To war in a Stirling - the life and times of Flight Lieutenant Stanley Robert Grafton DFC RAFVR
Title
To war in a Stirling - the life and times of Flight Lieutenant Stanley Robert Grafton DFC RAFVR
Description
Cover photograph of an airman with half brevet captioned 'Pilot Officer Stan Grafton during debrief at RAF Wratting Common, following the disastrous raid on Berlin on the night of 23/24 August 1943'.
Chapter one covers enlistment and training initially as an observer and then a bomb aimer. Follows scanned image of his service record as an airman.
Chapter 2 covers his operational training at 1651 HCU and includes a colour photograph of a crew of six walking away from a Stirling with engines running captioned 'A trainee crew walk in from their 1651 HCU Stirling at Waterbeach'. Below this is a b/w air-to-air photograph of three Stirlings in vic formation captioned '1651 HCU Stirlings in flight'.
Followed by a b/w photograph from rear quarter of a Stirling being refuelled, captioned '1651 HCU Stirling being refuelled from a Zwicky fuel bowser at Waterbeach in 1943;. List the crew he crewed up with at RAF Waterbeach. After training completed posted to 90 Squadron for operational duties.
Follows a b/w course photograph captioned 'This photograph has the pencilled inscription “Cranwell 1943, F/Lt Grafton” on the reverse. Dave Cantera, who was the mid-upper gunner in Stan’s crew is sixth from the right in the third row, and the mixture of commissioned and other ranks, pilots and non-pilot aircrew, tends to indicate that this was actually taken at No.1651 Heavy Conversion Unit at Waterbeach'.
Chapter 3 covers tour on 90 Squadron and starts with some history of the Stirling on that squadron, including movement and replacement of Stirling with Lancaster. Follows a coloured map showing Stirling stations captioned 'Stirling country. On the left is Cambridge and on the right is Bury St.Edmunds. The four Stirling stations where Stan served are Waterbeach - N of Cambridge, Wratting Common – bottom centre, Tuddenham – top right, and Chedburgh – SW of Bury St.Edmunds. There were so many Stirlings based in this area that Short Brothers set up their own repair and modification depot at Madingley near Cambridge.'.
Follows b/w reconnaissance photograph of RAF Wratting Common.
B/w photograph of rear quarter of parked Stirling captioned 'Short StirlingIII EH906/XY-T of C Flight, 90 Squadron at Wratting Common. This aircraft was the mount for the majority of Stan’s operations'
B/w photograph up inside of fuselage of bomb aimer station, captioned 'The bomb aimer’s position in the nose of a Stirling. The bombsight is to the left of the aiming window and the bomb selector switches are to the right'.
Then follows a description of each of his twenty three operations detailing target, operational techniques, numbers of aircraft, losses as well as comments on each.
Includes b/w photograph of crew, seven airmen wearing tunics with brevet captioned 'Stan Mason and crew. Front row, left to right; Eric Young, Stan Mason, Stan Grafton,Alan Watson, Back row, Left to right; Bill Kington, Dave Cantera, Ron Lucking'.
B/w photograph of crew sitting round table at debrief captioned 'The morning of 24 August 1943, and the crew of EH906 is debriefed after the Berlin raid the previous night. Clockwise from far left: unidentified intelligence officer, Stan Grafton, Stan Mason, Alan Watson, Eric Young, Bill Kington, Dave Cantera, Ron Lucking'.
B/w photograph from front of line up of Stirlings captioned '90 Squadron Stirlings lined-up at Wratting Common before the Berlin raid on 31 August 1943. One of these aircraft would not be coming back'.
Colour photograph over airfield captioned 'Wratting Common in the autumn of 1969. Two hangars remain standing among the corn'.
B/w photograph side view of Stirling parked, captioned 'The hangar in the background of this shot of a 1651 HCU Stirling at Wratting Common, is the one on the right in the 1969 view'.
B/w photograph with airmen standing on top and two lening out of cockpit windows. Aircraft named "T Queer Thing". Captioned 'Stirling EH906 “T Queer Thing” with Stan and crew after their 21st Operation'.
B/w photograph of mines being loaded into a Stirling captioned 'Loading sea mines into a Stirling for a “Gardening” operation'. Chapter 4 deals with his following tour as an air bombing instructor and award of Distinguished Flying Cross and subsequent postings.
Includes b/w photograph of the nose of a Wellington with six airmen standing in front. Followed by copies of his promotion and decorations record as an officer.
Appendix A is a table listing his twenty three operations. At end is details of fates of aircraft flown. Appendix B is a Glossary of Royal Air Force Terms and Slang.
Chapter one covers enlistment and training initially as an observer and then a bomb aimer. Follows scanned image of his service record as an airman.
Chapter 2 covers his operational training at 1651 HCU and includes a colour photograph of a crew of six walking away from a Stirling with engines running captioned 'A trainee crew walk in from their 1651 HCU Stirling at Waterbeach'. Below this is a b/w air-to-air photograph of three Stirlings in vic formation captioned '1651 HCU Stirlings in flight'.
Followed by a b/w photograph from rear quarter of a Stirling being refuelled, captioned '1651 HCU Stirling being refuelled from a Zwicky fuel bowser at Waterbeach in 1943;. List the crew he crewed up with at RAF Waterbeach. After training completed posted to 90 Squadron for operational duties.
Follows a b/w course photograph captioned 'This photograph has the pencilled inscription “Cranwell 1943, F/Lt Grafton” on the reverse. Dave Cantera, who was the mid-upper gunner in Stan’s crew is sixth from the right in the third row, and the mixture of commissioned and other ranks, pilots and non-pilot aircrew, tends to indicate that this was actually taken at No.1651 Heavy Conversion Unit at Waterbeach'.
Chapter 3 covers tour on 90 Squadron and starts with some history of the Stirling on that squadron, including movement and replacement of Stirling with Lancaster. Follows a coloured map showing Stirling stations captioned 'Stirling country. On the left is Cambridge and on the right is Bury St.Edmunds. The four Stirling stations where Stan served are Waterbeach - N of Cambridge, Wratting Common – bottom centre, Tuddenham – top right, and Chedburgh – SW of Bury St.Edmunds. There were so many Stirlings based in this area that Short Brothers set up their own repair and modification depot at Madingley near Cambridge.'.
Follows b/w reconnaissance photograph of RAF Wratting Common.
B/w photograph of rear quarter of parked Stirling captioned 'Short StirlingIII EH906/XY-T of C Flight, 90 Squadron at Wratting Common. This aircraft was the mount for the majority of Stan’s operations'
B/w photograph up inside of fuselage of bomb aimer station, captioned 'The bomb aimer’s position in the nose of a Stirling. The bombsight is to the left of the aiming window and the bomb selector switches are to the right'.
Then follows a description of each of his twenty three operations detailing target, operational techniques, numbers of aircraft, losses as well as comments on each.
Includes b/w photograph of crew, seven airmen wearing tunics with brevet captioned 'Stan Mason and crew. Front row, left to right; Eric Young, Stan Mason, Stan Grafton,Alan Watson, Back row, Left to right; Bill Kington, Dave Cantera, Ron Lucking'.
B/w photograph of crew sitting round table at debrief captioned 'The morning of 24 August 1943, and the crew of EH906 is debriefed after the Berlin raid the previous night. Clockwise from far left: unidentified intelligence officer, Stan Grafton, Stan Mason, Alan Watson, Eric Young, Bill Kington, Dave Cantera, Ron Lucking'.
B/w photograph from front of line up of Stirlings captioned '90 Squadron Stirlings lined-up at Wratting Common before the Berlin raid on 31 August 1943. One of these aircraft would not be coming back'.
Colour photograph over airfield captioned 'Wratting Common in the autumn of 1969. Two hangars remain standing among the corn'.
B/w photograph side view of Stirling parked, captioned 'The hangar in the background of this shot of a 1651 HCU Stirling at Wratting Common, is the one on the right in the 1969 view'.
B/w photograph with airmen standing on top and two lening out of cockpit windows. Aircraft named "T Queer Thing". Captioned 'Stirling EH906 “T Queer Thing” with Stan and crew after their 21st Operation'.
B/w photograph of mines being loaded into a Stirling captioned 'Loading sea mines into a Stirling for a “Gardening” operation'. Chapter 4 deals with his following tour as an air bombing instructor and award of Distinguished Flying Cross and subsequent postings.
Includes b/w photograph of the nose of a Wellington with six airmen standing in front. Followed by copies of his promotion and decorations record as an officer.
Appendix A is a table listing his twenty three operations. At end is details of fates of aircraft flown. Appendix B is a Glossary of Royal Air Force Terms and Slang.
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Thirty page printed document with photographs.
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
SBondS-GraftonSv10002, SBondS-GraftonSv10003, SBondS-GraftonSv10004, SBondS-GraftonSv10005, SBondS-GraftonSv10007, SBondS-GraftonSv10008, SBondS-GraftonSv10009, SBondS-GraftonSv10001
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Citation
S Bond, “To war in a Stirling - the life and times of Flight Lieutenant Stanley Robert Grafton DFC RAFVR,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed January 22, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/49610.
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