(2018) Air Vice-Marshal Charles Gibbs, who has died aged 97, flew supplies and personnel in support of the North African campaign, and later in Italy and to the Yugoslav partisans.
On December 3 1943 Gibbs took off in his Dakota aircraft from Bari in southern Italy, escorted by 12 USAAF fighters, to fly to a remote field near Glamoc in the Bosnia region of Central Yugoslavia. On board was Brigadier Fitzroy Maclean [Maclean was considered to be one of the inspirations for James Bond] and five of his staff, together with supplies.
In worsening weather, Gibbs had to avoid low cloud in mountainous terrain before finding the landing area marked with bonfires. The aircraft, with the engines kept running, was unloaded before three British officers, six Yugoslavs and six German prisoners of war embarked. Nine minutes after landing, Gibbs was airborne again. This was the first successful daylight landing in enemy occupied Yugoslavia. Gibbs was Mentioned in Despatches.
Over the next four months he dropped supplies to the partisans, and on March 20 1944 he landed on a snow-covered field to deliver special equipment including a Jeep and trailer. He had 15 personnel on board on the return flight, including some British officers who had escaped from the Germans. Five days later it was announced that he had been awarded the DFC. He was described as “an officer of untiring energy, courage and devotion to duty, which merit the highest praise”.
Charles Melvin Gibbs was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on June 11 1921 and educated at Taumarunui. He worked as a student engineer with the Public Works Department in Turangi before joining the Royal New Zealand Air Force in May 1941. After completing his elementary flying training he travelled to England in November.
After gaining his “wings”, he converted to transport aircraft and joined No 267 Squadron, based near Cairo. Flying Hudson aircraft, he flew supply missions in support of the Eighth Army. In March 1943 Dakotas replaced the Hudsons, and in June Gibbs was the captain of one of six crews that moved to an advanced landing ground near Tunis to provide support for the invasion of Sicily.
Two nights after the initial assault on June 9, he flew a diversionary raid to drop dummy paratroops, flares and pyrotechnics to the west of the main landing areas. With a foothold gained in southern Sicily, he flew elements of the USAAF 33rd Fighter Group to a captured airstrip and over the next two weeks he took supplies into a number of airfields in southern Sicily. On each occasion he evacuated casualties on the return flight. He returned to Cairo a month later and, shortly afterwards, dropped supplies to a British force on the island of Leros.
On November 11 Gibbs flew his Dakota into the airfield at Bari, which was found to be “in a chaotic state”. Nevertheless, the transporting of supplies from Malta and Egypt began immediately.
After his sorties into Yugoslavia – the final one on March 19 1944, when he dropped supplies to partisans in Croatia – Gibbs had been flying at intensive rates for a year. He had a few weeks’ rest before converting to the Martin Marauder, a US-built medium bomber that equipped just two RAF squadrons, both in the Mediterranean theatre.
In June he joined No 14 Squadron, based at Alghero, north-west Sardinia, to carry out anti-shipping and reconnaissance sorties, some for the planning phase of the landings in Southern France which took place on August 15.
(Photo: Mrs. Edith Cameron pictured with Charlie Gibbs after receiving his wings at Uplands)With the end of maritime operations in the western Mediterranean, Gibbs flew patrols from an Italian airfield on the Adriatic. In September 1944 the German Navy towed the 52,000-ton Italian luxury liner Rex to Trieste to blockade the port. No 14 Squadron shadowed its progress and on the 8th, a force of Beaufighters attacked the ship. The following day, after another strike, Gibbs arrived on patrol just after the liner had capsized.
At the end of the year the squadron moved to Chivenor in Devon and re-equipped with the Wellington, flying 10-hour patrols over the Southwest Approaches. In May 1945 the squadron searched for surrendering U-boats and, on May 29, Gibbs flew the squadron’s final operational sorties. He was again mentioned in Despatches.
After the war Gibbs was posted to Air Headquarters in India and was heavily involved in transport operations during Partition. He flew Dakotas with No 62 Squadron before joining the air staff in Karachi, and towards the end of 1947 moved to Mauripur, the RAF’s last airfield in the new state of Pakistan, where he witnessed many harrowing scenes.
He transferred to the RAF during 1947. In April 1950 he once again served overseas, this time at RAF Khartoum on the Tropical Trials Experimental Unit. In early 1954 his flying career took a new direction when he started to fly single-seat fighter ground-attack aircraft. He became the commanding officer of No 118 Squadron, flying the Venom from Fassberg in Germany.
After three years on the directing staff of the RAF Staff College at Bracknell, he was chosen as one of three RAF officers seconded to the Pakistan Air Force to advise on the creation of the PAF Staff College. He remained on the directing staff for a further two years. On return he was appointed OBE.
In October 1961 Gibbs was based at his old wartime station at Chivenor, the home of the operational conversion unit, training pilots to fly the Hunter fighter ground attack aircraft. He was the chief flying instructor and in command of the flying wing.
On promotion to group captain he trained on the Lightning. On one flight, the undercarriage of his Lightning collapsed and the aircraft rolled upside down. The fire and crash crew were able to rescue him from the upturned aircraft, which was a complete wreck.
For two years he commanded RAF Wattisham in Suffolk, where he maintained his flying currency on the Hunter and the Lightning. In 1966 he was advanced to CBE.
After attending the Imperial Defence College, he filled a number of senior posts in the MoD before becoming the Air Officer Administration in RAF Germany in 1970. The squadrons were re-equipping with the latest combat aircraft and helicopters, resulting in significant developments of the real estate and support facilities. With more than 50,000 personnel, together with their dependants and a large local civilian work force, Gibbs had an extensive remit spread over a sizeable parish.
His final appointment was as the Director of Personal Services (RAF) at the MoD. On retirement in 1976 he was appointed CB.
For 12 years he was the recruiting consultant with Selleck Associates in Colchester and in 1986 he returned to his native New Zealand, where he settled at Taupo near Auckland.
Gibbs exuded an air of calm authority. As a senior officer he made informal visits to stations to meet and listen to people at their workplace and was greatly respected for his measured advice to station commanders. One senior officer described him as “unflappable and a charming person who never needed to raise his voice to be heard … a true gentleman”.
In later life he was an active member of ACT New Zealand, a classic Right-wing liberal political party, and from 1996 was the chairman of the Taupo electorate. He was an avid fly fisherman – his freezer was always stocked with trout – and a keen golfer who remained active to the end of his life. He was still driving a car a few months before his death. He donated his uniforms and medals to the Auckland Museum.
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