Middle East Arthur was posted to
No. 3 (Army Cooperation) Squadron on 27 March 1940. Arthur was promoted to
flying officer on 3 September. On 2 November, two
flights of the squadron moved forward to Gerawla, near
Mersa Matruh, equipped with
Gloster Gladiator biplane fighters. Arthur achieved his first aerial victory by shooting down a
Fiat CR.42 biplane north-west of Sofafi, Egypt, on 12 December. He was in a patrol of five Gladiators that encountered seventeen of the Italian fighters, three of which the Australians claimed destroyed without loss to themselves. The next day Arthur was shot down by a CR.42, one of eight that engaged six Gladiators while they were attacking a formation of
Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers near
Sollum; five of the Gladiators were forced down against three Italian aircraft destroyed. Bailing out, Arthur narrowly avoided disaster when he became entangled first with his oxygen hose and then with the Gladiator's wing-bracing wires; he was only torn loose at a height of by the force of rushing air as his stricken plane fell to Earth. Arthur was credited with another CR.42 destroyed, and one damaged, north-east of Sollum Bay on 26 December, when his squadron attacked a formation of SM.79s escorted by over twenty CR.42s. On 22 January 1941, Arthur and Flying Officer
Alan Rawlinson were despatched in Gladiators to attack an Italian
schooner off
Tobruk; they machine-gunned the vessel, setting it on fire. No. 3 Squadron began re-equipping with
Hawker Hurricane monoplane fighters on 29 January. As the Allies continued to retreat, No. 3 Squadron re-located to
Lydda in
Palestine and began converting from Hurricanes to
P-40 Tomahawks on 14 May 1941. Arthur was among a detachment of six pilots deployed to
Cyprus to patrol the coast of Turkey in Hurricanes from 25 May to 3 June. The squadron took part in the
Syria–Lebanon campaign against the
Vichy French in June–July. Arthur was rested from operations and posted as an instructor to
No. 71 Operational Training Unit RAF in
the Sudan on 14 August. No. 3 Squadron returned to Sidi Haneish on 3 September, to resume operations in the Western Desert. Arthur re-joined the squadron on 18 September. In a drawn-out battle for
air superiority, during which No. 3 Squadron lost six Tomahawks against three Bf 109s destroyed, Arthur claimed four Bf 109s damaged. The action occurred when Nos. 3 and 112 Squadrons intercepted fifteen
Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers escorted by twenty-five German and Italian fighters heading to attack New Zealand troops at
Sidi Rezegh; No. 3 Squadron claimed eight aircraft destroyed and twelve damaged, bringing its tally of claims in the theatre to 106 aircraft destroyed. Arthur was credited with shooting down two Ju 87s and two Italian fighters, a
Fiat G.50 and a
Macchi MC.200.--> His "great skill and gallantry" in this action earned him the
Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), which was
gazetted on 20 January 1942. Arthur met his future wife, Lucille (Lucie) Petraki, a Greek–Egyptian national, in a shop in
Alexandria. They married in an
Anglican ceremony at St Mark's Church in Alexandria on 24 December 1941, and honeymooned in Palestine and
Syria. The sudden romance came as a shock to Arthur's parents; he related that "the first letter I got was a fair imitation of panic I think". Arthur was
mentioned in despatches on 1 January 1942. Completing his tour with No. 3 Squadron, he embarked for Australia on 20 January. He managed to arrange for his new bride to travel with him on the troopship. Arthur recalled that they sailed via Bombay and
Colombo, where the ship picked up many refugees following the recent
fall of Singapore, before arriving in
Melbourne on 28 March.
South-West Pacific As the Japanese advanced in the
South West Pacific during early 1942, the RAAF hurriedly established three new fighter units for the defence of Australia and New Guinea,
Nos. 75,
76 and
77 Squadrons. On 13 April, Arthur was posted to No. 76 Squadron in
Townsville, Queensland, flying
P-40 Kittyhawks. In June, Arthur, Rawlinson and a
United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) pilot conducted comparative trials pitting the new
CAC Boomerang against a Kittyhawk and a
Bell Airacobra, reporting favourably on the Boomerang's handling characteristics. On 22 January 1943, Arthur succeeded
Les Jackson as commanding officer of No. 75 Squadron, a Kittyhawk unit based at
Milne Bay in
New Guinea under the control of
No. 9 Operational Group. Arthur developed a reputation for diligence, courtesy, and concern for the welfare of his men. Despite being, at twenty-three, the youngest officer in his new squadron, he commanded the respect of his fellows because, he believed, "they like that I work hard; they like that I am not frightened of anything (i.e.
Pretends not to be) and above those, they like that I don't boast". On 10 March, Arthur was credited with the destruction of a
Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" that he attacked while flying with another Kittyhawk near
Fergusson Island. Battling stoppages in his guns, Arthur reported chasing the bomber before bringing it down. Arthur was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his "gallantry, matchless leadership and devotion to duty" in action over Milne Bay on 14 April 1943. On this occasion, his guns jammed completely and he could not clear them. In spite of this, he led thirty-four Allied aircraft, including Kittyhawks of Nos. 75 and 77 Squadrons and
P-38 Lightnings of the USAAF, in what his DSO citation described as "a determined head-on attack" to intercept 100 Japanese raiders, fourteen of which the defenders claimed as destroyed. Arthur described the situation of being in combat but unable to shoot as "sort of awkward. Fortunately nobody else would know except me." To compensate for his lack of offensive weaponry, he repeatedly made as though attempting to ram one of the Japanese aircraft, to try and force it down into the sea. On 13 June 1943, Arthur was promoted acting
wing commander and the next day became
wing leader of
No. 71 Wing, which controlled No. 75 Squadron and three other combat units. He was credited with probably destroying a Betty over
Jacquinot Bay in
New Britain on 31 October. Five days later, he was involved in a runway collision at
Kiriwina Airfield with a
Supermarine Spitfire of
No. 79 Squadron. The Spitfire pilot was killed, and Arthur received serious burns. He recalled, "I felt my hands disappear, felt my face go but the rest of my body was ... was just flames [...] And then all of a sudden the flames dropped down a bit and I got out and went like mad and I was running away from the aircraft and trying to guess how far I could go before I'd try to put the flames out..." Although his family was informed that his injuries were "of a very slight nature" and that he had been "burnt but not badly", Arthur was temporarily blinded and close to death for weeks while he was treated in
Kiriwina. He was subsequently repatriated aboard a
Bristol Beaufighter to Sydney, where he underwent
plastic surgery. The award was gazetted on 16 June. Having recovered from his injuries, he commenced No. 3 War Staff Course at the
RAAF Staff School on 3 April, and took charge of No. 2 OTU on 3 August. He was promoted to acting
group captain on 5 October. Comprising three squadrons, the wing came under the control of the
Australian First Tactical Air Force (No. 1 TAF), the RAAF's mobile strike force. By this time, No. 1 TAF was mainly assigned to garrison duties and harassing Japanese bases on islands bypassed by US forces
advancing on the Philippines and Japan. Flying his first mission on 22 December 1944, Arthur began to doubt the value of some targets considering the risk his pilots faced from ground fire, and cancelled three days of operations on his own authority. He also formulated a "balance sheet" of achievements as opposed to losses in October–November, finding that the wing had destroyed a dozen Japanese barges and six vehicles for the loss of eleven pilots and fifteen aircraft. According to historian
Mark Johnston, "His letters at this time reveal a thoughtful and perhaps restless man, grappling with political and religious issues." On 6 April 1945, Arthur took command of No. 1 TAF's
No. 78 Wing, headquartered on
Morotai. There he played a prominent role in an incident that became known as the "
Morotai Mutiny" (a phrase originating in one of his
aide memoires at the time). By this time Arthur, Caldwell, Gibbes, Waddy, and four other officers of No. 1 TAF who had become disillusioned with the way the war was being conducted had formed a group and began determining action to take. On 20 April, Arthur and the other seven officers attempted to resign their commissions to protest what they considered to be militarily unjustifiable operations. Arthur handed over command of No. 78 Wing to Group Captain Alan Rawlinson on 24 May. Arthur's official final tally of aerial victories during the war was ten enemy aircraft destroyed, though his score has also been reported as eight destroyed and two probables, as well as six damaged. Reflecting on being a fighter pilot throughout his military career, Arthur said that he was glad to have flown single-seat aircraft rather than bombers, because "I would always have felt very uncomfortable with anybody else for whom I'd be responsible". ==Later life and legacy==