Alan Stretton

Who was Alan Stretton?

Major General Alan Bishop Stretton, AO CBE was a senior Australian Army officer.

Stretton was born in 1922 in Melbourne. He came to public prominence through his work in charge of cleanup efforts at Darwin in the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Day 1974. As head of the National Disasters Organisation he managed the evacuation of 35,000 people in six days, including loading a jumbo jet with 769 passengers, then a record for the most people aloft in the one aircraft.