Stanley Goble

During World War I, Goble flew fighters on the Western Front with the British Royal Naval Air Service. He became an ace with ten victories, commanded No. 5 Squadron (later No. 205 Squadron RAF), and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Distinguished Service Cross. Returning to Australia, Goble assisted in the formation of the RAAF as an independent branch of the Australian armed forces. On an exchange posting to Britain in the 1930s, he led No. 2 (Bomber) Group RAF.

As Chief of the Air Staff at the onset of World War II, Goble clashed with the

Early career

Born in

Goble was prevented from joining the Australian Imperial Force at the beginning of World War I after failing the stringent medical criteria; he wrote later that "only applicants of the finest physiques were considered suitable for the first contingent of Australian troops".^[5] With his three brothers already on active service, he decided to travel to England at his own expense and enlist in the British armed forces.^[1]

World War I

Goble was accepted for flying training with the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) 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.^[1] Goble commenced operations with only three hours' solo flying experience.^[5] Towards the end of the year he was posted across the Channel to Dunkirk, flying Caudron reconnaissance-bombers and Sopwith Pup fighters.^[1][5]

Goble was a founding member of No. 8 Squadron RNAS in 1916, during the latter part of the Battle of the Somme, where he flew both Pups and Nieuport fighters.^[1] He earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions on 24 September 1916, when he engaged two enemy fighters near Ghistelles in West Flanders, "and brought one of them down on fire in a spiral nose-dive", according to the citation in The London Gazette.^[6] This victory was the first confirmed "kill" achieved by an Allied pilot flying the Pup.^[7][8] Goble was promoted to flight lieutenant on 1 October, and won the French Croix de Guerre later that month.^[1][9]

On 17 February 1917, Goble was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his "conspicuous bravery and skill" in three separate actions while operating with No. 8 Squadron: on 7 November 1916 when he forced a hostile fighter down in a field, where it crashed attempting to land; on 27 November when he engaged four enemy aircraft, destroying one; and on 4 December when, in repeated combats while escorting Allied bombers, he helped drive off attacking fighters and shot down one of them.^[10] The same month that he was awarded the DSO, Goble was posted to No. 5 Squadron RNAS at Petite-Synthe near the Franco-Belgian border, flying Airco DH.4 two-seat light bombers.^[1]

Goble was promoted twice in 1917, to flight commander in June,

Goble returned to Australia on HT Gaika in November 1918.

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, and Lieutenant Colonel Richard Williams, an Australian Flying Corps veteran of World War I, acted as an Army spokesman. The permanent Australian Air Board was established on 9 November 1920, and recommended creation of the AAF as an independent branch of the armed services.^[23] The AAF came into being on 31 March 1921—the 'Royal' prefix being granted five months later—and Goble resigned his commission in the RAF the same day to transfer to the new service as a wing commander.^[23][24]

The Navy had nominated Goble as First Air Member (later Chief of the Air Staff), but Williams took the post and Goble became Second Air Member and Director of Personnel and Training.^[23][25] 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 limit Williams' autonomy.^[26] Instead, according to RAAF historian Alan Stephens, the arrangement "almost inevitably fostered an unproductive rivalry" between the two officers,^[23] which was "exacerbated by the personality differences between the pedantic, autocratic Williams and the cheerful, easy-going Goble".^[27] 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.^[28]

Chief of the Air Staff

The rivalry between Goble and Williams was such that it was later alleged that government practice was to ensure that they were never in the country at the same time.^[29] In October 1921, Goble was posted to Britain for a naval co-operation course; his place on the Air Board was taken by Squadron Leader Bill Anderson.^[30] Goble married Kathleen Wodehouse in London on Anzac Day, 1922, and returned to Australia later that year.^[1] His first term as CAS began when Williams left the country in December 1922 for study in England. Goble 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 to resume the position of CAS.^[31] Goble's suggestion of a separate Fleet Air Arm fostered suspicions that he was too closely aligned with naval interests.^[9] He 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. Goble also served as Air Liaison Officer with the Australian High Commission in London from May 1926 to September 1927. He was promoted to group captain on 1 April 1928.^[1]

Raised to temporary

The young air force was a small, close-knit organisation comparable to a flying club, although several pioneering flights were undertaken by its members.^[37] 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, in a single-engined Fairey IIID floatplane. 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.^[2] The purpose of the flight was to survey the northern coastline of Australia for defence planning, and to test the capabilities of the Fairey IIID.^[38]

Goble and McIntyre took off from

Prime Minister

As Chief of the Air Staff at the outbreak of World War II, Goble planned the expansion and decentralisation of the RAAF to meet the needs of home defence and Australia's obligations in Europe, which included the transfer of

In January 1946, Goble presided over the court-martial of Australia's top-scoring fighter ace, Group Captain Clive Caldwell.^[48] Charged with alcohol trafficking on the island of Morotai in 1945, Caldwell was found guilty and reduced to the rank of flight lieutenant; he left the Air Force soon after.^[49] Goble was himself forced into retirement in February 1946, despite being five years below the mandatory age of sixty.^[50] The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal George Jones, in recommending Goble's dismissal, wrote that "this officer has a sound Service knowledge and an alert mind, but suffers from certain nervous characteristics which make continuous application to a task impossible".^[51] Other senior RAAF commanders who were veterans of World War I, including Richard Williams, were also retired at this time, ostensibly to make way for the advancement of younger officers.^[50]

Goble suffered from hypertensive cerebrovascular disease and died in Heidelberg, Victoria, on 24 July 1948. He was cremated, leaving his wife Kathleen, and three sons.^[1] His son John (born 1923) joined the Royal Australian Navy and qualified as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm, rising to the rank of commodore and commanding 817 Squadron, the naval air station HMAS Albatross, and the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne.^[52][53] Goble Street in Hughes, Australian Capital Territory, was named for Jimmy Goble.^[54] In 1994 he and Ivor McIntyre were honoured with the issue of a postage stamp by Australia Post, in a series depicting Australian aviators that also included Freda Thompson, Lawrence Hargrave, and Sir Keith and Sir Ross Macpherson Smith.^[55]

Notes

References

• Ashworth, Norman (2000). How Not to Run an Air Force! The Higher Command of the Royal Australian Air Force During the Second World War: Volume 1. Canberra: Air Power Studies Centre.
  ISBN 0-642-26550-X. Archived from the original
  on 6 October 2011.
• Coulthard-Clark, Chris (1991). The Third Brother: The Royal Australian Air Force 1921–39. North Sydney:
  ISBN 0-04-442307-1. Archived from the original
  on 16 December 2013.
• Cutlack, F.M. (1941) [1923]. 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.
• Dennis, Peter;
  ISBN 0-19-553227-9
  .
• Franks, Norman (2005). Sopwith Pup Aces of World War 1. Oxford:
  ISBN 1-84176-886-3
  .
• 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 (PhD thesis). Sydney:
  OCLC 225531223
  .
• 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.
• Legge, J.S., ed. (1971). Who's Who in Australia 1971. Melbourne: The Herald and Weekly Times.
• McCarthy, John (1983). "Goble, Stanley James (1891–1948)". Australian Dictionary of Biography: Volume 9. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. pp. 33–35.
• Newton, Dennis (1996). Australian Air Aces. Fyshwyck, Australian Capital Territory: Aerospace Publications.
  ISBN 1-875671-25-0
  .
• ISBN 0-86777-368-5
  .
• Roylance, Derek (1991). Air Base Richmond. RAAF Base Richmond: Royal Australian Air Force.
  ISBN 0-646-05212-8
  .
• Stephens, Alan (1995). Going Solo: The Royal Australian Air Force 1946–1971. Canberra:
  ISBN 0-644-42803-1
  .
• Stephens, Alan (2006) [2001]. The Royal Australian Air Force: A History. London: Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 0-19-555541-4
  .
• Stephens, Alan, ed. (1992). Australia's Air Chiefs: The Proceedings of the 1992 RAAF History Conference. Canberra: Air Power Studies Centre.
  ISBN 0-642-18866-1
  .
• Stephens, Alan; Isaacs, Jeff (1996). High Fliers: Leaders of the Royal Australian Air Force. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.
  ISBN 0-644-45682-5
  .
• Stevens, David, ed. (2001). The Australian Centenary History of Defence Volume III: The Royal Australian Navy. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 0-19-554116-2
  .
• Watson, Jeffrey (2005). Killer Caldwell. Sydney:
  ISBN 0-7336-1929-0
  .
• Wilson, David (2003). The Eagle and the Albatross: Australian Aerial Maritime Operations 1921–1971 (PhD thesis). Sydney: University of New South Wales.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stanley James Goble.

• "Australasian Gazette – A Seaplane Circles a Continent". Australian Screen. Footage of Goble's and McIntyre's arrival at St Kilda after their 1924 flight.