Quiet end to life of adventure, danger around globe
There was no death notice in the newspapers. In attendance at the funeral were a daughter, who had flown out from England; two friends, and a neighbour.
A quiet end, an unassuming farewell, for a man who had fought a dangerous war in largely unarmed aircraft and risen to such high military rank and royal recognition.
Charles Gibbs of Richmond Heights, Taupo¯ , has died at the age of 97. He was buried in the town’s public cemetery in the RSA Lawn section, plot 264, two days later, according to Taupo¯ resident Rose Martin.
His grave, perhaps fittingly, is not all that far from Taumarunui, where he spent his school years.
In the late 1930s, Gibbs once told journalist Kate Monahan, he would hop on his bicycle and ride the more than 50km to Mt Ruapehu.
It took three or four hours, on a hilly gravel road. He would sleep in an old hut by the Chateau, then, in the morning, walk an hour up to the snow.
‘‘I did it for the love of skiing,’’ Gibbs said. ‘‘That was the attitude of young men in those days. If you found a mountain, it had to be climbed.’’
It was perhaps the same attitude that saw him enlist at the outbreak of war.
But before that, in the summer of 1938, the 17-year-old spent six weeks living at 1830m, a junior civil engineer in the Public Works Department in Turangi, one of a team surveying the northern Whakapapa side of the mountain for a cable car line.
It was a rough six weeks. ‘‘We bached it, had a billy for our water and an axe to cut firewood,’’ Gibbs said. ‘‘I remember very clearly putting in three days eating only cornflakes and black tea, with no sugar or milk, and another week eating potatoes only.’’
World War II broke out in 1939, and the plan to build a chairlift on Ruapehu was abandoned. All Gibbs’ hard labour was for nothing, although it probably went some way in preparing him for what lay ahead.
He joined the air force, flew in three theatres of war, decided to make a career of it, and was based mostly in England. He retired in 1976 (the year he was made a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath) and worked as a recruitment consultant in England until 1986, when he returned to New Zealand.
On his return he ‘‘was taken aback by the extent of development’’ on Ruapehu. ‘‘I was delighted to see the Chateau was still the same.’’
The Chateau might not have changed, but a great deal had happened to the man who had sailed away as a 20-year-old leading aircraftsman in November 1941 on the troopship Awatea to fight in the Western Desert, Italy, and the Battle of the Atlantic.
Gibbs’ war began on May 4, 1941 with basic training at the RNZAF Initial Training Wing, Levin.
He started flying biplane Tiger Moths in June 1941 at No 3 Elementary Flying Training School, Harewood (now Christchurch International Airport).
He was posted to Transport Command Middle East with 267 Squadron, flying mostly Dakotas and Hudsons.
In August 1942, operations extended to transport throughout the Mediterranean area and Gibbs flew ‘‘special ops’’ supply-drop missions to resistance fighters in Italy and the Balkans. He was heavily involved in the invasion of Sicily, landing supplies and troops on newly captured airfields, and evacuating casualties.
His first mention in dispatches came in 1943 after he flew Brigadier Fitzroy Maclean and five of his staff, together with supplies, behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia in daylight.
Other flights included picking up escaped British soldiers, again behind enemy lines.
Gibbs was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in March 1944 and mentioned in dispatches twice. His citation for the DFC read: ‘‘During the last 17 months this officer has taken part in many hazardous operational flights in support of the Eighth Army and performed sterling work in supplying the forward areas and evacuating casualties. An officer of untiring energy, his enthusiasm, courage, and devotion to duty have always merited the highest praise.’’
He spent time in Cairo Hospital being treated for malaria and for wounds.
He was transferred to 14 Squadron, flying the Martin Marauder, and responsible for long-range maritime reconnaissance, mine-laying, and anti-shipping attacks using torpedoes.
The Squadron transferred back to England and was based at RAF Chivenor, from where Gibbs carried out 10-hour anti-submarine missions over the Western Approaches and the Bay of Biscay using Vickers Wellington Mk.XIVs.
One of his jobs towards the end of the war was to search for surrendering German submarines which had been ordered to the surface.
After the war Gibbs was posted to 353 Squadron in India in time to be heavily involved in flying operations during the bloody 1947 Partition.
According to details listed in the Online Cenotaph website of Auckland Museum, Gibbs’ service included promotions and transfers to the Tropical Experimentation Unit, the RAF Staff College, the Pakistan Staff College, the Hunter OCU (Operational Conversion Unit), RAF Wattisham, and RAF HQ Germany.
Gibbs married Pamela Pollard in 1947, and was commanded 118 Squadron based in Fassberg, lower Saxony, from 1954 to 1955, flying single-seater De Havilland Venom jets close to the border with East Germany.
On promotion to Group Captain he flew the EE Lightning, which had an exceptional rate of climb, ceiling, and speed, and which was described by pilots as akin to ‘‘being saddled to a skyrocket’’. He survived one crash-landing in this aircraft and had to be pulled from the wreckage.
After attending the Imperial Defence College, he filled senior posts in the Ministry of Defence before joining the Air Officer Administration in RAF Germany in 1970, where he was responsible for 50,000 personnel. – By Charles Riddle