BOXART STORY
#84154
Morotai Mutiny
Squadron Leader Henry Maxwell Gibbes
DSO, DFC & BAR and OAM was one of Australia's top fighter pilots. Due to his stout build,
Bobby Gibbes was known as “the barrel that
walks”. As commander of No. 3 Sq RAAF he
achieved 10.25 victories in MTO. His opponents included not only German and Italian
pilots, but a Vichy France’s pilot. who fought
for Vichy France. He left his command post in
April 1943 after completing 274 combat sorties. Gibbes was eager to pilot the Mosquito
and flew 25 hours, because he was to become commander of the RAAF's night fighter
No. 464 Sq. Instead, however, he was transferred to Australia as Chief Flying Instructor
to No. 2 OTU. He returned to combat service
in October 1944 as deputy of legendary Clive
Caldwell, commander of No. 80 Wing RAAF.
At that time the Wing consisted of No. 452
and 457 Sq RAAF both armed with Spitfires
Mk.VIII. In December 1944, parts of the Wing
were gradually moved to the island of Morotai in the northern part of present-day Indonesia. Gibbes did not take part in this transfer, having suffered burns in an emergency
landing at Sattler airfield on 5 December. But
every cloud has its silver lining, at the hospital he met a nurse he courted for two weeks,
and their wedding took place at the end of
January 1945
Morotai Island was important to the Allied
advance into the Philippines. Therefore, in
mid-September 1944, American and Australian troops had made a landing there. The
small Japanese garrison, outnumbered 1:100,
February 2023
was pushed into the less important parts of
the island. Work began immediately on the
two main airfields, which were completed in
October. The Japanese, however, would not
surrender and the fighting didn’t stop before
the end of the war. In the months following
the landings, Japanese airmen conducted
a series of night raids on the island, for which
Allied fighter units found virtually no effective defence. Japanese bombers destroyed or
damaged over 70 aircraft.
Caldwell's Spitfires at Morotai encountered
enemy aircraft only once. The pilots had to
attack insignificant ground targets on the surrounding islands. As a result, in the attack
on the Philippines, the Australian airmen
remained aside from the main war zone,
and it led to their growing frustration. They
were not happy with the deployment of their
high-altitude Spitfires in the role of strafer.
Nevertheless, they tried to suggest modifications that would make this role easier.
However, some of these were rejected.
Work to prepare facilities for Australian troops on Morotai Island was not going ideally either. American engineer units
were in charge, but the pace was very slow.
So, Caldwell and Gibbes decided to speed
up the work with illegal supplies of alcohol.
However, they were denounced and both
officers were court-martialed and reduced
in rank.
Gibbes rejoined the unit in March 1945
after recovering and flew 44 combat sorties
against isolated Japanese positions. During
Text: Jan Bobek
Illustration: Antonis Karydis
one of these, on 4 April, he was wounded in
an attack on Ternate Island. Anti-aircraft gun
fire hit the Spitfire's starboard radiator, machine-gun hits damaged the port wing and
several splinters struck Gibbs' right thigh.
Gibbes later recalled that he saw no purpose
in these combat operations. He even stopped
seeing the point of continuing to serve in the
Air Force. He especially disliked shooting at
cattle. He had previously worked on a farm
and shooting at animals with a Spitfire literally made him sick.
He was not alone with these feelings on Morotai and so he joined Caldwell and six other
officers in an unprecedented move in RAAF
history. Together they submitted their resignations with a postponement until after
the fighting was over. The command tried to
sweep the matter under the carpet, not willing to address the issues, and wanted to
persuade the officers to withdraw their resignations. This motivated the mutineers to
change the validity of the resignations to immediate. Eventually, this led to an inspection
from Australia. This resulted in the replacement of part of the 1st Tactical Air Force command, the correction of problems, and a gradual improvement in morale. Bobby Gibbes
was later reinstated to the rank of Squadron
Leader and left RAAF in 1946. His civilian air
life was no less colourful than his wartime
service. In 1994, he published a biographical
book, You Live But Once.
INFO Eduard
27