hornet to the replace the RAAF's
Mirage III fighters. McNamara personally favoured the F/A-18 due to its multi-role capability. Appointed a
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) on 31 December 1980, he was the last CAS to be knighted before Australia abandoned the imperial honours system. The military and public service wings of the department still clashed over the question of enlarging the CDFS's role to achieve more coherent defence planning. Shortly after McNamara completed his term as CDFS in 1984, the position was redesignated Chief of the Defence Force (CDF), to more clearly reflect its authority over the Australian armed services. ==Retirement==