Stanley Goble

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stanley James (Jimmy) Goble
21 August 1891 – July 24, 1948 (aged 56)
Air Vice Marshal Stanley Goble in 1943
Place of birth	Croydon, Victoria
Place of death	Heidelberg, Victoria
Allegiance	Commonwealth of Australia
Service/branch	Royal Australian Air Force
Years of service	1915–1946
Rank	Air Vice Marshal
Unit	No. 8 Squadron RNAS (1916–1917)
Commands held	No. 5 Squadron RNAS (1917–1918) Chief of the Air Staff (1922–1925, 1932–1934, 1939–1940) No. 2 Group RAF (1936–1937)
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Commander of the British Empire Distinguished Service Order Distinguished Service Cross Croix de guerre

Air Vice Marshal Stanley James (Jimmy) Goble CBE, DSO, DSC, Croix de guerre (21 August 1891 – 24 July 1948) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He served three terms as Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), alternating with Wing Commander (later Air Marshal Sir) Richard Williams. A World War I veteran, Goble flew fighters on the Western Front with the British Royal Naval Air Service, achieving seven victories to become an ace. He came to national attention in 1924 when he and fellow RAAF pilot Ivor McIntyre became the first men to circumnavigate Australia by air. As CAS at the onset of World War II, Goble clashed with the Federal Government over implementation of the Empire Air Training Scheme and stepped down from the position in early 1940. He died at the age of 56, two years after his retirement from the military in 1946.

[edit] Early career

Born in Croydon, Victoria, Stanley Goble began his working life with the Victorian Railways at the age of 16 and by 23 was a stationmaster, as had been his father. Prevented from joining the Australian Imperial Force at the beginning of World War I after failing the stringent medical criteria, he travelled to England to enlist in the British armed services.^[1]

[edit] World War I

Goble was accepted for flying training with the Royal Naval Air Service in July 1915. After graduating as a Flight Sub-Lieutenant on 20 October 1915, he became a test pilot and undertook anti-submarine patrols out of Dover. He commenced operations with only three hours solo flying experience. Towards the end of the year he was posted across the Channel to Dunkirk, flying Caudrons and Sopwith Pups.^[1][2]

Goble was a founder member of No. 8 Squadron RNAS in 1916, following the Battle of the Somme. Flying Pups and Nieuport fighters, he was promoted Flight Lieutenant in October and won the Croix de guerre. He later earned the Distinguished Service Cross for engaging two enemy fighters and shooting down one of them.^[1][3]

In February 1917 Goble was posted to No. 5 Squadron RNAS, which was equipped with DH.4 two-seat light bombers. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 17 February 1917 for his "conspicuous bravery and skill".^[4] In 1917 he received rapid promotion, first to Flight Commander,^[5] then Squadron Commander,^[6] leading the unit for the rest of the year and into 1918. When the RNAS merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps on 1 April 1918, Goble became a Major in the new Royal Air Force.^[7] He was appointed OBE in the 1919 New Year Honours.^[8] He finished the war an ace, with seven victories.^[1][9][10]

[edit] Inter-war years

[edit] Establishment of the Royal Australian Air Force

The Air Board, pictured in 1928, including Group Captain Stanley Goble (front row, left) and the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Commodore Williams (front row, centre)

Goble returned to Australia a Lieutenant Colonel,^[11] seconded to the Royal Australian Navy. When a temporary Air Board was set up to examine the feasibility of an Australian Air Force (AAF), Goble was assigned as a Navy representative, with Lieutenant Colonel Richard Williams, an Australian Flying Corps veteran of World War I, acting as an Army spokesman. Upon establishment of the permanent Australian Air Board on 9 November 1920 Goble, like Williams, dropped the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and became a Wing Commander. When the AAF came into being on 31 March 1921, the Navy nominated Goble as First Air Member (later Chief of the Air Staff). However Williams took the post and Goble became Second Air Member and Director of Personnel and Training.^[1][12][13]

Williams and Goble would serve as Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) three times each between 1922 and 1940. One motive suggested for the rotation was a ploy by Army and Navy interests to "curb Williams' independence".^[14] Instead the arrangement "almost inevitably fostered an unproductive rivalry" between the two officers.^[12] Although in a legal sense the Air Board led the RAAF rather than the CAS alone, Williams dominated the board to such an extent that Goble would later complain that his colleague appeared to consider the Air Force his personal command.^[15]

[edit] Chief of the Air Staff

Relations between Goble and Williams were such that the Federal Government allegedly had a policy of ensuring that they were never in the country at the same time.^[16] Goble's first term as CAS began when Williams left Australia in December 1922 for study in England. He developed a plan to establish a small seaplane base at Rushcutters Bay in Sydney, but Williams cancelled this shortly after he returned to Australia in February 1925.^[17] Goble then departed for England to undertake study at the British Army Staff College in Camberley and RAF Staff College, Andover, as Williams had done two years before. He was made Group Captain in 1928.^[1]

Promoted temporary Air Commodore, Goble took over as CAS for the second time between December 1932 and June 1934 while Williams attended the Imperial Defence College in London. On secondment to the RAF from 1935 to 1937, Goble was attached to the British Air Ministry before serving as Air Officer Commanding No. 2 (Bomber) Group. On 28 February 1937 he was raised to temporary (later permanent) Air Vice Marshal. Goble succeeded Williams as Chief of the Air Staff for the last time in February 1939, when the latter was dismissed in the aftermath of the Ellington Report criticising the standards of air safety observed by the RAAF.^[1][18][19]

[edit] Circumnavigation of Australia

Fairey IIID seaplane flown by Wing Commander Goble and Flying Officer Ivor McIntyre on their round-Australia flight in 1924

The young air force was a small, closely-knit organisation comparable to a flying club; however several pioneering flights were undertaken by its members.^[20] One of the most notable was made by Goble and Flying Officer (later Flight Lieutenant) Ivor McIntyre in 1924, when they became the first men to circumnavigate Australia by air. The English-born McIntyre, who was lead pilot while Goble acted as commander and navigator, was also a World War I veteran of the Royal Naval Air Service.^[9][21]

Goble (left) and McIntyre chaired by the crowd on St Kilda Beach after their flight

The pair took off from Point Cook on 6 April 1924 in a Fairey IIID seaplane and flew some 13,500 km in 44 days.^[1][9] They journeyed along the Eastern Australian coast through Sydney, Southport, Townsville and Thursday Island, crossed the Gulf of Carpentaria to Darwin, and then continued along the coast through Broome, Carnarvon, Perth, Albany and Port Lincoln, before arriving back in Victoria.^[21] As they flew above Point Cook, twelve RAAF aircraft took to the air to escort them to their landing place at St Kilda Beach, where they were welcomed by a crowd of 10,000 people.^[9] Prime Minister Stanley Bruce called the expedition "one of the most wonderful accomplishments in the history of aviation", his government presenting Goble with a gift of ₤500, and ₤250 to McIntyre.^[21] The British Royal Aero Club awarded them the annual Britannia Trophy, and they were appointed CBEs in the King's Birthday Honours.^[1][9][22]

Though the flight is still acknowledged as one of the most important in Australian aviation, the necessity for the Air Force chief to personally command such a journey has been questioned, suggesting that this was motivated by the one-upmanship that characterised the Williams-Goble relationship. Two years later Williams would make a three-month, 10,000-mile (16,000 km) round trip from Point Cook to the Pacific Islands, the first international flight undertaken by an RAAF plane and crew, amid similar suspicions.^[9]

[edit] World War II

Air Vice Marshal Goble (left) as Air Liaison Officer to Canada, 1941

As Chief of the Air Staff at the outbreak of World War II, Goble planned the expansion and decentralisation of the RAAF in order to meet the needs of home defence and Australia's obligations in Europe, which included the transfer of No. 10 Squadron to Britain. However his concept of an autonomous Air Expeditionary Force was abandoned by the Federal Government in favour of full commitment to the Empire Air Training Scheme, which Goble considered detrimental to local defence. He also came into conflict with his deputy, Air Commodore John Russell. These issues led to Goble tendering his resignation as CAS, which took effect in January 1940. Prime Minister Robert Menzies had in any case been looking to fill the position with a British officer and, after the interim appointment of Air Commodore William Anderson, the RAF's Air Chief Marshal Charles Burnett became CAS. Newspapers reported that Goble had resigned "on a matter of high principle" and was considering a return to service with the RAF.^[16][18][23]

Although Goble had offered to submit his resignation from the RAAF as well as from the position of CAS, Prime Minister Menzies persuaded him to remain and take on the role of Australian Air Liaison Officer to Canada, based in Ottawa. He stayed at this post for the duration of the war and was the RAAF's representative at the Ottawa Conference in May-June 1942 that negotiated the Joint Commonwealth Air Training Plan.^[18][24]

[edit] Retirement and death

In January 1946, Goble presided over the court-martial of Australia's top-scoring fighter ace, Group Captain Clive Caldwell.^[25] Goble was forced into retirement soon after, despite being five years below the mandatory age of 60. Many other senior RAAF commanders who were veterans of World War I, including Richard Williams, were also dismissed, ostensibly to make way for the advancement of younger officers.^[26] Goble suffered from hypertensive cerebro-vascular disease and died in Heidelberg, Victoria, on 24 July 1948. He left a wife, Kathleen, and three sons.^[1]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Cutlack, F.M. [1923] (1941). The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918 (11th edition): Volume VIII – The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War, 1914–1918. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. 
• Gillison, Douglas (1962). Australia in the War of 1939-1945: Series Three (Air) Volume I – Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. 
• Helson, Peter (2006). "Ten Years at the Top". . University of New South Wales
• Herington, John (1954). Australia in the War of 1939-1945: Series Three (Air) Volume III – Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. 
• McCarthy, John (1983). "Goble, Stanley James (1891 - 1948)", Australian Dictionary of Biography: Volume 9. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. 
• McKernan, Michael (2006). The Strength of a Nation. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 174114714X. 
• Odgers, George (1984). The Royal Australian Air Force: An Illustrated History. Brookvale: Child & Henry. ISBN 0867773685. 
• Roylance, Derek (1991). Air Base Richmond. RAAF Base Richmond: Royal Australian Air Force. ISBN 0646052128. 
• Stephens, Alan (1995). Going Solo: The Royal Australian Air Force 1946-1971. Canberra: Aust. Govt. Pub. Service. ISBN 0644428031. 
• Stephens, Alan [2001] (2006). The Royal Australian Air Force: A History. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195555414. 
• Watson, Jeffrey (2005). Killer Caldwell. Sydney: Hodder. ISBN 0733619290. 

[edit] External links

• Australasian Gazette – A Seaplane Circles a Continent at Australian Screen – footage of Goble's and McIntyre's 1924 flight.