page_title: George Jones (RAAF officer)
section_title: The "Morotai Mutiny"
hierarchical_section_title: George Jones (RAAF officer) / World War II / The "Morotai Mutiny"
caption_attribution_description: AWM Caption: Manila, Philippines. C. 1945-07. Air Vice Marshal (AVM) George Jones CB CBE DFC, the Chief of Air Staff RAAF (left) conferring with General (Gen) G. C. Kenney, the Commanding General of Far East Air Forces (right) during AVM Jones's visit to Gen Kenney's Headquarters.
context_page_description: Air Marshal Sir George Jones, KBE, CB, DFC was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force. He rose from private soldier in World War I to air marshal in 1948, and served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1942 to 1952, the longest continuous tenure of any RAAF chief. Jones was a surprise appointee to the Air Force's top role, and his achievements in the position were coloured by a divisive relationship during World War II with his nominal subordinate, the head of RAAF Command, Air Vice-Marshal William Bostock.
  During World War I, Jones saw action as an infantryman in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915, before transferring to the Australian Flying Corps a year later. Originally a mechanic, he undertook flying training in 1917 and was posted to a fighter squadron in France. He achieved seven victories to become an ace, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. After a short spell in civilian life following World War I, he joined the newly formed RAAF in 1921, and rose steadily through training and personnel commands prior to World War II.
context_section_description: Towards the end of the war Jones intervened in the so-called "Morotai Mutiny", when senior pilots in the Australian First Tactical Air Force (No. 1 TAF) proffered their resignations rather than carry on attacking what they saw as unimportant targets. Jones personally interviewed all but one of the officers involved, later declaring, "I believed them all to be sincere in what they were stating and what they had attempted to do ... Yes, sincerely held beliefs, no matter how ill-founded, coupled possibly with a rather exaggerated sense of national duty."
  Kenney also insisted on speaking to the pilots himself, overriding Jones' protestations that it was an internal RAAF matter, and threatened to appear on behalf of the pilots should they be court-martialled. Jones sacked the Air Officer Commanding No. 1 TAF, his former No. 4 Squadron comrade Harry Cobby, along with two of Cobby's staff. In what may have been a reaction to Kenney's threat, Jones insisted that the subsequent inquiry before Justice John Vincent Barry focus not only on the attempted resignations but on reports of alcohol trafficking on Morotai. While no action was taken against the pilots over the mutiny directly, two of the RAAF's best-known aces, Group Captain Clive Caldwell and Wing Commander Bobby Gibbes, were court-martialled for their involvement in the alcohol racket and reduced in rank. Although Barry did not find it a significant factor, the Jones–Bostock conflict was also blamed for contributing to the poor morale that precipitated the "mutiny". One of the other participants, Wing Commander Kenneth Ranger, told the inquiry: "I deplore the fighting and wrangling between them which is common knowledge throughout the Air Force. Every week there are instances of it."
caption: Jones (left) and Lieutenant General George Kenney (right) in Manila, July 1945
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