He became a test pilot, serving with and later commanding the Aircraft Research and Development Unit in the 1950s, and also a senior engineering officer, being closely involved in preparations for delivery to Australia of the Dassault Mirage III supersonic fighter in the 1960s.

[10] He was commissioned as a pilot officer in July and posted to Britain, where he converted to Handley Page Halifax and Avro Lancaster heavy bombers.

[9][11] As a master bomber, his role was to arrive ahead of the main Allied force, check that flares marking the target were in place, and warn his fellows if they were bombing inaccurately.

635 Squadron operated Lancasters, a type that, Rowland recalled, "would forgive sprog pilots doing the most outrageous things to it, and would even bring them home with quite large bits shot off it".

Nursing his plane back to base, he was recommended for the Distinguished Flying Cross in recognition of his "great determination and devotion to duty"; the award was promulgated in the London Gazette on 16 February 1945.

Returning to Australia, he resumed his studies at the University of Sydney and completed his degree, before rejoining the RAAF as a member of its newly formed Technical Branch in 1947.

[4] Rowland led trial programs that involved many of the Air Force's early jets such as the Gloster Meteor, de Havilland Vampire, English Electric Canberra, and CAC Sabre.

The Defence Minister, Sir Philip McBride, had reached a similar conclusion and kept the Sabre in frontline service until a more suitable aircraft could be chosen, namely the Dassault Mirage III delta-wing fighter.

[21] After returning to Australia, he was posted to the Directorate of Aircraft Engineering at the Department of Air, Canberra, responsible for ongoing technical oversight of the Mirage.

3 AD in January 1969, Rowland was appointed Senior Engineering Staff Officer at Headquarters Operational Command in Glenbrook, New South Wales.

[2][9] He was also the first engineering officer to lead the RAAF, and was selected over a more senior air vice marshal through the personal influence of the Defence Secretary, Sir Arthur Tange.

Aircraft always get heavier In 1976, Rowland became the first CAS to personally command the RAAF in a legal sense, following dissolution of the Air Board, a consequence of defence reorganisation in the wake of the 1973 "Tange report" that recommended departmental rationalisation.

[28][29] According to historian Alan Stephens, Rowland considered that the "collective wisdom" engendered by the Air Board had been generally beneficial to the RAAF, and believed the new arrangements led to "'paralysis and arrogation of decision making', and empire building in the Public Service component".

[30][31] Though known as a strong committee member who enjoyed a good argument, he "found that the sheer time involved in attending meetings made it very difficult for him to run the Air Force 'the way [he] wanted to'".

[16][37] Wran, for his part, was understood to have chosen Rowland largely on the basis of his engaging personality; it was also said that the Premier preferred military men for vice-regal office because "they knew how to take orders".

To this end, he opened Government House to the public on a more frequent basis, and also extended invitations for official functions to a broader range of society than was previously the case.

[38][43] Journalist and public servant Evan Williams also credited Rowland with being "the first Viceregal whistleblower" for alerting the Wran government to an unusual number of early release requests for prisoners that he was being asked to sign by Corrective Services Minister Rex Jackson.

[8] On 27 April 1988, Rowland opened the Forty-Ninth New South Wales Parliament with a new premier, Nick Greiner, whose Liberal Party had defeated Labor in the March elections.

[53][54] That November, he took a turn at flying one of the RAAF's recently acquired F/A-18 Hornets piloted by Wing Commander (later Air Vice Marshal) John Kindler.

[6][8] He was also a member of the boards of several private companies, including Angus & Coote and Thomson-CSF Pacific Holdings, and Chairman of the Aerospace Foundation of Australia from 1992 until his death in Sydney on 27 May 1999.