Flight Sergeant John Frederick Stanley
(1575206)
Air Bomber
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Son of Robert and Mary Stanley, of Harborne, Birmingham.
It was John's sister, Mary Stanley who worked with Jean Sweet at the tax office and invited Jean to her 18th birthday party to meet John and the rest of the crew
The following photos were presented to me by Mary's daughter, Liz at the 80th commemoration of the final departure of JB141 from RAF Wickenby and give a brief insight into John's training in Dallas, Texas. Hopefully we'll get further details in due course from his service history records.
John's service records arrived and have been interpreted as follows:
John Stanley was born in West Bromwich, Staffs on 2 July 1921. On 13 June 1941, John Stanley joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve at Birmingham recruiting office and was given the service no 1575206. He passed the tough aircrew medical and No 28 Aircrew Selection Board recommended him for aircrew training as a Pilot or Observer. He mustered as an Aircraft Hand/under training Pilot in the rank of Aircraftman Grade 2. He was reported to be 5 foot 11 3/4 inches tall with a 31 inch chest. He had dark brown hair and grey eyes, with a fair complexion, he had two scars on the right-hand side of his chest.
On 29 September 1941 he was sent to No 1 Air Crew Reception Centre (ACRC) at Lord’s cricket ground, London. The purpose of the ACRC was to fill the need for training the thousands of air crew required during the war that the existing flight training system could not cope with. At Lord's, they were assembled into flights, each under the command of a Corporal, kitted out and given accommodation in flats to the north of Regents Park. A few weeks later, John was posted to No 8 Initial Training Wing in Newquay for basic military training, and by 12 January 1942, he had been promoted to Leading Aircraftsman (LAC). On 14 February 1942, John joined the 51 Group aircrew pool of holding personnel. John was sent to the Aircrew Despatch Centre, Heaton Park, Manchester, where crews were assembled before being sent overseas for flying training. John boarded a ship for Canada on 25 March 1942 and arrived at No 31 Aircrew Personnel Despatch Centre, Moncton, Canada, a few weeks later. From there, he was allocated to No 1 Basic Flying Training School (BFTS), at Terrell in Texas, USA, where he eventually arrived on 29 April 1942, and he started Pilot training.
After 4 months of BFTS, he, along with thousands of others, failed to make the grade as a pilot and was remustered as an Observer/Navigator/Bomb Aimer. He travelled north to Trenton AFB, Canada and started Observer/Navigator/Bomb Aimer training, moving to No 31 Bomber & Gunnery School, Picton on 12 September 1942, then No 31 Air Navigation School on 6 November 1942. He qualified as a Bomb Aimer on 11 Jan 1943 and was promoted to (War Temporary) Sergeant. He went via No 31 Aircrew Personnel Despatch Centre, Moncton, Canada and arrived back in UK on 4 February 1943. After a week’s leave he was sent to No 7 Personnel Reception Centre (PRC) Harrogate, Yorkshire, which processed aircrew returning from overseas training during the Second World War. On 2 March 1943, John was sent to No 7 Air Observers School for 6 weeks for training in UK & European conditions.
John was posted to No 27 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at RAF Lichfield, Staffordshire. RAF Operational Training Units were the last stage of training for aircrew before being assigned to an operational squadron in the UK or the Middle East. By this stage, individuals had formed and trained as a crew. Once formed these crews would often fly together until separated by death, injury, illness or re-posting. In some cases, Operational Training Units detached aircraft to take part in actual operations, notably the first "Thousand Bomber Raid" on Cologne in May 1942. Loss rates in training were high due to inexperience, crowded airspace, poor weather, and even enemy action over the United Kingdom. It is unclear why John was then posted to No 18 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at RAF Finningley, Yorkshire, on 11 May 1943.
John’s crew were sent to No 1662 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) at RAF Hemswell on 20 July 1943. At HCUs, the 5-man crew were joined by a Flight Engineer and another air gunner, as they started to train on 4 engined aircraft, usually old Stirlings. On 28 September 1943, John’s crew were posted to No 103 Squadron, RAF Elsham Wold. A few days later, John’s skipper – Norman West went with Flt Lt Hopps as a “second dickie”, who showed Norman the squadron’s standard operating procedures and how a crew worked on an operational sortie. During their time on 103 Squadron, the West crew had a mixed bag of sorties, when various crew members flew with different captains. This could have been a result of the one of the crew being sick. The crew’s first recorded mission together was on 20 October 1943. Two days later they returned early from a mission to bomb Kassel.
A few months later, 626 Squadron formed at nearby RAF Wickenby, so Norman’s crew were posted there on 10 November 1943, probably to give them a fresh start.
John Stanley’s crew flew another 8 missions on 626 Squadron, although they continued to have bad luck with technical issues, crew sickness and bad weather.
John Stanley was promoted to (War Temporary) Flight Sergeant on 11 January 1944.