Memories of the War - RAF Stan Bartlett
Stan was born at 34 Binley Road Coventry in 1925 and went to a Binley primary school. He got an 11+ scholarship to King Henry VIII Boys' Grammar School - a fantastic school in Stan's opinion. He needed the scholarship because his parents couldn't have afforded the fees otherwise. His father was a carpenter at Daimler.
When he left school, Stan trained as a telephone engineer. When Coventry was so badly bombed in 1940, he decided to join up, and he chose the RAF. "I wanted to do my bit", he said. He hoped he would be able to fly Spitfires and pay back some of the damage inflicted on his home town.
After training at St Athan in Wales, lasting the best part of two years, (pilots had longer training) Stan was posted as Flight Engineer to Northern France, to fly in Lancasters. He never wanted to fly in such big heavy planes. He disliked Lancasters and hated the raids, - but he lived to tell the tale.
He enjoyed the social side and the comradeship of his experience but he hated the raids themselves. Stan is a bit deaf now - possibly as a result of his war experience, with inadequate ear protection. After the war, he went back to work as a telephone engineer.
