Ian Pfennigwerth - Man of Intelligence: The Life of Captain Eric Nave, Code breaker Extraordinary

This book could not have been written without the assistance and support of many people. Foremost amongst these are the members of Eric Naves family who have given me access to their fathers records and correspondence and have shared with me reflections and reminiscences on their life with Eric. They have also directed my attention to many potential sources of information that I would not otherwise have uncovered.

The reading room staff at the National Archives of Australia in both Canberra and Melbourne have always provided excellent service in my search through the archives for traces of Eric Naves career. The Research Centre at the Australian War Memorial has also been most helpful, particularly with regard to the manuscripts that Eric deposited there. The Defence Signals Directorate provided information and photographs.

A former ASIO officer was very helpful in reconstructing Erics days at ASIO, and David McKnight generously provided me with notes of an interview he conducted with Eric in 1992. David Horner supplied not only encouragement but a copy of Erics memoirs from which many of the quotations in the book are taken. He was also kind enough to review and correct the manuscript. David Sissons performed a similar task, at very short notice, and suggested a number of thoughtful improvements.

John Mack from the University of Sydney and Peter Donovan of the University of New South Wales were most generous in sharing the results of their quite extraordinary research project into World War II efforts to break into JN-25A and its successors. Their search in the US archives, in particular, has illuminated the contest of wills between Eric Nave and Rudolph Fabian in Melbourne in 1942.

I have been fortunate to have had the ready assistance of many members of the Central Bureau Intelligence Corps Association who shared with me their recollections of Eric Naves work in Brisbane from 1942 to 1945.

Two friends from Navy days helped out. David Ruffin undertook a number of research tasks in Canberra, especially on Erics days with ASIO and as national president of the Naval Association of Australia. Tony Howland in Sydney, whose keen eye has been responsible for spotting and correcting errors of grammar, syntax and writing convention, also helped with suggestions on getting the book to publication. My thanks to them both.

My wife Elizabeth, to whom this book is dedicated, has my appreciation for her support and patience, and for her many contributions to the finished product. Not least among these, it was she who suggested the title.

Ian Pfennigwerth
Port Stephens, November 2005