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Bobby Gibbes who was to become one of the aviation pioneers of PNG joined the RAAF early in WWII. He had received no reply to his enlistment application from the navy and he decided that not only was he too short at 5' 4" for the army but that he didn't like walking any way. He served in Tomahawks, Kittihawks, Mosquitos and Spitfires in North Africa, England and Darwin. He reached the rank of Wing Commander and was awarded both the DSO and the DFC. He suffered burns to his face and his hands when he crashed in the Territory. He also faced a court martial in Moratai between Dutch New Guinea and the Philippines for selling alcohol and transporting it in RAAF planes and was demoted to Flight Lieutenant.
After the war he and his wife Jean lived for a short time in Coonamble in NSW where he was the rural agent for Dalgety's but, finding life there too bland, Gibbes accepted an offer to be a pilot with Mandated Air Lines (MAL) in Lae in NG. He flew to all parts of the Morobe, Madang and Sepik districts and established two trade stores. He resigned from MAL on the spot when he was accused of spending too much time on the stores even though he maintained his full quota of flying hours. He then purchased a single-engine Auster aircraft and, with Bruce Brearley as his talented engineer, established Gibbes Sepik Airways in Wewak in 1948. He employed two young pilots who built themselves a house in their spare time. It was a square construction divided into four sections by Burnie Board, which was also used for, flooring, had no glass in the windows, and used a verandah on all four sides to keep out the rain. In 1967 my family (myself, husband, small son and dog Algernon) lived in this house when my husband was flaying for Ansett MAL. This rather ramshackle house on a cliff top overlooking the Bismarck Sea was eventually demolished and replaced by a huge fortress-like structure owned and occupied by Michael Somare. Bobby Gibbes expanded his Airways with Norseman and Junkers aircraft opened branches in Goroka, Lae, Madang and Port Moresby. He was often in dispute with DCA for exceeding his legal flying hours or for landing after dark. Wewak had no control tower and aircraft using that port had no radios and Port Moresby wast he only airport with night landing facilities. Gibbes Sepik Airways did enormous pioneering work, especially in the Sepik and the Central Highlands Districts. When DCA refused to allow Gibbes to buy a DC3 he decide to sell up to MAL in 1958. MAL later became Ansett-MAL, then Ansett Airlines of PNG, and, on Independence, Air Nugini. Bobby stayed in PNG where my husband met him in Goroka in the early 70s when he was still flying his own personal aircraft, a Piper Comanche. There is a saying in the aviation industry: There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old, bold pilots. I think Bobby Gibbes is, nevertheless, an old bold pilot. |