during the second world war few fighter pilots sparked as much controversy
on either side friend or foe as did australian ace clive caldwell
what made clive caldwell one of the most dangerous allied pilots of world war ii why was he called
clive killer caldwell by both allied and access pilots alike what were the documented incidents
where he shot and killed parachuting airmen why was clive caldwell such a controversial figure
often shunned by his fellow pilots and hated by his german enemies hello i'm colin heaton
former soldier marine corps scout sniper history professor historian and book author
and we'll answer these questions and other issues on this segment of forgotten history
clive caldwell was born on 28 july 1911 in the sydney suburb of louisiana
and educated at albion park school sydney grammar school and trinity grammar school
caldwell flew curtis p-40 tomahawks and kitty hawks in the north african
campaign and later he flew super marine spitfires in the southwest pacific theater
caldwell was the highest scoring p40 pilot from any air force and the highest scoring allied pilot
in north africa however his career almost never got off the ground and when it did he had a life
of extreme controversy caldwell learned to fly in 1938 with the royal aero club of new south wales
he was working as a commission agent when world war ii broke out he joined the citizen air force
division of the royal australian air force the raaf on 27 may 1940 wanting to become a fighter
pilot caldwell learned that he was too old for acceptance into the rigorous fighter training ever
enterprising however he convinced a pharmacist friend to alter his birth certificate to july 1912
as a subsequent factor he was accepted by the raaf and joined the empire air training scheme
which was also known as the british commonwealth air training plan a program that occurred in many
countries that were formerly colonies of the british empire caldwell saw service in lebanon
and syria and his first posting in north africa was to a british unit number 73 squadron rural air
force flying hawker hurricanes he had gained only a few operational hours when he was transferred
to number 250 squadron raf as it converted to the new p-40 tomahawk after duty in syria
one of the first commonwealth units in the world to operate p-40s
on 6 june 1941 caldwell was flying and wingman to flying officer jack hamlin
and he scored the p-40s first ever kill an italian kant z1007 bomber over egypt
however the claim was not officially recognized as there was no witness to the aircraft crashing
on the pilot betting out caldwell was involved in many fights with the germans of jg27 and jg53 but
he found that his deflection shooting was just not good enough he then developed a training technique
known as shadow shooting in which he fired at the shadow of his own aircraft on the desert surface
he also perfected his dive and climb method of attacking enemy fighters in a near vertical climb
shooting and then rolling away very similar to the tactic of one hans york of marseille
on 18 june 1941 number 250 concentrating on the main capuzo el adem roads
and they were ordered to strafe german supply columns
caldwell claimed that he saw a german pilot shoot and kill a close friend pilot officer donald
alexander monroe who was descending to the ground in a parachute the actual events are not clear but
from the interviews with pilots after the war it would seem that monroe was in fact killed in his
parachute but that it was not intentional due to there being several parachutes in the air and with
the fighters in a twisting turning dogfight with shells flying this is the most plausible theory
the reason for this assessment was that standing orders were clear luftwaffe fighter pilots were
not to violate the geneva convention protecting parachuting airmen while flying back to his base
alone over northwest egypt on 29th august 1941 caldwell was attacked by two bf-109s head-on
his attackers were lightning verner schroer of jg27 in the bf-109 black 8 and his wingman
caldwell managed to shoot down shores wingman and damaged shores 109 black 8. for his effort
caldwell sustained three separate wounds from bullets fragments and shrapnel in his left leg
left arm back and left shoulder his p40 was hit by over 100 7.92 millimeter bullets and at least five
20 millimeter cannon shells and although badly wounded himself he managed to land at his airbase
returning to active duty after recuperating on 23 november caldwell shot down hauptmann wolfgang
lippert the group in kamandur of second group jg27 who bailed out lippert struck the stabilizer and
following capture had his legs amputated but ten days later a gangrene infection set in and he died
on three december for this action caldwell was awarded the distinguished flying cross
on 5 december caldwell shot down 5 juncker's ju-87 stuka dive bombers
these were stukas of second group stg2 led by arbor leighton and court coolmai
many german parachutes were seen in a matter of minutes and caldwell was apparently the pilot
seen shooting at them for this achievement caldwell was awarded a bar to his dfc
however as stated previously the interviews become important according to kurt colemai
my fighter escort had not yet arrived and we were attacked i saw this p-40 target two of
my men who had bailed out one of the men was lucky as the bullets missed but the other was
less fortunate and with my stukas riddled with holes and smoking there was little we could do
caldwell after the war explained his reasoning there was no bloodlust or anything about it like
that it was just a matter of not wanting them back to have another go at us i never shot at any who
landed where they could be taken prisoner as a result of his actions caldwell's reputation among
his own pilots was summed up by two officers who flew with him and to do him quite well
squadron leader michael judge said caldwell was a wonderful pilot
and his presence instilled confidence in the men however and i say this delicately his practice
of shooting germans who bailed out did not sit well with us another pilot jeffrey morley mower
was less diplomatic caldwell said of presidents that if the germans also adopted would have
seen many more young men murdered i personally despised him and his methods and i was not alone
this was why he was called killer caldwell several german pilots also had their opinions of caldwell
such was the reaction to caldwell colonel general later field marshal irwin rommel flew to jg 27's
home base held a meeting with them in at their base and they sat down to discuss the issue
this event is covered in my book the star of africa complete with the interviews with
the men concerned caldwell had not just shot down a lot of german fighter races
he took out some of the best such as irbo von kagnek who later died hans arnold stall schmidt
who survived that encounter as the war in north africa pivoted towards the allies the australian
pilots were sent back home to defend their country against potential japanese invasion
upon returning home to australia the pilots fresh from north africa were told to attend a class
given by united states marine corps fighter race captain joseph foss
foss was to instruct them on how to deal with the japanese fighter aircraft and the pilots
they would encounter the several dozen pilots expressed no interest whatsoever
in listening to these classes however there was one pilot who did pay attention and wanted to know
everything about what voss had to say and that was clive caldwell foss told him all that he knew
in order to thank joe foss caldwell allowed him to fly his spitfire 5c which foss loved for its
handling characteristics caldwell was then posted to darwin and commanded number 80 fighter wing of
the royal air force comprised of british squadron numbers 54 452 and the australian 457 squadrons
however these units whose pilots failed to heed foss's warnings did indeed pay a high price
and they lost many planes and pilots as a result these losses concerned senior commanders to such
a degree that the allied air commander in the southwest pacific major general george kinney
considered sending the wing to new guinea and returning the u.s fifth air force fighter units to
darwin caldwell decided that ruthless applications of discipline and logic were required and he
reinforced what foss taught him after that the australians began to perform better in april 1945
while serving at moratai in the dutch east indies with the australian first tactical air force as
commanding officer of number 80 wing caldwell was involved in what became known as the mauritai
this was when several senior pilots resigned in protest of what they saw as the relegation of
royal australian air force fighter squadrons to dangerous irrelevant and strategically worthless
ground attack missions that resulted in high casualties an investigation resulted in three
senior officers being relieved of their commands but with caldwell and the other mutineers cleared
of any wrongdoing clive caldwell was the leading australian air race of world war ii and the
top p40 pilot in north africa he is officially credited with shooting down 28.5 enemy aircraft
in over 300 operational sorties including ace in a day for his five stukas in a single mission
postwar investigation gave him credit for an additional japanese fighter
rounding out his score in addition to his official score he has been ascribed six probables and 15
damaged his military service ended in controversy when he was resigning in protest at the misuse of
australian first tactical air forces fighter units and he was later court-martialed and convicted for
trading liquor although in later life caldwell spoke modestly about his wartime service upon his
death in sydney on 5 august 1994 many australians mourned to the passing of a true national hero
controversial pilot hero fighter race some would say murderer clive caldwell
wore many hats but in the annals of history we can only say he was one hell of a fighter pilot
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