Basil Gerald "Stapme" Stapleton, (12 May 1920 – 13 April 2010) was a
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
(RAF) officer and
fighter ace who flew
Spitfires
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...
and
Typhoons
A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...
during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. He preferred the name Gerald and was nicknamed "Stapme" after a phrase used in his favourite cartoon strip ''
Just Jake'' published in The
Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...
. His score of 6 enemy aircraft destroyed, 2 shared destroyed, 8 probably destroyed and 2 damaged, all achieved on Spitfires during the
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
made him one of the outstanding pilots of that battle and he was revered as one of
Richard Hillary
Flight Lieutenant Richard Hope Hillary (20 April 1919 – 8 January 1943) was an Anglo-Australian Royal Air Force fighter pilot during the Second World War. He wrote the book '' The Last Enemy'' about his experiences during the Battle of Brit ...
's contemporaries in whose book ''
The Last Enemy'', he features. Without doubt he was one of the real 'characters' to survive the war and to many the quintessential image of a Battle of Britain fighter pilot, complete with
handlebar moustache
A handlebar moustache is a moustache with particularly lengthy and upwardly curved extremities. These moustache styles are named for their resemblance to the handlebars of a bicycle. It is also known as a spaghetti moustache, because of its ste ...
.
Early life
Born on 12 May 1920 in
Durban
Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
,
Natal
NATAL or Natal may refer to:
Places
* Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil
* Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa
** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843)
** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...
,
Union of South Africa
The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Tran ...
, Stapleton was educated in England, at
King Edward VI School at
Totnes
Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-southwest of Torquay and abo ...
,
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
.
Military career
In January 1939 he signed up for a short service commission with the RAF, and following pilot training, and after a short period flying
Blenheim night fighters, he was transferred to
No. 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron at
RAF Montrose
Royal Air Force Montrose or more simply RAF Montrose is a former Royal Air Force station in Forfarshire (now more commonly called Angus) in Scotland. It became the first operational military aerodrome to be established in the United Kingdom on ...
, Scotland, in October 1939.
In the early months of the war, Scotland endured many German bomber raids mainly targeting the shipyards of the
Clyde Clyde may refer to:
People
* Clyde (given name)
* Clyde (surname)
Places
For townships see also Clyde Township
Australia
* Clyde, New South Wales
* Clyde, Victoria
* Clyde River, New South Wales
Canada
* Clyde, Alberta
* Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...
. On 16 October 1939, Stapleton's squadron intercepted the first German air raid on the British Isles, during which the first enemy aircraft of the Second World War were shot down. During this raid Stapleton shared two German bombers shot down in the estuary of the
Firth of Forth.
Battle of Britain
For the first period of the Battle of Britain, 603 Squadron remained in Scotland. On 27 August 1940, 603 were sent south to join 11 Group based at
RAF Hornchurch
Royal Air Force Hornchurch or RAF Hornchurch is a former Royal Air Force Royal Air Force station, sector station in the parish of Hornchurch, Essex (now the London Borough of Havering in Greater London), located to the southeast of Romford. The a ...
in
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
. This was during the critical phase of the battle, when the fighter airfields were being attacked. Pilot attrition was high, as 603 found out the next day.
Stapleton recalled:
In an attempt to avoid the situation happening again, the
CO, Squadron Leader 'Uncle'
George Denholm, employed a system of climbing on a reciprocal
heading
Heading can refer to:
* Heading (metalworking), a process which incorporates the extruding and upsetting processes
* Headline, text at the top of a newspaper article
* Heading (navigation), the direction a person or vehicle is facing, usually s ...
to that given by the controllers after take-off. Only when he believed they had gained sufficient
altitude
Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...
did they turn onto the heading given by the controllers towards the enemy. But still the losses mounted up.
No. 603 Squadron lost 13 pilots during the summer of 1940 with many more seriously injured, most of whom were good friends of Stapleton. These included on 3 September Richard Hillary, who was shot down and badly burned, and wrote his book during recovery, and on 5 September one of the flight commanders, Flight Lieutenant Fred 'Rusty' Rushmer, who was killed. But it was not all bad news as Stapleton, 603 and the RAF were scoring kills and inflicting heavy losses on the
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
.
A short time after the war Stapleton learned that the pilot was
Oberleutnant Franz von Werra
Franz Xaver Baron von Werra (13 July 1914 – 25 October 1941) was a German World War II fighter pilot and flying ace who was shot down over Britain and captured. He was the only Axis prisoner of war to escape from Canadian custody and return ...
, whose exploits were made famous in the book and film ''
The One That Got Away'', the only German pilot
PoW to escape captivity (from
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
) during World War II and return to Germany. On 7 September the Luftwaffe changed tactics and began bombing British cities. On that day, Stapleton was shot down himself:
Gerald was awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross on 15 November 1940, and in December the unit returned to Scotland.
Other duties
Stapleton left 603 Squadron in April 1941 and served in various units, including flying 'Hurricats' (
Hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
fighters converted as catapult-launched convoy escorts) with the
Merchant Ship Fighter Unit
The Merchant Ship Fighter Unit (MSFU) was a Royal Air Force operational aircraft unit based at RAF Speke, in south Liverpool, now Liverpool John Lennon Airport during World War II. The role of the MSFU was to provide pilots, crews, support person ...
, as a flight commander with
257 Squadron, and as an instructor at Central Gunnery School before taking over Command of
No. 247 (China-British) Squadron, part of 124
Wing
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is e ...
,
2nd Tactical Air Force
The RAF Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) was one of three tactical air forces within the Royal Air Force (RAF) during and after the Second World War. It was made up of squadrons and personnel from the RAF, other British Commonwealth air forc ...
, flying Typhoons from
beachhead code B.6, northern France in August 1944. Initially the squadron helped close the
Falaise Gap but as the
Allied forces moved inland, so they followed: from B.6 –
Coulombs to B.68 (
Amiens
Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...
/
Glisy), B.58 (Melsbroek) and B.78 (
Eindhoven).
Operation Market Garden
No. 247 Squadron provided aerial support throughout the
Arnhem
Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...
campaign during
Operation Market Garden.
In January 1946 he received notification he had been awarded the Dutch DFC for his leadership of 247 Squadron throughout Operation Market Garden, conferred by Queen
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World Wa ...
. There was no ceremony; he received the medal in the post.
Prisoner of war
On 23 December 1944 Stapleton was forced to land behind enemy lines and became a prisoner of war.
Post-war
He left the RAF in April 1946 and went to work for
British Overseas Airways Corporation
British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the pass ...
(BOAC) flying
Doves
Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...
,
Herons
The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus ...
and
Dakotas on the West African routes until 1948 when he returned to the United Kingdom. Later Stapleton emigrated to South Africa, where he had a number of very different jobs, including in
Botswana
Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...
, a country he refers to as 'God's Own'. In 1994, he returned to the UK with his wife, Audrey.
To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the formation of the
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) is a Royal Air Force flight which provides an aerial display group usually comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane. The aircraft are regularly seen at events c ...
in 2007, for the next two seasons the Flight's Supermarine Spitfire IIa, P7350, which fought in 603 Squadron during the Battle of Britain will carry the letters XT-L, Stapleton's personal aircraft.
Biography
In 2002 an authorised biography was published (co-written by David Ross) in which Stapleton recounted his war time experiences.
[* Ross, David – ''Stapme: The Biography of Squadron Leader Basil Gerald Stapleton DFC, DFC (Dutch)'' Pub: Grub Street Publishing, London (22 Jul 2002)] They both also attended many commemorative functions. Ross also wrote a biography of Richard Hillary.
See also
*
List of World War II aces from South Africa
This is a list of fighter aces in World War II from South Africa.
See also
* List of World War II aces by country.
* Military history of South Africa during World War II
* South African Air Force
Notes
*DFC - Distinguished Flying Cross
*DFM ...
*
Non-British personnel in the RAF during the Battle of Britain
The Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm had included personnel from outside the United Kingdom from before the beginning of the Second World War, and many served in the Battle of Britain in summer 1940. Many of these volunteers were British ...
References
External links
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight– foreword written by Stapleton with some biography and photos.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stapleton, Gerald
1920 births
2010 deaths
Stapleton, Gerald 'Stapme'
Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
Recipients of the Airman's Cross
Royal Air Force officers
South African World War II flying aces
Shot-down aviators
Royal Air Force pilots of World War II
World War II prisoners of war held by Germany
The Few
British World War II prisoners of war
British expatriates in South Africa