Bobby Gibbes
Robert Henry Maxwell Gibbes, DSO, DFC & Bar, OAM was an Australian fighter ace of World War II. He was the longest-serving wartime commanding officer of No. 3 Squadron RAAF. Gibbes was officially credited with 10¼ aerial victories, although his score is often reported as 12, including two shared. He is also credited with five aircraft probably destroyed, and a further 16 damaged. He continued to fly until the age of 85, and continued to do so until the end of his life in 2011. He died in a plane crash in Papua New Guinea in 2012.
About Bobby Gibbes in brief
Robert Henry Maxwell Gibbes, DSO, DFC & Bar, OAM was an Australian fighter ace of World War II. He was the longest-serving wartime commanding officer of No. 3 Squadron RAAF. Gibbes was officially credited with 10¼ aerial victories, although his score is often reported as 12, including two shared. He is also credited with five aircraft probably destroyed, and a further 16 damaged. Born in rural New South Wales, Gibbes worked as a jackaroo and salesman before joining the Royal Australian Air Force in February 1940. After the war, he spent many years in New Guinea developing local industry, for which he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2004. He continued to fly until the age of 85, and continued to do so until the end of his life in 2011. He died in a plane crash in Papua New Guinea in 2012. He has been remembered as one of Australia’s greatest airmen, and one of the greatest Australian airmen of all time. His son, Rodney, also served in the RAAF and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross. Two of Gibbes’ cousins, Peter and Rodney, were also pilots in the Air Force and both died in action during the war. His father was a grazier and his uncle Fred a Sopwith Camel pilot in World War I who was killed in action. His great-grandfather built his residence “Wotonga” at Kirribilli, which was later refurbished to become Sydney’s Admiralty House.
His grandfather owned Yarralumla station, subsequently the official residence of Australia’s Governor-General. He exaggerated his height to gain entrance to the Royal Australia Air Force, but was still waiting for a response when he enlisted in 1940. He also applied to join the RoyalAustralian Navy at the same time, but had to wait for a reply from the Admiralty. He served with No. 80 Wing of the Australian First Tactical Air Force. He took part in the “Morotai Mutiny” of April 1945, and was wounded in the battle for the Solomon Islands. He retired from the military in 1946. He had a son, Peter, who also served with the Air force and was also a pilot, and two cousins, Rodney and Peter, both of whom also served during the Second World War. He won the DFC and the DSO for his service in Europe and the Western Desert Campaign. He went on to serve in the South West Pacific, where he was posted to No. 80 Wing. He received the OAM in 2004 for his services in the New Guinea war effort. He passed away in a car accident in 2011, aged 85. He lived in a remote area of New Guinea with his wife and two children. He never remarried and died in 2012, aged 89. He will be buried in a suburb of Sydney. He worked as an insurance agent. He was also a keen golfer, and won a number of awards for his charity work.
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This page is based on the article Bobby Gibbes published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 29, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
