Clive Robertson Caldwell

Clive Robertson Caldwell, RAAF service number 402107, emerged as Australia’s highest-scoring fighter pilot of the Second World War and one of the country’s most accomplished combat aviators. The Australian War Memorial records his final score as 28.5 enemy aircraft destroyed, while the Australian Dictionary of Biography gives 27½, a discrepancy that remains in two major Australian institutional sources. The AWM figure is consistent with its account that Caldwell left the Middle East with 20.5 confirmed victories and later added eight Japanese aircraft over northern Australia. The Australian Dictionary of Biography records him as born at Petersham, Sydney, on 28 July 1910. The AWM personnel database instead gives Lewisham and 28 July 1911, so the biographical record is not completely uniform on his birthplace and year of birth.

Caldwell learned to fly before the war with the Aero Club of New South Wales, but had accumulated only limited solo flying experience when he sought wartime service. He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 27 May 1940 after understating his age because he believed he was too old to train as a fighter pilot. He completed his training in Australia under the Empire Air Training Scheme, was commissioned in January 1941, and embarked for the Middle East on 3 February. Following a brief attachment to No. 73 Squadron RAF, he joined No. 250 Squadron RAF, flying Curtiss P-40 Tomahawks. Initially dissatisfied with his air-to-air gunnery, Caldwell developed the practice that became known as "shadow shooting", firing at aircraft shadows on the desert and observing the bullet strikes to improve his judgment of deflection. Later accounts differ over whether the shadow was cast by his own aircraft or by the aircraft of fellow pilots, so the more specific version should not be stated as settled fact. The Australian Dictionary of Biography records that the technique proved sufficiently effective to be adopted more widely among desert fighter squadrons.

Caldwell’s combat reputation developed rapidly during the Western Desert campaign. On 29 August 1941 his Tomahawk was badly damaged during an encounter with German fighters and he was wounded, yet he returned to the attack and destroyed one of the opposing aircraft. The episode later featured prominently in the citation for his Distinguished Flying Cross. On 5 December 1941 he claimed five Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers during a single engagement, bringing his credited total at that point to twelve and providing the basis for a Bar to the DFC. Importantly, the DFC and its Bar were not announced as two sequential awards separated by twelve days. Both were published together in the same London Gazette announcement dated 26 December 1941. The original DFC recognized his sustained operational work, including the action in which he fought on despite being wounded, while the Bar recognized his continued success, specifically including the five Ju 87 claims of 5 December.

On 21 December 1941 Caldwell was appointed to command No. 112 Squadron RAF and became an acting squadron leader the following month. Flying P-40 Kittyhawks, he established himself as the leading desert fighter pilot of his period and left the Middle East in May 1942 with 20.5 confirmed victories according to the Australian War Memorial. His close association with Polish airmen was also formally recognized. The Polish government-in-exile awarded him the Cross of Valour, Krzyż Walecznych, and General Władysław Sikorski granted him special permission to wear the Polish pilot’s badge. The Cross of Valour was subsequently authorized for wear and was gazetted in August 1942.

After leaving the Middle East, Caldwell undertook publicity duties in the United States and gained experience flying Spitfires with No. 127 Wing at Kenley in Britain before returning to Australia. He took command of No. 1 Fighter Wing in November 1942 and, as an acting wing commander from January 1943, led Spitfire operations in the defence of Darwin. The Australian War Memorial records that he added eight Japanese aircraft to his wartime score during this phase, producing its final total of 28.5. The Australian Dictionary of Biography instead records a final official tally of 27½, and because neither institution currently presents an explicit reconciliation of that one-victory difference, the safest publication practice is to acknowledge the discrepancy rather than present either number as uncontested.

Caldwell’s leadership in northern Australia brought him the Distinguished Service Order, gazetted on 19 October 1943. Rather than reproducing the citation in truncated form, its substance can be stated accurately: the recommendation emphasized his confidence, coolness, skill and determination in the air, his outstanding judgment as a formation leader, and several successful interceptions during 1943. By the time of the recommendation he had accumulated more than 475 active operational flying hours and more than 300 operational sorties. The citation concluded by describing his courage, determination, skill and leadership as an inspiration to his wing and worthy of the highest praise.

Following a period as chief instructor at No. 2 Operational Training Unit at Mildura, Caldwell returned to Darwin in May 1944 to command No. 80 Fighter Wing RAAF, equipped with Spitfire Mk VIIIs. He was promoted to acting group captain on 1 August. The wing moved to Morotai in December as part of the First Tactical Air Force. By 1945 Caldwell and a number of other senior RAAF officers had become deeply dissatisfied with operations they regarded as dangerous but of limited strategic value against bypassed Japanese positions. In April, Caldwell and seven other officers, eight men in total, attempted to resign their commissions in what became known as the Morotai Mutiny.

The subsequent Barry inquiry requires more qualification than the earlier biography gave it. Sir John Barry found genuine discontent within the South-West Pacific Area and identified failures among elements of the senior command. He concluded that seven of the eight officers had tendered their resignations because of dissatisfaction with RAAF operations and leadership, and three senior officers were subsequently relieved of their commands. Caldwell and the other resigning officers regarded the outcome as a vindication of their complaints. Barry, however, treated Caldwell’s individual position differently, expressing the view that Caldwell had also been concerned about his own prospects and connecting his attempt to terminate his commission with the court-martial he was then facing over unauthorized liquor trading. The inquiry therefore cannot accurately be described as having unreservedly vindicated Caldwell personally.

At his court-martial in January 1946, Caldwell did not deny the trading but maintained that it had been used to secure American equipment and supplies that his wing could not otherwise obtain. He was found guilty and reduced from group captain to flight lieutenant. His RAAF appointment was terminated on 5 March 1946, making flight lieutenant his substantive rank at the end of his service despite the prominence of his wartime appointments as wing commander and acting group captain. He subsequently built a successful civilian business career and largely withdrew from public celebration of his wartime achievements. Caldwell died at Darlinghurst, Sydney, on 5 August 1994.