Empire Air Training Scheme, which Goble considered detrimental to local defence. His proposal to organise the RAAF along functional lines, with Home Defence, Training, and Maintenance Commands, was similarly rejected. Goble also came into conflict with his deputy, Air Commodore John Russell, an RAF officer on exchange in Australia. These issues led to Goble tendering his resignation as CAS, which took effect in January 1940. The Argus in Melbourne reported that "Goble wishes to resign 'on a matter of high principle'. It is known that he has been dissatisfied for some time with his relations with the Federal Government." Prime Minister Robert Menzies had in any case been looking for a British officer to head the RAAF and confided to the UK High Commissioner, Sir Geoffrey Whiskard, that Goble's resignation was "undoubtedly very convenient". Following the interim appointment of Air Commodore Anderson, the Royal Air Force's Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett became Chief of the Air Staff; among other things, Burnett proceeded to reorganise the Air Force into a geographically based "area" system of command and control. Goble had offered to submit his resignation from the RAAF as well as from the position of CAS, and was considering a return to Britain for service with the RAF. Menzies persuaded him to remain and take on the role of Australian Air Liaison Officer to Canada, based in Ottawa. Raised to substantive air vice marshal, Goble stayed at this post for the duration of the war and was the RAAF's representative at the Ottawa Conference in May–June 1942 that negotiated the Joint Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Retirement and legacy In January 1946, Goble presided over the court-martial of Australia's top-scoring fighter ace, Group Captain Clive Caldwell. Charged with alcohol trafficking on the island of Morotai in 1945, Caldwell was found guilty and reduced to the rank of flight lieutenant; he left the Air Force soon after. Goble was himself forced into retirement in February 1946, despite being five years below the mandatory age of sixty. The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal George Jones, in recommending Goble's dismissal, wrote that "this officer has a sound Service knowledge and an alert mind, but suffers from certain nervous characteristics which make continuous application to a task impossible". Other senior RAAF commanders who were veterans of World War I, including Richard Williams, were also retired at this time, ostensibly to make way