Wilfred Arthur

Wilfred Stanley Arthur, (7 December 1919 – 23 December 2000) was a fighter ace and senior officer of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II.

Commonly known as "Woof", he was officially credited with ten aerial victories.

As a commander, he led combat formations at squadron and wing level, becoming at twenty-four the youngest group captain in the history of the RAAF.

Born in Sydney on 7 December 1919, Arthur grew up around Yelarbon, Queensland, near the New South Wales border.

His early education was by correspondence, but he later attended Yelarbon State School, commuting on horseback.

In 1935 he began boarding at the Scots College in Warwick, where he matriculated; he was also a member of the school cadet corps and excelled in sports such as cricket, tennis, swimming, athletics, and shooting.

Known by his father's forename in youth, Arthur later gained an array of appellations including "Bandy", "Wilf", "Wolf", and "Wulf", but most commonly "Woof".

Aged nineteen and still at the Scots College, Arthur applied to join the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

Born in Sydney and raised in rural Queensland, Arthur enlisted in the RAAF the day after Australia joined the war in September 1939.

He first saw action the following year with No. 3 (Army Cooperation) Squadron in the Middle East, flying Gloster Gladiators initially, and later Hawker Hurricanes and P-40 Tomahawks.

He enlisted on 4 September 1939, the day after Australia's entry into World War II.

Training at RAAF Station Point Cook, Victoria, and RAAF Station Richmond, New South Wales, he was commissioned a pilot officer on 3 March 1940, despite being prone to airsickness early on.

His initial flying duties were with No. 22 (City of Sydney) Squadron, which operated Hawker Demons and Avro Ansons.

Arthur was posted to No. 3 (Army Cooperation) Squadron on 27 March 1940.

He achieved victories in all three types against German and Italian opponents, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for shooting down four aircraft in a single sortie in November 1941.

On 22 January 1941, Arthur and Flying Officer Alan Rawlinson were despatched in Gladiators to attack an Italian schooner off Tobruk; they machine-gunned the vessel, setting it on fire.

No. 3 Squadron began re-equipping with Hawker Hurricane monoplane fighters on 29 January.

The next month Arthur married a young woman he met in Alexandria, and organised for her to travel with him on his troopship when he was posted back to Australia in January 1942.

After a brief stint flying P-40 Kittyhawks with No. 76 Squadron in Queensland in April 1942, Arthur served as an instructor with No. 2 Operational Training Unit (OTU) in Victoria.

In January 1943 he was posted to New Guinea to command another Kittyhawk unit, No. 75 Squadron.

He received the Distinguished Service Order in April for continuing to lead an attack on a formation of Japanese bombers after discovering that his guns were inoperable.

Appointed wing leader of No. 71 Wing, Arthur was involved in a runway collision with an RAAF Spitfire in November and suffered severe burns necessitating repatriation to Australia.

After recovering, he attended a staff course before taking charge of No. 2 OTU.

In December 1944 he was posted to the Dutch East Indies to command No. 81 Wing and, later, No. 78 Wing.

Twice mentioned in despatches during the war, Arthur also played a leading part in—and gave name to—the "Morotai Mutiny" of April 1945, when eight RAAF officers attempted to resign their commissions in protest against apparently worthless ground-attack operations.

Pursuing business interests in Australia and Vietnam following his discharge from the RAAF after the war, he settled in Darwin, Northern Territory, in 1967 and died there in 2000.

Wilfred Stanley Arthur was the son of stock inspector Stanley Oswald Darley Arthur from Inverell, New South Wales, and his English-born wife Helena Elizabeth Chaffers-Welsh.

Stanley Arthur was a veteran of World War I, serving with the Australian Army Veterinary Corps in Egypt and France; two of his brothers also saw active service.

On 10 February, the squadron advanced to RAF Station Benina to take over the air defence of Benghazi, which had been occupied by the 6th Division.

German aircraft began appearing at this time, as the Afrika Korps and a Luftwaffe contingent under General Erwin Rommel arrived in North Africa to reinforce the Italians; the Germans launched an offensive in March, and Benina was evacuated on 3 April.

No. 3 Squadron eventually re-located to Sidi Haneish in Egypt on 12 April, having retreated 500 miles and operated from nine airfields in ten days.

On 15 July, the squadron departed Sydney for the Middle East to support the 6th Division in the Western Desert campaign against Italian forces.

Sailing via Bombay, the unit arrived in Suez, Egypt, on 23 August.

Arthur was promoted to flying officer on 3 September.

On 2 November, two flights of the squadron moved forward to Gerawla, near Mersa Matruh, equipped with Gloster Gladiator biplane fighters.

Arthur achieved his first aerial victory by shooting down a Fiat CR.42 biplane north-west of Sofafi, Egypt, on 12 December.

He was in a patrol of five Gladiators that encountered seventeen of the Italian fighters, three of which the Australians claimed destroyed without loss to themselves.

The next day Arthur was shot down by a CR.42, one of eight that engaged six Gladiators while they were attacking a formation of Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers near Sollum; five of the Gladiators were forced down against three Italian aircraft destroyed.

Bailing out, Arthur narrowly avoided disaster when he became entangled first with his oxygen hose and then with the Gladiator's wing-bracing wires; he was only torn loose at a height of 1,000 ft by the force of rushing air as his stricken plane fell to earth.

Arthur was credited with another CR.42 destroyed, and one damaged, north-east of Sollum Bay on 26 December, when his squadron attacked a formation of SM.79s escorted by over twenty CR.42s.