Born 7 December 1919 in Yelarbon, Queensland, Australia, 'Woof' Arthur was a pre-war regular officer in the RAAF, serving in 22 RAAF Squadron in 1939.
He was later posted to 3 RAAF Squadron.

On 1 May 1940 Air Cadets Alan Boyd, J. H. Davidson, Arthur, B Todd, M. D. Ellerton, V. East, C. R. McKenny and F. R. McGrill of 3 RAAF Squadron were granted probationary short service commissions as Pilot Officers as from 3 March 1940.
At this time 3 RAAF Squadron was based at Richmond, Australia.

On 15 July 1940 3 RAAF Squadron embarked on RMS Orontes at Sydney for service overseas.
At this time the unit consisted of the following flying personnel:
Squadron Leader Ian McLachlan (CO).
“A” Flight:
Flight Lieutenant Gordon Steege (OC), Flying Officer Alan Gatward, Flying Officer Alan Boyd, Pilot Officer Peter Turnbull and Pilot Officer Arthur.
“B” Flight:
Pilot Officer Charles Gaden (OC), Pilot Officer L. E. Knowles, Pilot Officer V. East, Flying Officer Alan Rawlinson and Flying Officer B. L. Bracegirdle.
“C” Flight:
Squadron Leader P. R. Heath (OC), Flight Lieutenant Blake Pelly, Pilot Officer J. M. Davidson, Flying Officer John Perrin and Pilot Officer M D. Ellerton.
Totally the squadron had 21 officers and 271 of other ranks on 24 July.

On 7 August RMS Orontes arrived at Bombay and the unit was transhipped the same day to HT Dilwara.

HT Dilwara sailed on 11 August and arrived at Suez on 23 August where the squadron disembarked.

3 RAAF Squadron received a signal from H.Q.M.E. on 16 September advising that it had been decided to re-arm the squadron with two flights of Gladiators and one flight with Lysanders.
In order to carry out this re-arming, the unit was to move from Ismailia to Helwan on 23 September, where the Gladiators were to be taken over from 33 Squadron.

With the Squadron Arthur flew Gladiators and Hurricanes during the First Libyan Campaign.

Arthur and Alan Boyd were promoted to Flying Officers as off 9 September.

Flying Officer Arthur force-landed Gladiator N5769 on 5 October after that the engine cut while practising formation flying with the whole squadron. Arthur was uninjured but the aircraft was extensively damaged when it hit a drum during the forced landing ¼ miles north-west of Helwan.

At 11:10 on 12 December, a mixed formation from the 4^o Stormo took off for a free sweep in the Ogerin Bir El Kreighat area. After the sweep, they were to ground strafe targets of opportunity. Participating pilots from the 91^a Squadriglia were Maggiore Carlo Romagnoli (CO 10^o Gruppo), Capitano Vincenzo Vanni, Sottotenente Andrea Dalla Pasqua, Sergente Maggiore Leonardo Ferrulli, Sergente Maggiore Natale Fiorito and Sergente Maggiore Giovanni Casero. From 84^a Squadriglia came Capitano Luigi Monti, Sottotenente Paolo Berti, Sottotenente Luigi Prati, Sottotenente Bruno Devoto, Sergente Roberto Steppi and Sergente Onorino Crestani.
Sergente Giovanni Battista Ceoletta of the 90^a Squadriglia was part of a formation taking off at 11:40 while his squadriglia mates Sergente Maggiore Angelo Savini and Sergente Alfredo Sclavo suffered accidents on take off, which prevented them to take part (and probably wrote off the plane of Sclavo). Tenente Aldo Gon and Sergente Gustavo Minelli from the 96^a Squadriglia, 9^o Gruppo also took part in this action.
Bad weather prevented the discovery of ground targets, so Romagnoli led his fighters to the Bir Enba area where a formation of Gladiators surprised the 84^a Squadriglia formation. A long dogfight started after which the CR.42 of Onorino Crestani was missing and the remaining pilots claimed two victories. Crestani was taken prisoner.
According to the squadriglia diaries, the two confirmed victories were shared among the 91^a Squadriglia pilots plus Ceoletta (who used 120 rounds of ammunition during the combat) and the pilots from the 9^o Gruppo. Gon and Minelli in fact only claimed a shared probable in a combat against a reportedly six Gladiators, while the 10^o Gruppo’s Diary downgraded the victories to two probables. Monti, Prati and Steppi were credited with a damaged each while Ceoletta also claimed two damaged Gladiators (according to some Italian historians one Gladiator was shared between Monti, Prati and Steppi and the second shared between Gon and Minelli, while one or two other Gladiators were considered probably shot down but there is however no trace of such claims in the official diaries).
They had run into five Gladiators from 3 RAAF Squadron, which had taken off from ALG 74 at 11:25 to carry out an offensive patrol around Sofafi. The patrol intercepted a reported 16 to 18 CR.42 six miles north-west of Sofafi. During the ensuing combat three of the Italian fighters were claimed shot down, one apiece being credited to Flying Officers Alan Boyd, Arthur and Alan Gatward, without loss. The Gladiators returned to base at 13:05.

On an early morning patrol on 13 December, six Gladiators (Flight Lieutenant Gordon Steege, Flight Lieutenant Charles Gaden, Flying Officers Lex D. Winten, Flying Officer Alan Boyd, Flying Officer Arthur and Flying Officer Alan Gatward) from the Advanced Detached Flight of 3 RAAF Squadron took off at 08:00 to fly an offensive fighter patrol over Sollum – Fort Capuzzo – Halfaya area. They came across five SM 79s bombing troops at Sollum escorted by a reported eight CR.42s. Diving in to attack Flight Lieutenant Steege shot down one of the bombers and claimed a second as a probable. Before the Gladiators could reform for a second attack, the escorting CR.42s intervened. Flight Lieutenant Gaden (Gladiator N5765) was killed when his aircraft was shot down and crashed into the desert. It was believed that Gaden was shot down by rear gunners of the SM 79s. Flying Officer Winten was hit in the right hand by an explosive bullet and baled out. Flying Officer Boyd claimed two CR.42s before his aircraft had its port flying wire shot away causing him to force land. Flying Officer Gatward was also forced down. Flying Officer Arthur's Gladiator (N5752) was shot to pieces and he decided to bale out. As he clambered out of the cockpit, he became entangled in his oxygen tube. He managed to break free only to be caught up in the interplane bracing wires. Unable to free himself he waited for the inevitable, when at about 1,000 feet he was thrown clear and parachuted to the ground. Later back in the mess he produced from his pocket the ripcord of his parachute, which meant that he did not have to buy drinks all round. Flight Lieutenant Steege was separated from the remainder of the flight, ran out of ammunition and returned to base at 10:30.
The Italians seems to have consisted of five SM 79s from the 60^a Squadriglia, 33^o Gruppo Autonomo BT, which had taken off from Z1 at 07:30. The formation was led by Tenente Colonnello Ferri Forte, who flew as second pilot in Capitano Loris Bulgarelli’s (CO of the 60^a Squadriglia) SM 79 and they had been briefed to attack British troop concentrations in a desert area south of Sollum. The pilot of another bomber was Tenente Pastorelli and among his crew of five was Aviere Scelto Armiere Guido Reggiani. The bombers were escorted by ten CR.42s from the 9^o Gruppo. The SM 79s were the first bombing effort of the day by the 5^a Squadra and attacked a group of 30 British vehicles along the road Sollum-Buq-Buq at 08:45 and immediately after this, another group of 60 armoured vehicles south-east of Halfaya. The escort was led by Capitano Antonio Larsimont Pergameni (temporary CO of the 9^o Gruppo since 10 December) and included the 73^a Squadriglia (Tenente Valerio De Campo, Tenente Pietro Bonfatti, Tenente Giuseppe Oblach, Sottotenente Giulio Reiner, Sergente Maggiore Sergio Stauble and Sergente Enrico Dallari) and the 97^a Squadriglia (Capitano Ezio Viglione Borghese, Sergente Franco Sarasino and Sergente Maggiore Otello Perotti). After 45 minutes of flight, between Sidi Omar and Sollum, they spotted a formation of Gladiators that soon attacked the SM 79s. Aviere Scelto Armiere Reggiani recorded that after the bombing the formation was attacked by a group of ten Gloster Gladiators. The gunners of the Savoias claimed the shooting down of two of them before they were dispersed by a squadriglia of the 4^o Stormo’s fighters. Capitano Larsimont chased the leader but, while shooting at him from a short distance, he collided with a British wingman that was trying to avoid his bursts. In the collision, the Gladiator lost its wings and fell. Larsimont, whose aircraft was badly damaged in the fuselage and rudders, made an emergency landing on the Menastir M airfield; unfortunately the airstrip was already abandoned by the Italians due to the proximity of the British infantry so Larsimont had to abandon his damaged plane, which became a total loss. It seems possible that Larsimont’s victim (the Gladiator surprised while chasing the Savoias and observed to fall minus its wings) was Flying Officer Arthur who later recalled:

”(...) I was chasing some Italian bombers, Savoia-Marchettis I think they were. They were quite a lot faster than our aircraft were which meant you only chance of really catching them was to cut the corner if they were foolish enough to turn very much. In...also, if you’re chasing somebody like that you’re concentrating very much on that and you are a sitting duck for somebody else. And, in fact, that’s what happened to me. Chasing these Savoias I suddenly realised I was being attacked by an Italian aircraft which almost immediately ... a shell went into the top mainplane – do you know what I mean by the top mainplane where it was a biplane - the top main plane tore straight away and swung back towards the tail and the bottom main plane sort of followed it but a bit behind and I had no control at all, just completely loose control column. So I got out quickly (...)

”Probably only fifty seconds or seventy or something like that. I got out of the cockpit quite quickly but by that time the thing was nearly vertically downwards and I got stuck underneath one of the main planes that had folded back against the fuselage and I couldn’t get out of that. I was kicking and trying to get myself free when I was very close to the ground and finally did get free but hit the ground very hard because...well, because I hadn’t had enough time to slow up, I suppose (...)”.

“(…) we had a very bad day on 13th December, it was over Salum (…) we had an extraordinary bad day – ran into a very big lot of CR42s and Flight Lieutenant Gaiden [Gaden] was killed but Arthur, “Wilf” Arthur was shot down (…). Lex Witton [Winten] had an explosive round in one hand and he bailed out. Gatwood [Gatward] and Boyd both crash-landed. So we had five, and that was a really very bad day for the Squadron (…) It was a very traumatic sort of experience but the Squadron was very resilient and picked up very quickly and the people who’d – apart from Witton who was a casualty because of his hand - the others were back flying again next day or in a few days’ time. To a certain extent, you know, you expected these things but that was just a bit bigger than we normally expected. And seeing as we’d had so much success prior with virtually no casualties it hit us a bit hard for a start. But it was only a few days later on the 26th when we got our revenge back (…)”.

At 11:45 on 18 December, nine Gladiators from 3 RAAF Squadron took off from the LG at Bir Mella to carry out an offensive patrol over the Capuzzo – Bardia area. No enemy aircraft were encountered and the aircraft returned to base at 13:55. The patrol reported that heavy AA fire was encountered over Bardia and lighter AA fire at two places between Fort Capuzzo and Bardia. One Gladiator flown by Flying Officer Arthur was hit and a portion of the aileron shot away.

At 09:15 on 26 December, eight Gladiators from 3 RAAF Squadron took off from the LG south-west of Sollum to escort a Lysander doing artillery reconnaissance over Bardia. The Lysander failed to appear. At approximately 14:05 (obviously during a third patrol) two flights of five SM 79s escorted by a number of CR.42s were observed a few miles north-east of Sollum Bay. A separate formation of 18 CR.42s was following the bomber formation and escort 2,000 feet higher as top cover. Two Gladiators attacked the bomber formation whilst the remainder climbed to meet the higher formation. The attack on the bombers was broken off when the higher formation attacked the Gladiators. In the ensuing combat, Flight Lieutenant Gordon Steege and Flying Officer Arthur each claimed a destroyed (seen to fall into the sea) and a damaged CR.42. Flying Officer Peter Turnbull, Flying Officer John Perrin and Flying Officer Alan Rawlinson each claimed one probable.
The CR.42s were 14 fighters from the newly arrived 23^o Gruppo led by the CO, Maggiore Tito Falconi and 22 CR.42s from the 10^o Gruppo. The CR.42s from the 23^o Gruppo included three from the 70^a Squadriglia (Tenente Claudio Solaro, Sergente Pardino Pardini and Tenente Gino Battaggion), five from the 74^a Squadriglia (Capitano Guido Bobba, Tenente Lorenzo Lorenzoni, Sottotenente Sante Schiroli, Sergente Maggiore Raffaele Marzocca (forced to return early due to a sudden illness) and Sergente Manlio Tarantino) and five from the 75^a Squadriglia (Tenente Pietro Calistri, Tenente Ezio Monti, Sottotenente Renato Villa, Sottotenente Leopoldo Marangoni and Maresciallo Carlo Dentis). The fighters from the the 10^o Gruppo included seven from the 91^a Squadriglia (Maggiore Carlo Romagnoli, Capitano Vincenzo Vanni, Capitano Mario Pluda, Sottotenente Andrea Dalla Pasqua, Sottotenente Ruggero Caporali, Sergente Maggiore Lorenzo Migliorato and Sergente Elio Miotto), nine from the 84^a Squadriglia (Capitano Luigi Monti, Tenente Antonio Angeloni, Sottotenente Luigi Prati, Sottotenente Bruno Devoto, Sergente Domenico Santonocito, Sergente Corrado Patrizi, Sergente Piero Buttazzi, Sergente Luciano Perdoni and Sergente Mario Veronesi) and six from the 90^a Squadriglia (Tenente Giovanni Guiducci, Tenente Franco Lucchini, Sottotenente Alessandro Rusconi, Sottotenente Neri De Benedetti, Sergente Luigi Contarini and Sergente Giovanni Battista Ceoletta), which had taken off at 13:00.
They were escorting ten SM 79s from the 41^o Stormo under Tenente Colonnello Draghelli and five SM 79s 216^a Squadriglia, 53^o Gruppo, 34^o Stormo, led by Tenente Stringa. The SM 79s had taken off from M2 at 12:25 and attacked Sollum harbour’s jetty (reportedly hit) and two destroyers inside Sollum Bay (with poor results because of the heavy AA fire). AA from the ships hit four bombers from the 34^o Stormo; one of them, piloted by Sottotenente Bellini had to force land close to Ain El Gazala with the central engine out of action. Returning pilots reported an attempt to intercept by some Gladiators but the escort repulsed the British fighters. They landed without further problems at 15:15.
Over the target, immediately after the bombing, the Italian fighters reported the interception of “enemy aircraft” alternatively “many Glosters” or “Hurricanes and Glosters”. The 70^a Squadrigli pilots claimed a shared Hurricane, this was possibly an aircraft from 33 Squadron. This unit’s ORB reported that during the day’s patrols many SM 79s and CR.42s were intercepted with one CR.42 believed damaged. Two Gladiators confirmed and two probables were shared between the whole 10^o Gruppo. Another Gladiator was assigned to the 23^o Gruppo (in the documents of 75^a Squadriglia but this is not confirmed by the other two Squadriglie). Many Glosters were claimed damaged by Tenente Lorenzoni, Sottotenente Schiroli, Sergente Tarantino, Sottotenente Marangoni, Tenente Calistri, Tenente Monti and Sottotenente Villa. The CR.42s were back between 14:30 and 15:05.
No Gladiators were lost even if three of them were damaged (all repairable within the unit). The Australians had done a very good job indeed, facing a formation four times more numerous (even if it seem improbable that all the Italian fighters were able to join the combat). From the Italian reports it seems that only the front sections of the escort (including the 74^a, 75^a and the 84^a Squadriglie) were engaged in a sharp dogfight with the Gladiators. The Australians were able to shot down the CO of the 74^a Squadriglia, Capitano Guido Bobba, who was killed when his fighter fell in flames into the sea and damaged Tenente Lorenzoni’s fighter, who landed at T2 (and came back to Z1 the day after). Three more CR.42s were damaged when Tenente Angeloni was forced to land at T5 before reaching Z1, Sergente Veronesi’s fighter was damaged and Sottotenente Prati was forced to make an emergency landing short of T2 (his fighter was reportedly undamaged and only suffering for a slight engine breakdown). Maggiore Falconi’s fighter was also heavily damaged but managed to return. The morning after Angeloni was able to return to Z1 with his aircraft.
Capitano Guido Bobba was awarded a posthumously Medaglia d’Argento al Valor Militare. He was replaced as CO of the 74^a Squadriglia by Tenente Mario Pinna.

Image kindly from 3 RAAF Squadron Association.

On 22 January 1941, Flying Officers Alan Rawlinson (Gladiator K7963) and Arthur (L8009) took off at 10:20 and attacked a stationary schooner in the sea, 13 miles north of Tobruk. They landed back at 11:10. The schooner was later reported on fire.

During the morning on 14 April, he was despatched from Sidi Haneish in Hurricane V7734 together with Lieutenant A. A. Tennant SAAF (P3725) to investigate the latest attack on Tobruk. At 10.45, when about ten miles east of the garrison while flying at 10,000 feet, they encountered three Bf110s of III/ZG26, which they engaged. Arthur attacked one, which was last seen diving steeply towards the sea with blue smoke issuing from its fuselage but, owing to low cloud, he did not see it crash. The Messerschmitt attacked by Tenant - in all probability the same aircraft as that attacked by Arthur - was similarly last seen in a steep dive, upside down, with smoke also issuing from its fuselage. While both pilots claimed only probables, both claims were apparently upgraded later and are shown as such in 204 Group records. However, III/ZG26 reported only the loss of one aircraft - Werk. Nr. 3418 - on this date, the crew of which survived. The two pilots meanwhile continued their patrol and sighted a Ju52/3m on the landing ground at Menastir. Each carried out two strafing runs and bullets were seen to strike the transport aircraft although it did not burn.

After the first Libyan campaign he was rested, serving as an instructor at 71 OTU, Sudan. He returned to 3 RAAF Squadron in September 1941 for a second tour, subsequently flying Tomahawks in Syria and Libya.

On 30 November under difficult weather conditions, he was leading a flight over Bir el Gobi when a large formation of enemy aircraft was encountered. Arthur immediately shot down two Stukas, and was then attacked by enemy fighters. His own engine was hit, but before this had happened, he had shot down one Fiat G.50. Turning away his damaged aircraft from the fight Arthur shot down a Macchi MC.200.
He force-landed his Tomahawk within the Tobruk fortress, flying out in a borrowed Hurricane.

Having become a flight commander late in 1941, he received a DFC on 20 January 1942, at which point he returned to Australia. Here he served with 76 RAAF Squadron in New Guinea on Kittyhawks from 13 April 1942 to 21 January 1943, when he became commanding officer of 75 RAAF Squadron, with which unit he made two further claims against the Japanese.

On 15 April 1943, he led the squadron against an estimated 100 Japanese aircraft over Milne Bay, but his guns would not fire. He attempted without success to drive a bomber into the sea. He was however, awarded a DSO on 25 May 1943 for his action.

Subsequently he led 71 Wing, RAAF, and the 81 Wing at Noemfoor, leading strikes on ground targets.

He became a Group Captain at 24, but became one of a group of rebellious leading fighter pilots who took action in protest at the RAAF's lack of operations and the waste of pilots on worthless targets.

He commanded 2 OTU at Midura, east of Adelaide, Victoria, from 5 July 1944 until November the same year.

Arthur ended the war 2 biplane victories and a total of 8.

Postwar Arthur ran a retail business in Darwin, Northern Australia, where he was still living, in retirement, 1994.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1940
1	12/12/40	11:25-13:05	1	CR.42 (a)	Destroyed	Gladiator II	N5752/NW-G (b)	6m NW Sofafi	3 RAAF Squadron
2	26/12/40	14:05	1	CR.42 (c)	Destroyed	Gladiator II	N5753	NE Sollum Bay	3 RAAF Squadron
	26/12/40	14:05	1	CR.42 (c)	Damaged	Gladiator II	N5753	NE Sollum Bay	3 RAAF Squadron
	1941
3	14/04/41		1	Bf110 (d)	Destroyed	Hurricane	V7734 (e)	Tobruk	3 RAAF Squadron
	12/10/41		1	Bf109	Probable	Tomahawk	AN314	Sheferzen area	3 RAAF Squadron
	12/10/41		1	Bf109	Damaged	Tomahawk	AN314	Sheferzen area	3 RAAF Squadron
	22/11/41		1	Bf109	Damaged	Tomahawk	AN389	Bir el Gobi	3 RAAF Squadron
	22/11/41		1	Bf109	Damaged	Tomahawk	AN389	Bir el Gobi	3 RAAF Squadron
	22/11/41		1	Bf109	Damaged	Tomahawk	AN389	Bir el Gobi	3 RAAF Squadron
	22/11/41		1	Bf109	Damaged	Tomahawk	AN389	Bir el Gobi	3 RAAF Squadron
4	30/11/41		1	Ju87	Destroyed	Tomahawk	AN224	Bir el Gobi	3 RAAF Squadron
5	30/11/41		1	Ju87	Destroyed	Tomahawk	AN224	Bir el Gobi	3 RAAF Squadron
6	30/11/41		1	G.50	Destroyed	Tomahawk	AN224	Bir el Gobi	3 RAAF Squadron
7	30/11/41		1	MC.200	Destroyed	Tomahawk	AN224	Bir el Gobi	3 RAAF Squadron
	1943
8	10/03/43		1	'Betty'	Destroyed	Kittyhawk	A29125	Tobriand Island	75 RAAF Squadron
	31/10/43		1	'Betty'	Probable	Kittyhawk	A29365/V	Jacquinot Bay	75 RAAF Squadron

Biplane victories: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged.
TOTAL: 8 destroyed, 2 probables and 6 damaged.
(a) Claimed in combat with CR.42s from the 4^o Stormo, which claimed 2 probables while losing one CR.42 (Sergente Crestani PoW). 3 RAAF Squadron claimed 3 CR.42s without suffering losses.
(b) Both Alan Boyd and Wilfred Arthur are stated to have flown N5752 in this combat!
(c) Claimed in combat with CR.42s from the 23^o Gruppo, which claimed 1 Hurricane and 1 Gladiator and the 10^o Gruppo, which claimed 2 and 2 probable Gladiators while losing one CR.42 and getting five more damaged. 3 RAAF Squadron claimed 2 and 3 probables without any losses while Hurricanes from 33 Squadron possibly claimed a damaged CR.42 during the day.
(d) Claimed in combat with III/ZG26. 3 RAAF Squadron claimed two, III/ZG26 only lost one - Werk. Nr. 3418 - on this date, the crew of which survived.
(e) Listed as P3725 on the combat report but P3725 is also stated to have been flown by Lieutenant Tennant in this sortie by other sources.

Sources:
3 RAAF Squadron Association
3^o Stormo, storia fotografica - Dai biplani agli aviogetti - C. Lucchini and E. Leproni, 1990 Gino Rossato Editore kindly provided by Jean Michel Cala with translations kindly provided by Birgitta Hallberg-Lombardi
Aces High - Christopher Shores and Clive Williams, 1994 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-898697-00-0
Aces High Volume 2 - Christopher Shores, 1999, Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-902304-03-9
Fighters over the Desert - Christopher Shores and Hans Ring, 1969 Neville Spearman Limited, London
Gloster Gladiator Home Page - Alexander Crawford.
Hurricanes over Tobruk - Brian Cull with Don Minterne, 1999 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-902304-11-X
Italian Aces of World War 2 - Giovanni Massimello and Giorgio Apostolo, 2000 Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ISBN 1-84176-078-1
National Archives of Australia
Quelli del Cavallino Rampante - Antonio Duma, 1981 Editore Dell'Ateneo, Roma, kindly provided by Stefano Lazzaro
Spitfire International – Helmut Terbeck, Harry van der Meer and Ray Sturtivant, 2002 Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd, Kent, ISBN 0-85130-250-5
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The London Gazette
Additional information kindly provided by Russell Guest, Stefano Lazzaro and Ludovico Slongo.