Vale Wg Cdr Robert H M "Bobby" Gibbes DSO DFC & Bar OAM (Ret'd) One of Australia's greatest fighter pilots has sadly passed away a couple of days ago. This obituary is from The Sydney Morning Herald 14 April, 2007. Air ace was born to fly April 14, 2007 Bobby Gibbes, 1916-2007 THE exploits of Wing Commander Bobby Gibbes, one of the last of the great fighter pilots of a bygone era, had the makings of a Boy's Own book. Gibbes was one of Australia's most colourful wartime characters and one of the most highly decorated pilots of World War II, earning the Distinguished Service Order and the Distinguished Flying Cross with bar. His was a household name during and after the war - and he was never backward in bucking authority, in war or peace. Gibbes was one of eight senior RAAF officers involved in the "Morotai mutiny" in April 1945, when they resigned their commissions in protest at what they considered a move to sideline them from the main fighting theatre against the Japanese. They were persuaded to withdraw their resignations but Gibbes was court-martialled for smuggling three bottles of scotch whisky into his quarters. Gibbes, who died on Wednesday at Mona Vale Hospital after a stroke, would have been 91 next month. He was credited with shooting down 12 enemy aircraft and shared in the destruction of another. After the war, he became an early pioneer of New Guinea, launching Gibbes Sepik Airways across the inaccessible highlands, and then creating the region's coffee and hospitality industries. When he returned to Australian in 1975, he had left a legacy that gave the indigenous population a foundation in key businesses: air transport, vast coffee plantations and the biggest hotel chain in the Western Highlands. He was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2004. Always looking for fresh adventure, Gibbes was in his 60s when he single-handedly sailed his 12.8-metre catamaran Billabong from Southampton to Sydney. He reached the northern NSW coast before issuing the first May Day call of his life - having gone through the war in North Africa and the Pacific without doing so - when he began to take on water. Not surprisingly, he fixed the problem and did not need to be rescued. When he was 80 he built a licensed aerobatic Cri Cri aeroplane in his lounge room. It was his pride and joy, although he discovered he had miscalculated its size. He had to remove a wall to allow the plane to "spread its wings". Gibbes flew the aircraft until civil aviation authorities revoked his licence - much to his chagrin - when he was 85. He had had several run-ins with the authorities and in one of his less explosive outbursts, he described their decision as "poppycock". Robert Henry Maxwell Gibbes was born at Young in NSW and educated at All Saints College in Bathurst. When he saw his first aircraft as a boy, as it prepared to land in a paddock, he was instantly fascinated and took off after it shouting: "It's mine when it falls!" His father ran a grazing property and young Gibbes worked as a jackaroo around the district. When World War II started he became an air cadet and by June 1940 he was a pilot officer in the RAAF. He had cheated to join the air force, since his height and leg reach was slightly under the required minimum. He also deliberately messed up his bomber pilot training to ensure he was given a fighter pilot posting. He joined No.3 Squadron in North Africa in May 1941 and there became a double ace - and later the longest-serving commander of the squadron. Two actions sum up the man. On December 21, 1942, he landed his Kittyhawk in difficult terrain in the North African desert to rescue Rex Bailey, a squadron colleague who had been shot down. Gibbes got rid of his belly fuel tank to reduce weight and tossed out his parachute to make room for the other pilot in the cockpit before losing his port wheel during the rough, hair-raising take-off - which meant an eventful one-wheel landing when they got back to their base. On January 14, 1943, he was shot down 220 kilometres behind enemy lines and walked for 72 hours. He outfoxed the patrols of Rommel's Africa Corps by heading west - away from his base - until he was found by a British patrol. Returning to Darwin to help with the defence of Australia in 1943, he suffered severe injuries and burns to his hands when his Spitfire crashed on a training flight. Jeannine Ince, a Red Cross volunteer, helped treat him in hospital. Shortly before his accident, he had noticed her, "a little dark-haired popsy", in a boat and swum out to meet her. They married in December 1944. After the war he worked as a stock and station agent in Coonamble. He was lured to New Guinea in 1946, when he ferried a light aircraft to the Highlands for a friend. Quickly realising the acute need for air transport to open up the region, he decided to start an airline. He admired German aircraft. In North Africa he had "found" a Messerschmitt Me109 fighter, which he painted in his squadron's colours and flew, determining that it was a terrific combat aircraft. It greatly annoyed him when the British sequestered the aircraft. He went to Scandinavia to buy some Junkers transports to start his enterprise in New Guinea. He sold Sepik Airways in 1958 to Mandated Airlines, which was in turn acquired by Ansett. Gibbes then started his coffee business, travelling to South America to learn about running his plantations in the Western Highlands. His hotel business began when he transformed his large house in Goroka into the Bird of Paradise Hotel. Several others followed, developing into what became the largest chain of hotels in the Highlands. That period also left a lasting impression on him. As was the custom, he was trying to light a kerosene fire in an outdoor toilet one day for sanitary purposes and to quell the stench. When the fire would not ignite, he stuck his head over the side to see what was happening. The subsequent roar and explosion covered him in waste and burnt off his eyebrows, permanently. In 1994, he wrote and published his memoirs, You Live But Once. Gibbes is survived by his wife of 62 years, Jeannie, daughters Julie and Robyn and five grandchildren. A service will be held at St Thomas's Church, North Sydney, on Tuesday. My condolences to his family and friends. <S> to a true Aussie hero. RIP
