Harry Cobby

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Arthur Henry (Harry) Cobby
North-Eastern Area Command (1942–43)
First Tactical Air Force
(1944–45)
Battles/warsWorld War I

World War II

Awards
Mentioned in Despatches
Medal of Freedom (United States)
Other workDepartment of Civil Aviation
  • Regional Director (1947–1954)
  • Director, Flying Operations (1955)

DSO, DFC & Two Bars, GM (26 August 1894 – 11 November 1955) was an Australian military aviator. He was the leading fighter ace of the Australian Flying Corps
(AFC) during World War I, despite seeing active service for less than a year.

Born and educated in

mention in despatches
.

Acclaimed a national hero, Cobby transferred to the newly formed

North-Eastern Area. In 1943, he was awarded the George Medal for rescuing fellow survivors of an aircraft crash. He was appointed Air Officer Commanding No. 10 Operational Group (later Australian First Tactical Air Force) the following year, but was relieved of his post in the wake of the "Morotai Mutiny" of April 1945. Retiring from the Air Force in 1946, Cobby served with the Department of Civil Aviation until his death on Armistice Day
in 1955.

Early career

Arthur Henry Cobby was born in the

Prahran to Arthur Edward Stanley Cobby, a tram conductor, and his wife Alice. Known as Harry, the young Cobby completed his senior-level education at University College, Armadale, before being commissioned into the 46th Infantry (Brighton Rifles), a militia unit, in 1912.[1][2] He later transferred to the 47th Infantry.[3]

When World War I broke out, Cobby attempted to enlist in the

clerk was considered an essential occupation.[4] He eventually managed to join the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) on 23 December 1916, despite a professed lack of interest in flying. He became a founding member of No. 4 Squadron AFC, and embarked for England aboard RMS Omrah on 17 January 1917.[5][6]

World War I combat service

No. 4 Squadron arrived in England in March 1917 to undergo training in preparation for service on the Western Front. Equipped with Sopwith Camels, the unit was sent to France in December.[5] Cobby later admitted to being so nervous about the prospect of going into battle that "if anything could have been done by me to delay that hour, I would have left nothing undone to bring it about".[7] When he did see combat against the German Luftstreitkräfte for the first time, he had only twelve hours solo flying experience.[1][5]

Nine men wearing a mixture of military uniforms with caps and flying suits with goggles, in front of a row of military biplanes
Captain Cobby (centre) with officers of A Flight, No. 4 Squadron AFC, and their Sopwith Camels on the Western Front, June 1918

Cobby claimed an early victory, over a

Flying Circus". On 21 March he shot down two of the formation's Albatros D.Vs, which were confirmed as his first official victories.[4][8]

Having proved himself a talented and aggressive pilot, Cobby's leadership abilities were recognised with his appointment as a flight commander on 14 May 1918,

London Gazette on 2 July.[14]

Cobby shot down three German aircraft on 28 June and was recommended for a

gazetted on the same day, 21 September.[18] On 16 August, Cobby led a bombing raid against the German airfield at Haubourdin, near Lille, the largest aerial assault by Allied forces up until then, resulting in 37 enemy aircraft being destroyed. The following day he led a similar attack on Lomme airfield and was recommended for the Distinguished Service Order as a result.[4][5] Gazetted on 2 November, the citation for the award declared that "The success of these two raids was largely due to the determined and skilful leadership of this officer".[19]

The most successful air fighter is the most aggressive; but at the same time, a cool head and a fine sense of judgement are essential.

Harry Cobby [20]

By the end of his active service, Cobby was in charge of Allied formations numbering up to 80 aircraft. Fellow No. 4 Squadron ace,

mentioned in despatches by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig the same month (gazetted 27 December).[24] Though Cobby's final tally for the war is often given as 29 aircraft and 13 observation balloons destroyed,[1][2][5] claim-by-claim analyses of his victories credit him with 24 aircraft and five balloons, for a grand total of 29,[4][25] making him the highest-scoring member of the AFC, as well as the service's only "balloon-busting" ace.[22][26] His proudest boast was that as a flight commander he never lost a pilot over enemy territory.[4]

Between the wars

Three quarters view of military biplane on the ground with pilot in cockpit and check paint pattern on engine cowling and wheels
Cobby in his Sopwith Camel while instructing in England, c.1918–19. He organised the high-visibility check paint pattern himself, "not for conceit, but for safety".[4]

Still instructing in England following the end of the war, Cobby was chosen to lead the AFC's

Commanding Officer (CO) of No. 1 Squadron when it was reformed at Point Cook on 1 July 1925, serving in the position until August 1926.[30]

By 1927, Cobby had been promoted to

wing commander on 1 May 1933 and subsequently served as RAAF Director of Intelligence.[2][37] In this position he headed an interdepartmental committee that was formed in August 1933 to examine the possibilities of air survey and aerial photography to further national development. The committee's findings, presented in April 1934, favoured employing government agencies for such work and ultimately led to the formation of the North Australian Survey Flight from staff and aircraft of No. 1 Squadron in April 1935. The resulting surveys of Queensland and the Northern Territory provided valuable input for the establishment of military airfields and other installations following the outbreak of World War II.[38]

Restless in the inter-war years, Cobby retired from the Air Force to join the Civil Aviation Board as Controller of Operations in 1936; he also contributed to aviation magazines such as Australian Airmen and Popular Flying.[1][2] His civil aviation duties included aircraft inspection, the issuing of licences and airworthiness certificates, maintenance of radio and meteorological services, and RAAF liaison.[39] After the creation of a new Department of Civil Aviation in November 1938, the Civil Aviation Board was reorganised and Cobby's position was made redundant.[40]

World War II

Half length portrait of three military men behind a desk, all with pilot's wings on left breast pocket. One of the men, seated, has a large dark moustache and is wearing a dark winter uniform. The other two, standing on either side of the seated figure, wear short-sleeved tropical uniforms; one of them has a small moustache, the other has a holster on his belt and is clean-shaven and smoking a pipe
Group Captain Cobby (right) takes over North-Eastern Area from Air Commodore Frank Lukis (centre) in Townsville, Queensland, August 1942

Cobby was a member of the Citizen Air Force (RAAF reserve) during his time with the Civil Aviation Board, and rejoined the Permanent Air Force following the outbreak of World War II in September 1939.[41] Promoted to group captain, he officially returned to active service on 25 July 1940 as Director of Recruiting, a role that traded on his public image.[1][42]

On 25 August 1942, Cobby took over from Air Commodore Frank Lukis as

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his conduct of air operations over New Guinea as AOC North-Eastern Area, the citation noting his "good leadership, personal example, keen understanding and continued encouragement".[46][50]

In August 1944, Cobby became AOC of No. 10 Operational Group (No. 10 OG), soon to be renamed the

Beaufighter sorties against targets in Halmahera. The following month, it undertook a further 661 sorties against targets in Halmahera, Celebes, Morotai and the Vogelkop.[53]

The 1st Tactical Air Force RAAF is now either administered or directed by RAAF Headquarters (with Forward Echelon thrown in for luck), RAAF Command, GHQ, and the Commanding General, 13th Air Force. I do not relish the role of the Duke of Plaza Toro.

Harry Cobby, October 1944 [52]

By early 1945, Japanese air power in the South West Pacific had been virtually destroyed, and 1st TAF was increasingly assigned to garrison duties and harassing enemy bases on islands bypassed by US forces in their

Borneo campaign.[55] The relegation of fighter units to what appeared to be strategically unimportant ground attack missions led to a crisis in morale that precipitated the so-called "Morotai Mutiny" in April 1945, when eight of Cobby's senior pilots, including Australia's leading ace in the war, Group Captain Clive Caldwell, tendered their resignations in protest.[54][56] Although one of the "mutineers", Group Captain Wilf Arthur, had earlier voiced his concerns to Cobby and his headquarters staff regarding the efficacy of 1st TAF's tasking, the AOC was taken aback by the resignations.[53][57] He spoke to the officers individually and as a group, asking them, "Is this something against me, or having a go against me in this, because if so, if you feel that I have fallen down in my job, I will straight away ask to be recalled," to which they replied, "It has nothing to do with you."[58] Cobby reported the incident to his immediate superior, Air Vice Marshal Bill Bostock, who informed the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Jones, and the Allied Air Forces Commander, Lieutenant General George Kenney. All made their way to Morotai and interviewed the pilots involved, and all concluded that Cobby should be relieved of his command.[59]

Half length portrait of two men in short-sleeved tropical military uniforms with pilot's wings, standing in front of a hut and looking into the sky. One is shaven and wears a peaked cap, with hands on hips. The other has a moustache and wears a forage cap, with arms crossed and a cigarette in his left hand
Air Commodore Cobby and Group Captain Caldwell (right) at Morotai: "the prima donna of one war, and ... the prima donna of the next war".[60]

Bostock held Cobby responsible for the "dangerously low level" of morale in 1st TAF, but also noted "it is clear that he has been badly served by his senior staff".[59] In the event, Jones transferred not only Cobby but also his staff officers, Group Captains Gibson and Simms, and Air Commodore Frederick Scherger took over command on 10 May.[61] Cobby's departure was greeted with relief by Australian Army commanders, who were frustrated by the poor working relationship between 1st TAF and the Army units at Tarakan.[62] Cobby defended his leadership of 1st TAF at the subsequent inquiry before Judge John Vincent Barry. During his testimony he declared that although his officers "wished to do more in the war than they were doing ... it was not within the power of 1st T.A.F. to give them that more important or more interesting work".[63] He believed that his forces had played a significant part in making safe General MacArthur's flank during the Philippines campaign.[64] Barry nevertheless found that Cobby had "failed to maintain proper control over his command",[65] and that his removal as 1st TAF commander was justified.[54]

Air Force historian Alan Stephens later described it as "a personal and institutional tragedy that a genuinely great figure in RAAF history had to end his career in such circumstances".[54] The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History contends that Cobby's "gallant service flying career ... became another victim of the weaknesses and feuding within the RAAF's senior leadership during the Pacific War".[65] Stephens summed up Cobby's military career by saying "No Australian airman's experience better illustrates the tensions between 'command', 'leadership' and 'heroism'", concluding that "the qualities that make a hero do not easily translate into those needed by a commander, although they are likely to engender leadership".[66]

Post-war career and legacy

Head-and-shoulders portrait of man in military uniform with pilot's wings on left breast pocket
Portrait of Cobby in 1940

Cobby was officially discharged from the Air Force on 19 August 1946.[5][42] He was awarded the American Medal of Freedom on 15 April 1948, in recognition of his war service.[67] The citation noted that from September 1944 to January 1945, he displayed "exceptionally sound judgement and far sighted planning ... and materially assisted in support of the operations in the Philippine Liberation Campaign".[46] Cobby had rejoined the Civil Aviation Board (by then the Department of Civil Aviation) after leaving the RAAF and served as Regional Director, New South Wales, from 1947 to 1954. He was appointed Director of Flying Operations early the following year.[2][4]

On

Heidelberg Repatriation General Hospital. His wife and children survived him.[2][68] On 15 November, he was given a military funeral at St Mary's Church of England, Caulfield, and cremated at Springvale Crematorium.[2][69]

Harry Cobby's tally of victories in World War I was the highest by a member of the Australian Flying Corps (the top-scoring Australian aces of the war,

Air Marshal Sir Richard Williams, Director General of Civil Aviation from 1946 to 1955 and widely regarded as the "Father of the RAAF",[71] described Cobby as "a man whose personal story is threaded through the entire history of Australian service and civil aviation".[2] One of the aluminium cutouts of Charlie Chaplin that Cobby attached to his Sopwith Camel in World War I later went on show at RAAF Museum, Point Cook,[10] and the tail skid of one of his victims was displayed at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.[4] Cobby Street, in the Canberra suburb of Campbell, is named in his honour.[72]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Stephens; Isaacs, High Fliers, pp. 23–26
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Isaacs, Australian Dictionary of Biography, pp. 41–42
  3. ^ Gration, "Cobby – an exemplary warrior", p. 5
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Newton, Australian Air Aces, pp. 25–28
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Air Commodore Arthur Henry (Harry) Cobby at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
  6. ^ a b Arthur Henry Cobby Archived 25 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine at The AIF Project Archived 11 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
  7. ^ Australian Military History: The Australian Flying Corps Archived 20 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  8. ^ Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, pp. 226–227 Archived 21 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ a b Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 20–21
  10. ^ a b Franks, Sopwith Camel Aces of World War 1, p. 94
  11. ^ Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, pp. 284–286 Archived 21 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Guttman, Balloon-Busting Aces of World War 1, pp. 6–8, 29–30
  13. ^ Recommendation: Military Cross Archived 8 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  14. ^ "No. 30775". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 July 1918. p. 7746.
  15. ^ Recommendation: Bar to the Distinguished Flying Cross Archived 8 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  16. ^ Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, pp. 295–296 Archived 21 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ Recommendation: Second bar to the Distinguished Flying Cross Archived 8 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  18. ^ "No. 30913". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 September 1918. p. 11248.
  19. ^ "No. 30989". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 November 1918. p. 12959.
  20. ^ Hart, Aces Falling, p. 62
  21. ^ Odgers, 100 Years of Australians at War, p. 98
  22. ^ a b Franks, Sopwith Camel Aces of World War 1, pp. 71–72
  23. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p. 17
  24. ^ "No. 31089". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 December 1918. pp. 15217–15224.
  25. ^ Shores et al., Above the Trenches, p. 110
  26. ^ Guttman, Balloon-Busting Aces of World War 1, pp. 29–30
  27. ^ Odgers, Air Force Australia, p. 43
  28. ^ Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force, p. 16 Archived 7 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  29. ^ Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, pp. 42–43
  30. ^ RAAF Historical Section, Units of the Royal Australian Air Force, p. 5
  31. ^ Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p. 318
  32. ^ Stephens, The RAAF in the Southwest Pacific Area, pp. 40–43
  33. ^ a b Roylance, Air Base Richmond, pp. 46, 123
  34. ^ Sutherland, Command and Leadership, p. 37
  35. ^ Roylance, Air Base Richmond, pp. 36–37
  36. ^ Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p. 363
  37. ^ Wilson, The Eagle and the Albatross, p. 35[permanent dead link]
  38. ^ Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, pp. 428–429
  39. ^ Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p. 310
  40. ^ Hazlehurst, Ten Journeys to Cameron's Farm, p. 339
  41. ^ a b Odgers, Air War Against Japan, p. 241
  42. ^ a b Cobby, Arthur Henry Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine at World War 2 Nominal Roll Archived 5 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
  43. ^ Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force, p. 588 Archived 5 June 2009 at WebCite
  44. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 20–21, 320
  45. ^ a b Ashworth, How Not to Run an Air Force!, p. 293
  46. ^ a b c d Garrisson, Australian Fighter Aces, pp. 57–63
  47. ^ Recommendation: George Medal at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  48. ^ "No. 36418". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 March 1944. p. 1165.
  49. ^ Hurst, Strategy and Red Ink, p. 3
  50. ^ "No. 36566". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 June 1944. p. 2873.
  51. ^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 168–169
  52. ^ a b Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 297–298
  53. ^ a b Odgers, 100 Years of Australians at War, pp. 214–215
  54. ^ a b c d Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 123–125
  55. ^ Stanley, Tarakan. An Australian Tragedy, p. 60
  56. ^ Helson, Ten Years at the Top, pp. 207–213
  57. ^ Alexander, "Cleaning the Augean stables"
  58. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 444–445 Archived 18 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  59. ^ a b Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 443–450 Archived 18 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  60. ^ Group Captain Wilf Arthur quoted in Alexander, "Cleaning the Augean stables"
  61. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, pp. 456–459
  62. ^ Stanley, Tarakan. An Australian Tragedy, p. 96
  63. ^ Odgers, Air War Against Japan, p. 449 Archived 18 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  64. ^ Stephens, Power Plus Attitude, p. 69
  65. ^ a b Dennis et al., The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History, pp. 135–136
  66. ^ Sutherland, Command and Leadership, p. 84
  67. ^ Awarded: US Medal of Freedom at Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  68. The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia
    . 12 November 1955. p. 1. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
  69. ^ "Family Notices". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 14 November 1955. p. 11. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
  70. ^ Wilson, The Brotherhood of Airmen, pp. 30–31
  71. ^ Williams, Sir Richard at Australian Dictionary of Biography Online. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  72. ^ Cobby Street at ACT Planning and Land Authority. Retrieved 15 November 2011.

References

Further reading

  • Cobby, A.H. (1981) [1942]. High Adventure. Melbourne: Kookaburra Technical Publications.
    ISBN 0-85880-044-6
    .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arthur Henry Cobby.
Military offices
Preceded by RAAF Director of Recruiting
July 1940 – August 1942 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
North-Eastern Area

August 1942 – November 1943 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
RAAF Staff School

December 1943 – August 1944 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Air Officer Commanding No. 10 Operational Group
August–October 1944 		Group redesignated
as First Tactical Air Force
Force established
by redesignating No. 10 Operational Group 		Air Officer Commanding First Tactical Air Force
October 1944 – May 1945 		Succeeded by
Frederick Scherger

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