Air Commodore Arthur Henry Cobby, CBE, DSO, DFC & Two Bars, GM (26 August 1894 – 11 November 1955) was an Australian military aviator.

Acclaimed a national hero, Cobby transferred to the newly formed Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1921 and rose to the rank of wing commander.

Re-joining the PAF at the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Cobby held senior posts including Director of Recruiting and Air Officer Commanding North-Eastern Area.

[3] When World War I broke out, Cobby attempted to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force but his employer, the Commonwealth Bank, refused to release him as his position of clerk was considered an essential occupation.

4 Squadron's first balloon at Merville earlier in May; although vulnerable to attack with incendiary bullets, these large observation platforms, nicknamed Drachen (Dragons), were generally well protected by enemy fighters and anti-aircraft defences, and were thus considered a dangerous but valuable target.

[16] This action earned Cobby a recommendation for a second bar to his DFC, the citation noting that he had scored 21 kills to date and had "succeeded in destroying so many machines by hard work and by using his brains, as well as by courage and brilliant flying".

[18] On 16 August, Cobby led a bombing raid against the German airfield at Haubourdin, near Lille, the largest aerial assault by Allied forces up until then, resulting in 37 enemy aircraft being destroyed.

[23] He continued applying for a return to the front until the war ended in November,[5] and was mentioned in despatches by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig the same month (gazetted 27 December).

[4] Still instructing in England following the end of the war, Cobby was chosen to lead the AFC's Anzac Day flypast over London before the Prince of Wales on 25 April 1919, in concert with a parade by Australian soldiers.

[4][5] By 2:30 in the afternoon, he was taking his 50-strong aerial formation through a series of wild stunts over the alarmed Prince's head, and later told the story that he flew so close to the marching soldiers that their bayonets almost pierced his undercarriage.

[35][36] Having handed over to Squadron Leader Bill Bostock on 22 November 1931,[33] Cobby was promoted to wing commander on 1 May 1933 and subsequently served as RAAF Director of Intelligence.

The committee's findings, presented in April 1934, favoured employing government agencies for such work and ultimately led to the formation of the North Australian Survey Flight from staff and aircraft of No.

The resulting surveys of Queensland and the Northern Territory provided valuable input for the establishment of military airfields and other installations following the outbreak of World War II.

[1][2] His civil aviation duties included aircraft inspection, the issuing of licences and airworthiness certificates, maintenance of radio and meteorological services, and RAAF liaison.

[45][49] On 16 June 1944, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his conduct of air operations over New Guinea as AOC North-Eastern Area, the citation noting his "good leadership, personal example, keen understanding and continued encouragement".

[1][41] In this role he commanded 20,000 personnel in the RAAF's major mobile strike force in the South West Pacific, consisting of fighter, close support, and airfield construction units.

10 OG's administration, while its operational tasking was to be passed down through RAAF Command, the United States Thirteenth Air Force and Headquarters South West Pacific Area.

By early 1945, Japanese air power in the South West Pacific had been virtually destroyed, and 1st TAF was increasingly assigned to garrison duties and harassing enemy bases on islands bypassed by US forces in their advance on the Philippines.

[54] During March and April, 1st TAF prepared for the invasion of Tarakan, an operation based around a mistaken judgement made by officers at Cobby's headquarters that the island's airstrip could be rapidly repaired and used to support the Borneo campaign.

[55] The relegation of fighter units to what appeared to be strategically unimportant ground attack missions led to a crisis in morale that precipitated the so-called "Morotai Mutiny" in April 1945, when eight of Cobby's senior pilots, including Australia's leading ace in the war, Group Captain Clive Caldwell, tendered their resignations in protest.

[54][56] Although one of the "mutineers", Group Captain Wilf Arthur, had earlier voiced his concerns to Cobby and his headquarters staff regarding the efficacy of 1st TAF's tasking, the AOC was taken aback by the resignations.

[59] In the event, Jones transferred not only Cobby but also his staff officers, Group Captains Gibson and Simms, and Air Commodore Frederick Scherger took over command on 10 May.

[54] Air Force historian Alan Stephens later described it as "a personal and institutional tragedy that a genuinely great figure in RAAF history had to end his career in such circumstances".

[54] The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History contends that Cobby's "gallant service flying career ... became another victim of the weaknesses and feuding within the RAAF's senior leadership during the Pacific War".

[65] Stephens summed up Cobby's military career by saying "No Australian airman's experience better illustrates the tensions between 'command', 'leadership' and 'heroism'", concluding that "the qualities that make a hero do not easily translate into those needed by a commander, although they are likely to engender leadership".

[67] The citation noted that from September 1944 to January 1945, he displayed "exceptionally sound judgement and far sighted planning ... and materially assisted in support of the operations in the Philippine Liberation Campaign".