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Stanley John Arnfield |
Name : Stanley John Arnfield Born : 3rd October 1913 Service Number : 564115 Air Victories : 3.00 Awards : Distinguished Flying Cross |
Sergeant S.J. Arnfield Stanley John Arnfield was born on 3rd October 1913 and was initially educated in India before going to the Royal Masonic School at Bushey, Hertfordshire. He joined the RAF as an aircraft apprentice in January 1930, passing out as a Fitter of Aero Engines in December 1932. By 1933 he was based at Abingdon with the rank of Leading Aircraftman, he was then posted to Quetta in India in 1935 where he helped with the earthquake tragedy that struck Baluchistan at that time. (It is estimated that between 30-60,000 people died when a force of 7.7 Mw was recorded). During 1936-37 he was involved in assorted supply drops and minor bombing. In June 1938 he began flying Westland Wallace aircraft and carried out a variety of bombing exercises. He had his first flight in a Hurricane on 30th September 1938 and then transferred to 610 Squadron shortly afterwards, flying Spitfires. During 1939 he trained intensively on this aircraft. On the 26th January 1940 flying Spitfire L1006 force landed in the region of ten to twelve miles north of Driffield after he became lost and eventually ran low on fuel. The aircraft was repaired but may infact have landed with the wheels down and have suffered very little damage. Arnfield returned to his home airfield by train. On 31st May, patrolling over Dunkirk, he claimed a Me109 destroyed. This was followed On 12/06/40 a He111 of Wekusta 51 flown by Oblt Gerd Nissen, the Staffelkapitän, was shot down off Margate. Attacked at 0700 by two Spitfires from 610 Squadron flown by Flt Lt John Ellis (P9451/DW-M) and Sgt Stanley Arnfield (P9495 DW-K) the crippled reconnaissance machine then ditched a few miles offshore. Three of the crew managed to get out before the aircraft sank but two others – Uffz Franz Bolinski and Uffz Willi Stiegelmeier – were lost. However, one of the survivors – Reg. Rat. Dr Hermann Freudenberg, a weather specialist – drowned before help arrived in the form of the fishing boat Golden Spray. Arnfield flew continuously through June and July and was shot up by Me109’s in Spitfire R6621 over Dover on 12th August. The aircraft was written off after he brought it back. In another aircraft he claimed Me109’s destroyed on 15th and 16th August followed by a further two on the 18th. Sgt. Arnfield’s luck ran out six days later on the 24th when in combat over Hawkinge in Spitfire R6686. He was shot down by Hptm. Foezoe of 4/JG51 but managed to bale out, his aircraft crashing in flames at Hammil, near Eastry. He broke his ankle on landing and was admitted to Victoria Hospital at Deal. He was recovering for some time and this may explain the failure to award him a DFM, which normally would have been the due of someone with six confirmed victories. By December 1940 Arnfield had returned to flying duties, serving as an instructor with the Commonwealth Flying Training Scheme in Canada. He had been commissioned as a Pilot Officer on 26th July 1941 and promoted to Flying Officer exactly a year later. In September 1943 Arnfield, now a Flight Lieutenant, made the transition to bombers, training on Wellingtons and progressing to operations on Lancasters with 166 Squadron. His first sortie was Berlin on 16th December 1943, followed by many others including Stettin, Brunswick, Leipzig and Stuttgart. His last sortie was on 22nd April 1944 to Dusseldorf LAC Arnfield returned to the UK in the summer of 1937 and applied for piot training. He was accepted and commenced flight training at the Perth Flying Club, flying in Tiger Moths. By November 1937 Sgt. Arnfield had transferred to 7 FTS at Peterborough. Arnfield returned to training duties and continued in this role until the end of the war. He retired from the RAF on 12th February 1951 as a Flight Lieutenant in the Secretarial Branch, retaining the rank of Squadron Leader. He died of a heart attack on 24th September 1954. |
COMBAT REPORTS |
610 Squadron Operational Record Book – 15 August 1940, 18:43 hours 8 aircraft ordered to intercept e/a approaching Biggin Hill, about 10 miles to the SE, they met about 25 Do215s escorted by many Me109s. The bombers flying at 14,000 feet and the fighters at 16,000 feet. Flt Lt Warner attacked a Me109, gave it 3 long bursts, smoke came from the fuselage and it dived down vertically. Sgt Arnfield fired several bursts at a Me109 which began to smoke badly. PO Cox fired 3 short bursts at a Me109 which went into a vertical dive with engine on fire. Sgt Corfe fired 3 short bursts at a Me109, the tracer appeared to hit him about the rear of the fuselage and wings. Enemy casualties: 1 Me109 destroyed, 1 Me 109 probable, 2 Me109s damaged. He was awarded the DFC (gazetted 30th June 1944), the citation stating: Flight Lieutenant Arnfield, now on his second tour of operational duty, has taken part in a large number of fighting and bombing sorties. His targets include some of the enemy’s most heavily defended objectives. In January 1944 he was detailed to attack Berlin, and although one engine of his aircraft failed while on the outward flight, he pressed on and completed the mission. On another occasion and while en route to Stuttgart, F/Lt. Arnfield encountered severe icing and one engine failed; nevertheless he flew on and attacked the target successfully. An excellent Captain of aircraft, this officer has set a high standard of operational efficiency and consistently displayed courage and devotion to duty. |
Known Service Details : | |||||||
Squadron | Rank | Start of Service | End of Service | Known Dates | Aircraft | Airframes | Notes |
Sergeant | unknown | unknown | 15th August 1940 | ||||
Flight Lieutenant | 16th December 1943 | unknown |
Known Individual Aircraft : | ||||||||
Type | Serial | Codes | First Flew | Squadron History | Aircrew History | History Notes | Engine | Factory |
DW-S | 15/05/1939 | Merlin II | Eastleigh | |||||
06/06/1939 | no information | Merlin III | Eastleigh | |||||
02/11/1939 | Merlin III | Eastleigh | ||||||
DW-D | 31/05/1940 | Merlin III | Eastleigh | |||||
DW-K | 03/08/1940 | Merlin III | Eastleigh |
Aircraft for : Stanley John Arnfield | ||
A list of all aircraft associated with Stanley John Arnfield. A profile page including a list of all art prints for the aircraft is available by clicking the aircraft name. | ||
Aircraft | Info | |
Lancaster
Manufacturer : Avro Production Began : 1942 Retired : 1963 Number Built : 7377 | Lancaster The Avro Lancaster arose from the avro Manchester and the first prototype Lancaster was a converted Manchester with four engines. The Lancaster was first flown in January 1941, and started operations in March 1942. By March 1945 The Royal Air Force had 56 squadrons of Lancasters with the first squadron equipped being No.44 Squadron. During World War Two the Avro Lancaster flew 156,000 sorties and dropped 618,378 tonnes of bombs between 1942 and 1945. Lancaster Bomberss took part in the devastating round-the-clock raids on Hamburg during Air Marshall Harris' Operation Gomorrah in July 1943. Just 35 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful operations each, and 3,249 were lost in action. The most successful survivor completed 139 operations, and the Lancaster was scrapped after the war in 1947. A few Lancasters were converted into tankers and the two tanker aircraft were joined by another converted Lancaster and were used in the Berlin Airlift, achieving 757 tanker sorties. A famous Lancaster bombing raid was the 1943 mission, codenamed Operation Chastise, to destroy the dams of the Ruhr Valley. The operation was carried out by 617 Squadron in modified Mk IIIs carrying special drum shaped bouncing bombs designed by Barnes Wallis. Also famous was a series of Lancaster attacks using Tallboy bombs against the German battleship Tirpitz, which first disabled and later sank the ship. The Lancaster bomber was the basis of the new Avro Lincoln bomber, initially known as the Lancaster IV and Lancaster V. (Becoming Lincoln B1 and B2 respectively.) Their Lancastrian airliner was also based on the Lancaster but was not very successful. Other developments were the Avro York and the successful Shackleton which continued in airborne early warning service up to 1992. | |
Spitfire
Manufacturer : Supermarine Production Began : 1936 Retired : 1948 Number Built : 20351 | Spitfire Royal Air Force fighter aircraft, maximum speed for mark I Supermarine Spitfire, 362mph up to The Seafire 47 with a top speed of 452mph. maximum ceiling for Mk I 34,000feet up to 44,500 for the mark XIV. Maximum range for MK I 575 miles . up to 1475 miles for the Seafire 47. Armament for the various Marks of Spitfire. for MK I, and II . eight fixed .303 browning Machine guns, for MKs V-IX and XVI two 20mm Hispano cannons and four .303 browning machine guns. and on later Marks, six to eight Rockets under the wings or a maximum bomb load of 1,000 lbs. Designed by R J Mitchell, The proto type Spitfire first flew on the 5th March 1936. and entered service with the Royal Air Force in August 1938, with 19 squadron based and RAF Duxford. by the outbreak of World war two, there were twelve squadrons with a total of 187 spitfires, with another 83 in store. Between 1939 and 1945, a large variety of modifications and developments produced a variety of MK,s from I to XVI. The mark II came into service in late 1940, and in March 1941, the Mk,V came into service. To counter the Improvements in fighters of the Luftwaffe especially the FW190, the MK,XII was introduced with its Griffin engine. The Fleet Air Arm used the Mk,I and II and were named Seafires. By the end of production in 1948 a total of 20,351 spitfires had been made and 2408 Seafires. The most produced variant was the Spitfire Mark V, with a total of 6479 spitfires produced. The Royal Air Force kept Spitfires in front line use until April 1954. | |
Wallace
| Wallace Full profile not yet available. |
Squadrons for : Stanley John Arnfield | ||
A list of all squadrons known to have been served with by Stanley John Arnfield. A profile page is available by clicking the squadron name. | ||
Squadron | Info | |
No.166 Sqn RAF Country : UK Founded : 13th June 1918 Fate : Disbanded 18th November 1945 Tenacity | No.166 Sqn RAF Full profile not yet available. | |
No.610 Sqn RAF Country : UK Founded : 10th February 1936 Fate : Disbanded 10th March 1957 County of Chester (Auxiliary) Alifero tollitur axe ceres - Ceres rising in a winged car | No.610 Sqn RAF 610 squadron was formed AT Hooton Park, Wirral in Cheshire on 10 February 1936 as one of the Auxiliary Air Force squadrons equipped with the light bomber the Hawker Hart. In May 1938 610 Squadron aircraft were upgraded to the new Hawker Hind. On 1 January 1939 the squadron role was changed into that of a fighter squadron, and on the outbreak of war in September 1939, he Squadron began receiving the new Hawker Hurricane. By the end of that same month it was flying the Supermarine Spitfire. During the Battle of Britain 610 Squadron was attached to No. 3 Group and was initially based at RAF Gravesend but moved to Biggin Hill before the German offensive began and was one of the units bearing the brunt of German attacks. It moved to RAF Acklington for the rest and recuperation at the end of August, having sustained severe casualties. During the Battle of Britain the squadron included Pilot Officer, later Squadron Leader, Constantine Pegge. In 1941, the squadron moved south to RAF Tangmere where it became part of the Tangmere wing, a three squadron wing under the command of Douglas Bader. 610 Squadron remained based in the UK until 1945, when it moved to the continent to provide fighter cover as the allies entered Germany. 610 Squadron was disbanded before the end of the war at RAF Warmwell in March 1945. |
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