Clive Caldwell

Clive Robertson Caldwell, (28 July 1911 – 5 August 1994) was the leading Australian air ace of World War II.

He is officially credited with shooting down 28.5 enemy aircraft in over 300 operational sorties, including an ace in a day.

In addition to his official score, he has been ascribed six probables and 15 damaged.

Caldwell flew Curtiss P-40 Tomahawks and Kittyhawks in the North African Campaign and Supermarine Spitfires in the South West Pacific Theatre.

He was the highest-scoring P-40 pilot from any air force and the highest-scoring Allied pilot in North Africa.

Caldwell also commanded a Royal Air Force (RAF) squadron and two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) wings.

His military service ended in controversy, when he resigned in protest at the misuse of Australian First Tactical Air Force's fighter units and was later court martialed and convicted for trading liquor.

Caldwell was born in the Sydney suburb of Lewisham, and educated at Albion Park School, Sydney Grammar School and Trinity Grammar School.

As he was over the age limit for fighter training, Caldwell persuaded a pharmacist friend to alter the details on his birth certificate to July 1912.

He was accepted by the RAAF and joined the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS; also known as the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and similar names).

Caldwell's first, brief combat posting was a British Hurricane unit, No. 73 Squadron, Royal Air Force, in the early stages of the North African campaign.

He had gained only a few operational hours when he was transferred to No. 250 Squadron RAF as it converted to the new P-40 Tomahawk, one of the first units in the world to operate P-40s.

He was at Sydney Grammar School from June 1924 until May 1927, but did not complete his Leaving Certificate there (he rowed in the 4th IV and was a member of the Games Committee).

Suitable claim for that day 29.08.41 Ltn.

Werner Schroer (6.) of 1./JG 27, Curtiss P-40 N.W. Sidi Barrani at 18.10 (Film C. 2036/II Nr.81357/42).

On 23 November, Caldwell shot down an Experte, Hauptmann Wolfgang Lippert, Gruppenkommandeur (Group Commander) of II./JG 27, who bailed out.

Lippert had struck the stabiliser and following capture had his legs amputated but 10 days later, a gangrene infection set in and he died on 3 December.

For this action, Caldwell was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

He learned to fly in 1938 with the Royal Aero Club of New South Wales.

He was employed as a commission agent when World War II broke out, and he joined the Citizen Air Force division of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) on 27 May 1940, with the intention of becoming a fighter pilot.

According to some accounts, on 6 June 1941, Caldwell as Flying Officer Jack Hamlyn's wingman, was involved in the P-40's first ever kill, of an Italian CANT Z.1007 bomber, over Egypt.

However, the claim was not officially recognised.

(Hamlyn and Sergeant Tom Paxton scored the first official kill two days later, another CANT.) Soon afterwards, Caldwell served with the squadron over Syria and Lebanon.

After struggling to acquire the skill of gunnery deflection, Caldwell developed a training technique, known as "shadow shooting", in which he fired at the shadow of his own aircraft on the desert surface.

This was later widely adopted by the Desert Air Force.

The squadron returned to North Africa.

On 26 June 1941, while escorting bombers attacking Gazala, Libya, Caldwell destroyed an aircraft in air-to-air combat for the first time, during his 30th sortie.

He downed a German Messerschmitt Bf 109E, piloted by Leutnant Heinz Schmidt of I gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 27 (JG 27—Fighter Wing 27), over Capuzzo, he followed this claim with a 'half share' of a Bf 110 on III./ZG 26 and 2 Ju 87s of II./Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 (StG 2—Dive Bomber Wing 2) on 30 June.

On 4 July 1941, Caldwell saw a German pilot shoot and kill a close friend, Pilot Officer Donald Munro, who was descending to the ground in a parachute.

This was a controversial practice, but was nevertheless common among German and Allied pilots.

One biographer, Kristin Alexander, suggests that it may have caused Caldwell's attitude to harden significantly.

Months later, press officers and journalists popularised Caldwell's nickname of "Killer", which he disliked.

One reason for the nickname was that he too shot enemy airmen after they parachuted out of aircraft.

Caldwell commented many years later: "... there was no blood lust or anything about it like that. It was just a matter of not wanting them back to have another go at us. I never shot any who landed where they could be taken prisoner."

(In later life, Caldwell said that his thoughts often turned to one Japanese airman or passenger, who survived Caldwell's last aerial victory but could not be rescued.) A more commonly cited reason for the nickname was his habit of using up ammunition left over at the end of sorties, to shoot up enemy troop convoys and vehicles.

During his war service, Caldwell wrote in a notebook: "it's your life or theirs. This is war."

While flying to his base alone, over northwest Egypt on 29 August 1941, Caldwell was attacked by two Bf 109s, in a simultaneous approach at right angles.

His attackers included one of Germany's most famous aces, Leutnant Werner Schröer, also of JG 27, in a Bf 109E-7.

Caldwell sustained three separate wounds from ammunition fragments and or shrapnel.

His Tomahawk was hit by more than 100 7.92 mm bullets and five 20 mm cannon shells, but he shot down Schröer's wingman, and heavily damaged Schröer's "Black 8", causing Schröer to disengage.