Air Vice Marshal Stanley James (Jimmy) Goble, CBE, DSO, DSC was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He served three terms as Chief of the Air Staff, alternating with Wing Commander Richard Williams. Goble came to national attention in 1924 when he and fellow RAAF pilot Ivor McIntyre became the first men to circumnavigate Australia by air, journeying 8,450 miles (13,600 km) in a single-engined floatplane.
Official RAAF portrait of Air Vice Marshal Stanley Goble
RAAF Air Board in 1928: Group Captain Goble, Director of Personnel and Training (front, left), with Air Commodore Williams, Chief of the Air Staff (front, centre)
Fairey IIID seaplane flown by Wing Commander Goble and Flying Officer McIntyre on their 1924 circumnavigation of Australia
Goble (left) and McIntyre on St Kilda Beach
Chief of Air Force (Australia)
Chief of Air Force (CAF) is the most senior appointment in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), responsible to the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) and the Secretary of the Department of Defence. The rank associated with the position is air marshal (three-star). The role encompasses "the delivery of aerospace capability, enhancing the Air Force's reputation and positioning the Air Force for the future". It does not include direction of air operations, which is the purview of the Air Commander Australia, a two-star position responsible directly to CDF in such circumstances but nominally reporting to CAF.
Chief of Air Force (Australia)
The inaugural Air Board, including Group Captain Stanley Goble (front row, left) and Air Commodore Richard Williams (front row, centre)
Recently appointed CAS Air Vice Marshal George Jones (left) with Air Vice Marshal William Bostock (centre) and outgoing CAS Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett in 1942
Air Marshal (later Air Chief Marshal) Sir Frederick Scherger
