Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Bobby Gibbes


 * The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Article promoted Hawkeye7 (talk) 09:39, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Bobby Gibbes

 * Nominator(s): Ian Rose (talk)

This article has grown slowly in detail and quality since I launched it in 2007, a couple of months after the death of its subject, and I think it's now ready for A-Class and, perhaps, FA. I've made use of a great many sources to try and tell Gibbes' story in context, and to get behind the usual facade of the fearless fighter pilot and crack shot, neither of which he claimed to be. That said, "irrepressible" is the word I'd use to describe him: a dual ace who flew combat in a cast when he broke his ankle; risked his life to rescue one of his fellows who crashed in the desert; participated in the "Morotai Mutiny" of 1945; pioneered air transport in New Guinea; and built and flew his own light plane in his 60s and 70s. There should be something in his story for everyone... ;-) Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 15:26, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Comments - Dank (push to talk)
 * Not sure about the cquotes.
 * You reckon bquotes?
 * Sure, that works. - Dank (push to talk) 13:10, 10 August 2013 (UTC)
 * "As a former jackaroo, one sortie that involved attacking cattle especially upset him": As a former jackaroo, he was especially upset about one sortie that involved attacking cattle
 * Okay.
 * "No--not the Japs": No—not the Japs
 * I thought I used the dash style from the source but I think you're right.
 * "ABC": Quite likely to be misread by American readers as ABC
 * Well it was linked, and I don't know why we should pander to US parochialism, but okay... ;-)
 * "He died of a stroke ... on 11 April 2007. Aged 90, he was survived by his wife and two daughters.": I'd be just a bit more comfortable with: He died of a stroke ... in Sydney on 11 April 2007, aged 90, survived by his wife and two daughters.
 * Okay (with slight variation).
 * Support on prose per standard disclaimer. - Dank (push to talk) 20:51, 9 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Many tks as usual Dan. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 23:35, 9 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Support
 * One dab link :
 * Battle of El Alamein
 * Heh, the perils of editing without an internet connection to check links -- I know damn well there were two battles but didn't think... ;-) Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 01:08, 10 August 2013 (UTC)
 * External links check out (no action req'd).
 * One of the images lacks Alt Text so you might consider adding it for consistency (suggestion only - not an ACR req).
 * Tks for that. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 01:08, 10 August 2013 (UTC)
 * The Citation Check Tool reveals no issues with reference consolidation (no action req'd).
 * Images all appear to be PD/free or licensed and seem appropriate to the article (no action req'd).
 * The Earwig Tool reveal no issues with copyright violation or close paraphrasing (no action req'd).
 * No duplicate links per WP:REPEATLINK (no action req'd).
 * I reviewed at GA (in 2010) and have read through the article again and can find nothing to fault it other than a dash correction which I made and a few minor technical points I made above. Anotherclown (talk) 00:30, 10 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Tks again, AC. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 01:08, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

Support Great work Ian - this is a very well written and comprehensive article. While I'm pleased to support now, I do have the following comments/suggestions:
 * "although his score is often reported as 12, including two shared.[3][4][5][6]" - are four citations needed in the lead? (while this demonstrates the "often reported" statement, I'd suggest moving the refs and the discussion of his total kills into the body of the article)
 * Normally I mention score in the lead w/o citation and then reiterate with citation(s) in the main body but because of the discrepancy I mentioned both and decided to source them then and there. OTOH I guess there's no reason I can't leave the expression (and two scores) as is in the lead and then repeat with citations in the main body.
 * "He shared in its destruction with John Jackson, after which the pair tossed a coin to take full credit for it, and Gibbes won" - this is a bit unclear: did Gibbes and Jackson have to record the kill as being attributed to one of them for official purposes, but informally shared it?
 * Hmm, was the expression I used in Jackson's A/FA and reviewers seemed okay with it. They downed the plane together, tossed a coin to see who'd take sole credit, and Gibbes won, so got the credit. The source doesn't say "offically", I just think we can assume that, as other sources give Gibbes credit w/o mentioning Jackson.
 * Do we know why Gibbs was posted back to Australia in 1943?
 * Not off the top of my head -- I'll check his interviews and see if he says why.
 * You might want to note that Gibbs was No. 80 Wing's wing leader from November 1944, and acted as CO for a few days while Caldwell was travelling (see the No. 80 Wing article for the refs) Nick-D (talk) 10:35, 10 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Tks for pointing that out, mate. Oddly enough, I did check an electronic copy of that source (Alexander's Clive Caldwell: Air Ace for others' benefit) for refs to Gibbes but realise now I didn't get all the way through it. This helps as I did have a source that said he went to 80WG in October (it is October, not November, in Alexander BTW, and I corrected the 80 Wing article accordingly) but that it was in Morotai then and I knew that couldn't be correct as Gibbes was injured in Darwin towards the end of the year and married in January. Will add a few snippets from the book now I've gone through it entirely. Tks again, cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 13:17, 10 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Okay, changes made; sources don't say explicitly why he never commanded 464SQN but added a bit about his trip home from England. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 10:01, 11 August 2013 (UTC)


 * The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it.  No further edits should be made to this discussion.