[1][2] Born in Queensland, McNamara joined the RAAF during World War II and saw action in the South West Pacific, flying P-40 Kittyhawks.

He was educated at Toogoolawah State School, and by the Christian Brothers in Warwick and at St. Joseph's Nudgee College.

[10] From 1951 to 1953, he served as an instructor at Central Flying School in East Sale, Victoria,[9] gaining promotion to squadron leader on 1 July 1952.

77 Squadron's role was primarily ground attack, using the Meteors' cannon augmented by newly fitted rocket armament.

2 OCU was responsible for training pilots to fly the CAC Sabre jet fighter, which was operated by Nos.

[15] His performance as commanding officer earned him the Air Force Cross in the 1961 Queen's Birthday Honours.

[2][9] Operating under the provisions of the SEATO agreement during the early years of the Vietnam War, the Australian contingent included No.

Although only fifty kilometres from the Laotian border and occasionally scrambled to intercept North Vietnamese fighters, the Sabres never saw action, in contrast to their USAF brethren also based at Ubon.

[17] Completing his tour in Thailand, McNamara served as air staff officer at RAAF Base Richmond, New South Wales, in 1967–68.

[3][21] 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.

[3][22] 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.

[27][28] 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".

[1][2] As CDFS, McNamara had to work to repair strained relations between the Defence Department's military and civilian components.

[3][32] 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.

[33] 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.