Bobby Gibbes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Henry Maxwell (Bobby) Gibbes
6 May 1916 – April 11, 2007 (aged 90)

Bobby Gibbes, North Africa, 1942
Place of birth Young, New South Wales
Place of death Sydney, New South Wales
Allegiance Flag of Australia Australia
Service/branch Royal Australian Air Force
Years of service 1940–46
Rank Wing Commander
Unit No. 2 OTU (1944)
No. 80 Wing (1945)
Commands held No. 3 Squadron (1942–43)
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Distinguished Service Order
Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar
Order of Australia Medal

Robert Henry Maxwell (Bobby) Gibbes DSO, DFC and Bar, OAM (6 May 1916 – 11 April 2007) was a leading Australian air ace of World War II. He is officially credited with shooting down 10¼ enemy aircraft,[1] although his score is often reported as 12 destroyed.[2][3] Gibbes was Commanding Officer of No. 3 Squadron RAAF in the North African Campaign and also served with the Australian First Tactical Air Force in the South West Pacific Theatre. After the war he spent many years in New Guinea, developing local industry.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Born in Young, New South Wales, Gibbes came from an old colonial family. His great-grandfather, Colonel John George Nathaniel Gibbes, built his residence "Wotonga" at Kirribilli; the property was later refurbished to become Sydney's Admiralty House. Gibbes' grandfather, Augustus Onslow Manby Gibbes, owned Yarralumla station, now the official residence of Australia's Governor-General. His father, Henry Edmund Gibbes, was a grazier. Gibbes attended All Saints College in Bathurst and worked as a jackaroo after leaving school.[4][5]

[edit] World War II

[edit] North Africa

Gibbes joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1939, having exaggerated his height, which was below the minimum requirement, to gain entrance. He was commissioned a Pilot Officer in June 1940 and served initially with No. 23 Squadron in Australia.[2][6]

Posted to North Africa in May 1941, Gibbes briefly joined No. 450 Squadron before transferring to No. 3 Squadron. In July, shortly after converting from Hawker Hurricanes to P-40 Tomahawks, the squadron took part in the Syria-Lebanon campaign. Gibbes claimed his first victory during the campaign, a Vichy French Dewoitine D.520 fighter. No. 3 Squadron then returned to the North African Campaign where its Tomahawks were replaced by Kittyhawks. Gibbes took command of the squadron in February 1942, becoming its longest-serving wartime CO.[2][7] He was made a temporary Squadron Leader in June that year.[6]

Squadron Leader Gibbes as Commanding Officer of No. 3 Squadron, North Africa, 1942
Squadron Leader Gibbes as Commanding Officer of No. 3 Squadron, North Africa, 1942

Gibbes was shot down on 26 May 1942 and had to bail out. He broke his leg in the landing but within six weeks was flying again, his leg still in a cast.[8] On 21 December 1942 Gibbes landed his Kittyhawk in rugged terrain to rescue a fellow pilot who had been forced down, throwing out his own parachute to make room in the cockpit for his passenger. He lost part of his undercarriage taking off and had to make a one-wheeled landing back at base.[9] He was recommended for the Victoria Cross for this action, but was awarded the Distinguished Service Order instead.[8] Gibbes himself crash landed behind enemy lines on 14 January 1943, and walked 50 miles in the desert before being picked up by a British Army patrol.[3][9]

He later described his feelings during and after air combat:[10]

“ Man becomes animal when he thinks he is about to die. As you fly back to your base, now safe at last, a feeling of light-hearted exuberance comes over you. It is wonderful to still be alive and it is, I think, merely the after-effect of violent, terrible fear. ”

[edit] South West Pacific

Ground crew service Gibbes' Spitfire "Grey Nurse" on Morotai, Dutch East Indies, in 1945
Ground crew service Gibbes' Spitfire "Grey Nurse" on Morotai, Dutch East Indies, in 1945

Gibbes' temporary rank of Squadron Leader was made permanent in April 1943. That month he departed North Africa to serve at RAAF Overseas Headquarters in London until October. He became Chief Flying Instructor at No. 2 Operational Training Unit, Mildura, in January 1944.[6][11] That July he was posted to Darwin, Northern Territory, flying Spitfires, and suffered burns in a crash landing following engine failure.[3] In December he married Jeannine Ince, a volunteer with the Red Cross who had nursed him in hospital.[2]

In 1945, now a temporary Wing Commander and stationed at No. 80 Wing Headquarters of the Australian First Tactical Air Force (1TAF) in the Dutch East Indies, Gibbes took part in the "Morotai Mutiny". He was one of eight senior pilots, including Australia's top-scoring ace, Group Captain Clive Caldwell, who tendered their resignations in protest at the relegation of RAAF fighter squadrons to apparently worthless ground-attack missions.[12][13] No action was taken against the "mutineers" over the incident itself but Gibbes and Caldwell were later court martialled for their involvement in alcohol trafficking on Morotai.[8][12] Both were reduced to the rank of Flight Lieutenant; the Air Officer Commanding 1TAF subsequently restored Gibbes to Squadron Leader.[14]

[edit] Post-war career

After his discharge from the RAAF in 1946, Gibbes spent most of the next 30 years in New Guinea. He is credited with pioneering the island's transport, coffee and hospitality industries. He formed Gibbes Sepik Airways with German Junkers Ju 52 aircraft, one of which had allegedly been the personal transport of Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring.[7] Gibbes sold his interest to Mandated Airlines in 1958, which was later bought out by Ansett Australia. He then developed a number of coffee plantations, and built a large chain of hotels beginning with the Bird of Paradise in Goroka.[2]

[edit] Later life

In 1994 Gibbes published his autobiography, You Live But Once. He continued to fly until forced to give up his civil aviation licence at the age of 85.[2] In 2004 he was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for his work in New Guinea.[8]

Gibbes died of a stroke at Mona Vale Hospital in Sydney on 11 April 2007. He was survived by his wife and two daughters.[2] A Spitfire in the "Grey Nurse" livery of one of his World War II aircraft, and four F/A-18 Hornet jet fighters from No. 3 Squadron, overflew his funeral service in North Sydney.[15][16]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Odgers, The Royal Australian Air Force, p.125
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Carman, Gerry (14 April 2007). "Air ace was born to fly: Bobby Gibbes 1916–2007". The Sydney Morning Herald. 
  3. ^ a b c Stackpool, Andrew (3 May 2007). "WWII ace farewelled". Air Force News. 
  4. ^ Dulhunty, Beryl (1959). The Dulhunty Papers: Chronicle of a Family. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
  5. ^ Humpherson, Andrew (3 June 2004). Tribute to Mr Bobby Gibbes. Hansard & Papers. Parliament of NSW. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
  6. ^ a b c Wing Commander Robert Henry Maxwell (Bobby) Gibbes, DSO, DFC at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on 4 November 2007.
  7. ^ a b "Wing Commander Bobby Gibbes", Times Online, 1 May 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-20. 
  8. ^ a b c d "Wg Cdr Bobby Gibbes", telegraph.co.uk, 25 April 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-20. 
  9. ^ a b Wilson, The Brotherhood of Airmen, pp.88-89
  10. ^ Gibbes, You Live But Once, cited at 3 Squadron Association website. Retrieved on 3 July 2007.
  11. ^ No. 2 OTU Air Museum Mildura at Royal Australian Air Force Association Website. Retrieved on 5 November 2007.
  12. ^ a b Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp.123-124
  13. ^ Watson, Killer Caldwell, p.185
  14. ^ Watson, Killer Caldwell, pp.219–239
  15. ^ "WWII veteran Bobby Gibbes farewelled by Spitfire", ABC News Online, 17 April 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-26. 
  16. ^ "Spitfire honours WWII hero", ABC News Online, 17 April 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-26. 

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

  • Gibbes, R.H. (1994). You Live But Once. Collaroy, NSW: Self-published.