29 Facts About Clive Caldwell

Clive Caldwell is officially credited with shooting down 28.5 enemy aircraft in over 300 operational sorties, including an ace in a day.

Clive Caldwell was the highest-scoring P-40 pilot from any air force and the highest-scoring Allied pilot in North Africa.

Clive Caldwell commanded a Royal Air Force squadron and two Royal Australian Air Force wings.

Clive Caldwell was at Sydney Grammar School from June 1924 until May 1927, but did not complete his Leaving Certificate there.

Clive Caldwell learned to fly in 1938 with the Royal Aero Club of New South Wales.

Clive Caldwell was employed as a commission agent when World War II broke out, and he joined the Citizen Air Force division of the Royal Australian Air Force on 27 May 1940, with the intention of becoming a fighter pilot.

Clive Caldwell was accepted by the RAAF and joined the Empire Air Training Scheme.

Clive Caldwell's first, brief combat posting was a British Hurricane unit, No 73 Squadron, Royal Air Force, in the early stages of the North African campaign.

Clive Caldwell had gained only a few operational hours when he was transferred to No 250 Squadron RAF as it converted to the new P-40 Tomahawk, one of the first units in the world to operate P-40s.

On 26 June 1941, while escorting bombers attacking Gazala, Libya, Clive Caldwell destroyed an aircraft in air-to-air combat for the first time, during his 30th sortie.

Clive Caldwell downed a German Messerschmitt Bf 109E, piloted by Leutnant Heinz Schmidt of I gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 27, over Capuzzo, he followed this claim with a 'half share' of a Bf 110 on III.

On 4 July 1941, Clive Caldwell saw a German pilot shoot and kill a close friend, Pilot Officer Donald Munro, who was descending to the ground in a parachute.

Clive Caldwell's attackers included one of Germany's most famous aces, Leutnant Werner Schroer, of JG 27, in a Bf 109E-7.

Clive Caldwell sustained three separate wounds from ammunition fragments and or shrapnel.

On 24 December 1941, Clive Caldwell was involved in an engagement which mortally wounded another Luftwaffe ace, Hpt.

Clive Caldwell only claimed a "damaged" at the time, but postwar sources have attributed him with the kill.

In January 1942, Clive Caldwell was promoted to squadron leader and given command of No 112 Squadron RAF, becoming the first EATS graduate to command a British squadron.

Clive Caldwell scored another striking victory in February 1942, while leading a formation of 11 Kittyhawks from 112 Sqn and 3 Sqn.

When Clive Caldwell left the theatre later that year, the commander of air operations in North Africa and the Middle East, Air Vice Marshal Arthur Tedder described him as: "[a]n excellent leader and a first class shot".

Clive Caldwell had flown some 550 hours in over 300 operational sorties.

Clive Caldwell had taken over as the co-pilot on the eight hours of circling over Buffalo, receiving certification that he was checked out on the C-46, under the tutelage of Fisher.

Clive Caldwell claimed two kills in his first interception sortie over Darwin, a Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter and a Nakajima B5N "Kate" light bomber.

Clive Caldwell scored what was to be his last aerial victory, a Mitsubishi Ki-46 "Dinah" of the 202nd Sentai, over the Arafura Sea on 17 August 1943.

Clive Caldwell claimed a total of 6.5 Japanese aircraft shot down.

Later in 1943, Clive Caldwell was posted to Mildura, to command No 2 Operational Training Unit.

Clive Caldwell was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in November 1943.

Clive Caldwell was court martialled in January 1946 and reduced to the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

On 13 April 1940 Clive Caldwell married Jean McIver Main, whom he had known twelve years, a daughter of George and Mary Main of "Retreat" station, Illabo, New South Wales.

Clive Caldwell became a partner in 1953 and later served as chairman of the board.