Featured Article Summary #226

Air Vice-Marshal Stanley James Goble (1891–1948) was a senior Royal Australian Air Force commander. He served three separate terms as Chief of the Air Staff, trading the role with Wing Commander Richard Williams. In 1924, Goble gained national fame for becoming the first person to fly around Australia, covering 13,600 km in a single-engined floatplane with Ivor McIntyre. During World War I, he flew fighters on the Western Front, became an ace with ten victories, led No. 5 Squadron, and received several high awards. After helping establish the RAAF as an independent force, he later commanded No. 2 Bomber Group in Britain on exchange. In World War II, he disagreed with the Australian government over the Empire Air Training Scheme and later stepped down, serving instead in Canada before dying in 1948. Stanley James (Jimmy) Goble was born in Croydon, Victoria, to an Australian father and an English mother, and had little formal schooling. At sixteen he started work as a clerk with Victorian Railways, and by twenty-three he became a stationmaster and played football for Brunswick. He was initially rejected for the Australian Imperial Force in World War I because of medical requirements, so with his brothers already serving, he paid his own way to England to enlist in the British forces. Goble began flying training with the Royal Naval Air Service in July 1915 and, after qualifying in October, flew anti-submarine patrols from Dover and later reconnaissance and fighter missions from Dunkirk. In 1916 he helped form No. 8 Squadron, won major honors including the Distinguished Service Cross for an early confirmed victory, and earned the Croix de Guerre. He later led No. 5 Squadron during intense fighting in 1917–1918, was promoted to major in the Royal Air Force after the RNAS merged with the Royal Flying Corps, and ended the war as an ace with ten victories. Goble returned to Australia in November 1918, received honours and RAF promotions in 1919, and was then seconded to the Royal Australian Navy. He helped assess and plan the new Australian Air Force, which began in March 1921, and he left the RAF to join the AAF as a wing commander. Although the Navy originally nominated him for top leadership, he became Second Air Member instead, and a rotation of senior posts led to ongoing rivalry with Williams, partly driven by their very different personalities. Goble and Williams had a close but difficult rivalry, with suggestions that they were often kept apart so neither was in the country at the same time. Goble was posted to Britain and later returned to lead as Chief of the Air Staff twice (from late 1922 and again from 1932–1934), while also working with RAF planning and air training efforts. He briefly faced suspicion for ideas linked to naval air power, and he ultimately replaced Williams in 1939 after Williams was dismissed over concerns about training and air safety.