Harry Cobby
Arthur Henry Cobby, CBE, DSO, DFC & Two Bars, GM was an Australian military aviator. He was the leading fighter ace of the Australian Flying Corps during World War I, with 29 victories. Cobby was a bank clerk when war broke out, and was prevented by his employer from enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force until 1916. After completing flight training in England, he served on the Western Front with No. 4 Squadron AFC, operating Sopwith Camels.
About Harry Cobby in brief
Arthur Henry Cobby, CBE, DSO, DFC & Two Bars, GM was an Australian military aviator. He was the leading fighter ace of the Australian Flying Corps during World War I, with 29 victories, in spite of the fact that he saw active service for less than a year. Cobby was a bank clerk when war broke out, and was prevented by his employer from enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force until 1916. After completing flight training in England, he served on the Western Front with No. 4 Squadron AFC, operating Sopwith Camels. Acclaimed a national hero, Cobby transferred to the newly formed Royal Australian Air Force in 1921 and rose to the rank of wing commander. He left the Permanent Air Force in 1936 to join the Civil Aviation Board, but remained in the RAAF reserve. Re-joining the PAF at the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he held senior posts including Director of Recruiting and Air Officer Commanding North-Eastern Area. Retiring from the Air Force in 1946, C Bobby served with the Department of Civil Aviation until his death on Armistice Day in 1955. He had been responsible for downing No.4 Squadron’s first observation balloon, nicknamed Drachenhen, nicknamed the Drachen Drachen. He personalised his Sopwith Camel by fitting it with aluminium cutouts of comic actor Charlie Chaplin. His achievements as a fighter pilot were recognised with the Distinguished Service Order, thedistinguished Flying Cross and two bars, and a mention in despatches.
He later admitted to being so nervous about the prospect of going into battle that “if anything could have done by me to delay that hour, I would have left nothing undone to bring it about”. Cobby’s aerial opponents included members of Baron von Richthofen’s “Flying Circus” and members of the German Luftstreitkräfte. The award was changed to a Distinguished Distinguished Cross, appearing in the London Gazette on July 2, 1918. C Bobby was recommended for the Military Cross on June 3, 1918 in recognition of his combat success and for being a ‘bold and skilful leader, who is setting a fine example to his Squadron’ He was awarded the George Medal for rescuing fellow survivors of an aircraft crash in 1943, but was relieved of his post in the wake of the Morotai Mutiny of April 1945. He died in a car crash in Melbourne in 1955 and was survived by his wife Alice and their three children. He is buried in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran, with a memorial service to be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on November 11, 2011. He also had a son, Arthur Edward Stanley Cobby,. a tram conductor, and his daughter, Alice Cobby. The young Cobby completed his senior-level education at University College, Armadale, before being commissioned into the 46th Infantry, a militia unit, in 1912.
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