Stanley Goble Air Vice Marshal Stanley James ( Jimmy ) Goble CBE , DSO , DSC ( 21 August 1891 – 24 July 1948 ) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) . He served three terms as Chief of the Air Staff , alternating with Wing Commander ( later Air Marshal Sir ) Richard Williams . Goble came to national attention in 1924 when he and fellow RAAF pilot Ivor McIntyre became the first men to circumnavigate Australia by air , journeying in a single - engined floatplane . During World War I , Goble flew fighters on the Western Front with the British Royal Naval Air Service . He became an ace with ten victories , commanded No . 5 Squadron ( later No . 205 Squadron RAF ) , and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Distinguished Service Cross . Returning to Australia , Goble assisted in the formation of the RAAF as an independent branch of the Australian armed forces . On an exchange posting to Britain in the 1930s , he led No . 2 ( Bomber ) Group RAF . As Chief of the Air Staff at the onset of World War II , Goble clashed with the Federal Government over implementation of the Empire Air Training Scheme , which he believed would be detrimental to the defence of Australia . He stepped down as leader of the RAAF in early 1940 , and spent the rest of the war in Ottawa as Air Liaison Officer to Canada . Goble died in 1948 at the age of fifty - six , two years after his retirement from the military . Early career . Born in Croydon , Victoria , Stanley James Goble was one of four sons to an Australian father , George , and an English mother , Ann . He apparently received little schooling , and began his working life as a clerk with the Victorian Railways at the age of sixteen . By twenty - three he was , like his father , a stationmaster . Goble was prevented from joining the Australian Imperial Force at the beginning of World War I after failing the stringent medical criteria ; he wrote later that " only applicants of the finest physiques were considered suitable for the first contingent of Australian troops " . With his three brothers already on active service , however , he decided to travel to England at his own expense and enlist in the British armed forces . World War I . Goble was accepted for flying training with the Royal Naval Air Service ( RNAS ) in July 1915 . After graduating as a flight sub - lieutenant on 20 October 1915 , he became a test pilot and undertook anti - submarine patrols out of Dover . Goble commenced operations with only three hours solo flying experience . Towards the end of the year he was posted across the Channel to Dunkirk , flying Caudron reconnaissance - bombers and Sopwith Pup fighters . Goble was a founding member of No . 8 Squadron RNAS in 1916 , during the latter part of the Battle of the Somme , where he flew both Pups and Nieuport fighters . He earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions on 24 September 1916 when he engaged two enemy fighters near Ghistelles in West Flanders , " and brought one of them down on fire in a spiral nose - dive " . This victory was the first confirmed ' kill ' achieved by an Allied pilot flying the Pup . Goble was promoted to flight lieutenant on 1 October , and won the French Croix de guerre later that month . On 17 February 1917 , Goble was awarded the Distinguished Service Order ( DSO ) for his " conspicuous bravery and skill " in three separate actions while operating with No . 8 Squadron : on 7 November 1916 when he forced a hostile fighter down in a field , where it crashed attempting to land ; on 27 November when he engaged four enemy aircraft , destroying one ; and on 4 December when , in repeated combats while escorting Allied bombers , he helped drive off attacking fighters and shot down one of them . The same month he was awarded the DSO , Goble was posted to No . 5 Squadron RNAS at Petite - Synthe near the Franco - Belgian border , flying Airco DH . 4 two - seat light bombers . Goble was promoted twice in 1917 , to flight commander in June , then squadron commander in December . He led No . 5 Squadron for the latter part of the year and into 1918 . His unit supported the British Fifth Army as it bore the brunt of the German Spring Offensive , and he had to evacuate his airfield when it was shelled by advancing enemy artillery . Relocating twice to other landing grounds , however , he kept his squadron on the attack , and was subsequently recognised by a commendation circulated to all RNAS combat units . When the RNAS merged with the British Army ' s Royal Flying Corps on 1 April 1918 , Goble became a major in the newly formed Royal Air Force . Twice mentioned in despatches , he finished the war an ace , with ten victories . Although himself forced to crash land on two occasions , he had avoided any injury during his active service . Inter - war years . Establishment of the Royal Australian Air Force . Goble returned to Australia on HT " Gaika " in November 1918 . He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1919 New Year Honours , and made an acting lieutenant colonel in May that year . He received a permanent commission as a squadron leader and honorary wing commander in the RAF on 1 August 1919 , and was seconded to the Royal Australian Navy . When a temporary Air Board was set up to examine the feasibility of an Australian Air Force ( AAF ) , Goble was assigned as a Navy representative , with Lieutenant Colonel Richard Williams , an Australian Flying Corps veteran of World War I , acting as an Army spokesman . The permanent Australian Air Board was established on 9 November 1920 , and recommended creation of the AAF as an independent branch of the armed services . The AAF came into being on 31 March 1921 — the ' Royal ' prefix being granted five months later — and Goble resigned his commission in the RAF the same day to transfer to the new service as a wing commander . The Navy had nominated Goble as First Air Member ( later Chief of the Air Staff ) , however Williams took the post and Goble became Second Air Member and Director of Personnel and Training . Williams and Goble would serve as Chief of the Air Staff ( CAS ) three times each between 1922 and 1940 . One motive suggested for the rotation was a ploy by Army and Navy interests to limit Williams ' autonomy . Instead , according to RAAF historian Alan Stephens , the arrangement " almost inevitably fostered an unproductive rivalry " between the two officers , which was " exacerbated by the personality differences between the pedantic , autocratic Williams and the cheerful , easy - going Goble " . Although in a legal sense the Air Board led the RAAF rather than the CAS alone , Williams dominated the board to such an extent that Goble would later complain that his colleague appeared to consider the Air Force his personal command . Chief of the Air Staff . The rivalry between Goble and Williams was such that it was later alleged that government practice was to ensure that they were never in the country at the same time . In October 1921 , Goble was posted to Britain for a naval cooperation course ; his place on the Air Board was taken by Squadron Leader Bill Anderson . Goble married Kathleen Wodehouse in London on Anzac Day , 1922 , and returned to Australia later that year . His first term as CAS began when Williams left the country in December 1922 for study in England . Goble developed a plan to establish a small seaplane base at Rushcutters Bay in Sydney , but Williams cancelled this shortly after he returned to Australia in February 1925 to resume the position of CAS . Goble ' s suggestion of a separate Fleet Air Arm fostered suspicions that he was too closely aligned with naval interests . He departed for England to undertake study at the British Army Staff College in Camberley and RAF Staff College , Andover , as Williams had done two years before . Goble also served as Air Liaison Officer with the Australian High Commission in London from May 1926 to September 1927 . He was promoted to group captain on 1 April 1928 . Raised to temporary air commodore , Goble took over as CAS for the second time between December 1932 and June 1934 , while Williams attended the Imperial Defence College in London . On secondment to the RAF from 1935 to 1937 , Goble was attached to the British Air Ministry as Deputy Director of Air Operations . In this capacity he attended a conference in 1936 to examine a Commonwealth - wide air training plan , a concept that would be revived in World War II as the Empire Air Training Scheme . Continuing his exchange posting , on 1 September Goble took over as Air Officer Commanding No . 2 ( Bomber ) Group , based in Hampshire . The group comprised fifteen squadrons , putting him in charge of a force stronger than the entire RAAF . On 28 February 1937 , Goble was raised to temporary air vice marshal . He succeeded Williams as Chief of the Air Staff for the last time in February 1939 , when the latter was dismissed from his position in the aftermath of the Ellington Report criticising the standards of training and air safety observed by the RAAF . When he replaced Williams , Goble was Air Member for Personnel and might therefore have been considered more closely responsible for such standards ; he maintained however that Williams had personally overseen the service ' s air training since 1934 . Circumnavigation of Australia . The young air force was a small , close - knit organisation comparable to a flying club ; however several pioneering flights were undertaken by its members . One of the most notable was made by Goble and Flying Officer ( later Flight Lieutenant ) Ivor McIntyre in 1924 , when they became the first men to circumnavigate Australia by air , in a single - engined Fairey III D floatplane . The English - born McIntyre , who was lead pilot while Goble acted as commander and navigator , was also a World War I veteran of the Royal Naval Air Service . The purpose of the flight was to survey the northern coastline of Australia for defence planning , and to test the capabilities of the Fairey IIID . Goble and McIntyre took off from Point Cook , Victoria , on 6 April 1924 and flew in 44 days , in often arduous conditions . Though well - prepared with fuel stocks and spare parts pre - positioned along the intended route , they had to contend with illness and tropical storms , as well as mid - air engine trouble and fuel leaks . Their journey took them anticlockwise around the continent , along the Eastern Australian coast through Sydney , Southport , Townsville and Thursday Island , crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria to Darwin , and then continuing along the coast through Broome , Carnarvon , Perth , Albany and Port Lincoln , before arriving back in Victoria . As they flew above Point Cook , twelve RAAF aircraft took to the air to escort them to their landing place at St Kilda Beach , where they were welcomed by a crowd of 10 , 000 people . Prime Minister Stanley Bruce called the expedition " one of the most wonderful accomplishments in the history of aviation " , his government presenting Goble with a gift of ₤500 , and ₤250 to McIntyre . The British Royal Aero Club awarded them the annual Britannia Trophy , and they were appointed Commanders of the Order of the British Empire in the King ' s Birthday Honours . Though the flight is still acknowledged as one of the most important in Australian aviation , the necessity for the Air Force chief to personally command such a journey has been questioned , suggesting that it was motivated by the one - upmanship that characterised the Williams - Goble relationship . Two years later Williams would make a three - month , round trip from Point Cook to the Pacific Islands , the first international flight undertaken by an RAAF plane and crew , amid similar suspicions . World War II . As Chief of the Air Staff at the outbreak of World War II , Goble planned the expansion and decentralisation of the RAAF in order to meet the needs of home defence and Australia ' s obligations in Europe , which included the transfer of No . 10 Squadron to Britain . However his concept of an autonomous Air Expeditionary Force was abandoned by the Federal Government in favour of full commitment to the Empire Air Training Scheme , which Goble considered detrimental to local defence . His proposal to organise the RAAF along functional lines , with Home Defence , Training , and Maintenance Commands , would similarly be rejected . He also came into conflict with his deputy , Air Commodore John Russell , an RAF officer on exchange in Australia . These issues led to Goble tendering his resignation as CAS , which took effect in January 1940 . " The Argus " in Melbourne reported that " Goble wishes to resign ' on a matter of high principle ' . It is known that he has been dissatisfied for some time with his relations with the Federal Government . " Prime Minister Robert Menzies had in any case been looking for a British officer to head the RAAF and confided to the UK High Commissioner , Sir Geoffrey Whiskard , that Goble ' s resignation was " undoubtedly very convenient " . Following the interim appointment of Air Commodore Anderson , the Royal Air Force ' s Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett became Chief of the Air Staff ; among other things , Burnett proceeded to reorganise the Air Force into a geographically based " area " system of command and control . Goble had offered to submit his resignation from the RAAF as well as from the position of CAS , and was considering a return to Britain for service with the RAF . Menzies persuaded him to remain and take on the role of Australian Air Liaison Officer to Canada , based in Ottawa . Raised to substantive air vice marshal , Goble stayed at this post for the duration of the war and was the RAAF ' s representative at the Ottawa Conference in May – June 1942 that negotiated the Joint Commonwealth Air Training Plan . Retirement and legacy . In January 1946 , Goble presided over the court - martial of Australia ' s top - scoring fighter ace , Group Captain Clive Caldwell . Charged with alcohol trafficking on the island of Morotai in 1945 , Caldwell was found guilty and reduced to the rank of flight lieutenant ; he left the Air Force soon after . Goble was himself forced into retirement in February 1946 , despite being five years below the mandatory age of sixty . The Chief of the Air Staff , Air Vice Marshal George Jones , in recommending Goble ' s dismissal , wrote that " this officer has a sound Service knowledge and an alert mind , but suffers from certain nervous characteristics which make continuous application to a task impossible " . Other senior RAAF commanders who were veterans of World War I , including Richard Williams , were also retired at this time , ostensibly to make way for the advancement of younger officers . Goble suffered from hypertensive cerebrovascular disease and died in Heidelberg , Victoria , on 24 July 1948 . He was cremated , leaving his wife Kathleen , and three sons . His son John ( born 1923 ) joined the Royal Australian Navy and qualified as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm , rising to the rank of commodore and commanding 817 Squadron , the naval air station HMAS " Albatross " , and the aircraft carrier HMAS " Melbourne " . Goble Street in Hughes , Australian Capital Territory , was named for Jimmy Goble . In 1994 he and Ivor McIntyre were honoured with the issue of a postage stamp by Australia Post , in a series depicting Australian aviators that also included Freda Thompson , Lawrence Hargrave , and Sir Keith and Sir Ross Macpherson Smith . | -