victory over Japan by MacArthur, who wanted all the glory for himself". US Marine Corps aviators from the Air North Solomons command also believed that MacArthur's headquarters was favouring the USAAF in the assignment of combat duties. The overall situation led to dissatisfaction and poor morale among No. 1 TAF personnel based on Morotai, particularly the Spitfire pilots who had little opportunity for the air-to-air combat they specialised in and whose aircraft were ill-suited to ground attack missions. Group Captain Wilf Arthur, former Officer Commanding No. 81 Wing and now in charge of the Kittyhawk-equipped No. 78 Wing of No. 1 TAF, became concerned that his units' expenditure in terms of men, machines and ordnance was not justified by the damage inflicted on enemy targets or by the relative importance of those targets. In December 1944 he asked his intelligence staff to produce a "balance sheet" to quantify losses versus results. Arthur presented the balance sheet to Cobby, who reviewed it and disseminated it to his headquarters staff, but took no further action. Prelude In March 1945, frustrated by the lack of response from Cobby and his staff and convinced that operations were becoming even more wasteful, Arthur began discussing his concerns with other senior No. 1 TAF pilots. First, he spoke to Wing Commander Kenneth Ranger, a senior staff officer who had served with No. 9 Operational Group and had made allegations regarding the leadership of its commander, Air Commodore Joe Hewitt, who was eventually dismissed from his post. Arthur sought out Ranger as someone with "moral guts", who would take "a stand against the type of operations we were engaged in". Next, he enlisted Caldwell's support, although Caldwell was, at the time, facing charges from Cobby over liquor trafficking which made it a risk that his involvement in a protest over operations would be misconstrued as an attempt to divert attention from the charges. Arthur believed that Caldwell "would go as far as he possibly could to back up his opinions [which] were worth a lot more than the opinions of most other people in the area". Through Caldwell more officers joined the protest, including two other celebrated aces, Wing Commander Bobby Gibbes and Squadron Leader John Waddy, as well as Squadron Leader Bert Grace, Squadron Leader Douglas Vanderfield, and later, Squadron Leader Stuart Harpham. During a series of meetings early in April 1945, Caldwell proposed that the