Who do you think you are? – Kate Humble

My other half and I have done a little internet digging about Stanley Carter,but still did not find any gazette entries etc for his post war RAF career.

I posted this info in the RAF Commands forum a few days ago.

My other half found a matching entry in the Air Force List – Air Gunners pages (good old National Library Scotland website) but without his service number.
However we persevered and think we have matched his commissioning date with the AFL ok.

………………………………………………………

Stanley Carter (79230)

A P/O (acting pilot officer) 18/5/40
F/O (flying officer)…………15/6/41
Flt Lt (flight lieutenant)…..15/6/42

………………………………………………………

We did not find any other gazette entries whilst he was still a serving officer (that is not to say there aren’t any of course,we sometimes struggle a bit with gazette entries)

The final entry we found was

……………………………………………………….

Relinquished commission 25/5/54
Flight Lt retaining rank of Sqn Ldr.

……………………………………………………….

He was shot down whilst an air gunner on 83 sqn – Handley Page Hampden AD916, OL-Z. 01 July 1941, Pilot Flight Lieutenant N H Svendsen DFC.
Stanley Carter was captured and became a POW.

Purely out of interest we wondered if anybody can fill in any details of his post war RAF career ?

Also his original commissioning gazette entry to A P/O did not include a previous non commissioned service number,so I also wondered about any previous service or how he came to be a gunner,did they have any directly commissioned Air Gunners in 1940 ? (I would not have thought so but happy to be wrong)

Originally posted by paulmcmillan
Having only watched this last night I am surprised no one dug up the serial of the Hampden – I could not make it out from thge log book, as the camera went pass it to fast and I did not want to play with freeze frame..

But it was Hampden AD916 of 83 Sqn lost on mission to Dusseldorf evening 30th June 1941/1st July 1941

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but we just watched this programme again the other night 🙂

Has Paul M or any other forumites got any info on Stanley Carter ?the pic we were shown during the prog was him as a Sqn Ldr and wearing an Air Gunner badge.
Just asking out of curiosity as they did not delve much into his RAF career.
The pilot of AD916 was N H Svendsen DFC and he also became a POW- I have found it quite easy to find ‘Gazette’ entries for Svendsen but have not as yet found any for Carter,then again I am not very good with gazette searches 🙂

Little bit here about Bill Humble

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1946/1946%20-%200807.html

🙂 Brilliant.I actually found the mining stuff as interesting and what the Great GrandFather must’ve gone through as a “viewer/overseer” on that fateful shift.
I wish the Grandparents had been around to tell their tales to the camera.
Sadly programmes like this are very few and far between.

Try reading the whole thread Darnsarf, particularly Post 22!:p

Ah. Ahem.
Perhaps that’s where I ‘heard’ it.. :rolleyes:

Try reading the whole thread Darnsarf, particularly Post 22!:p

Joking apart I enjoyed the programme, most of the guests have had really interesting ancestors / family histories but then I guess if they hadn’t then they wouldn’t be featured.

I heard somewhere that Michael Parkinson was being looked at as a candidate for this series but was dropped because his ancestors weren’t interesting enough..

Ms Humble..?
I would.

Thanks to the joy of BBC I Player finally watched this tonight, after several colleagues at work asked if I had seen it. I have to say – WOW, to have had ONE Ancestor with an illustrious history would have bee special to have TWO so involved in aviation history, plus one other so involved with yet another ‘infamous’ event is extra special. Never really warmed to Ms Humble, too ‘jolly hockey sticks’ as has been commented by others, but what a family history, truly a special episode well worth a viewing.

Ps I think Miss Humble is quite a dish.

What, like Humble Pie! Oh it’s late and I’ve had a long day:o

Ps I think Miss Humble is quite a dish.

I say !!!!!! 😮

Steady on ……….

Ken

In my humble opinion, (well someone had to say it) I think there is an awful lot of hype in what is a largely enjoyable series.

John

Ps I think Miss Humble is quite a dish.

Stand aside please gentlemen, I believe I was first. :diablo: (see posts 9 to 13)
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=46668&highlight=humble

Joking apart I enjoyed the programme, most of the guests have had really interesting ancestors / family histories but then I guess if they hadn’t then they wouldn’t be featured.
I particularly remember the Jeremy Paxman one. He discovered connections in Suffolk where the head of the house regularly had to ask for parish assistance handouts and eventually three of the children were “exported” into service in Scotland because he just could not find enough feed them.

Thats a pretty impressive number for the Mossie. I had no idea that they were even involved with chasing the V1’s or were indeed so successful. 😎

Having watched from our garden various fighters chasing, and shooting at, Doodlebugs, I well remember the original cruise missile. Some were easier to catch than others, the crude engines possibly varied in power. the worst incident I remember was seeing a Mustang diving on one which was headed straight over us. He did not quite have the speed and fired in desperation, I suddenly realised that the rustling noise I heard was his bullets going through the hedge behind us.

Having only watched this last night I am surprised no one dug up the serial of the Hampden – I could not make it out from thge log book, as the camera went pass it to fast and I did not want to play with freeze frame..

But it was Hampden AD916 of 83 Sqn lost on mission to Dusseldorf evening 30th June 1941/1st July 1941

http://www.lostbombers.co.uk/bomber.php?id=1293

From Wiki for what that’s worth

When V-1 attacks began in mid-June 1944, there were fewer than 30 Tempests, the only aircraft with the low-altitude speed needed to be effective against the V-1. They were assigned to No. 150 Wing RAF. Early attempts to intercept and destroy V-1s often failed, but improved techniques soon emerged. These included using the airflow over an interceptor’s wing to raise one wing of the V-1, by sliding the wingtip to within six inches (15 cm) of the lower surface of the V-1’s wing. If properly executed, this manoeuvre would tip the V-1’s wing up, overriding the gyros and sending the V-1 into an out-of-control dive. At least three V-1s were destroyed this way. That the method was from time to time actually effective could be seen over southern parts of Holland when V-1s headed due eastwards at low altitude, the engine quenched. In early 1945 such a missile soared below clouds over Tilburg, The Netherlands, only to gently alight eastwards of the city in open fields.

The Tempest fleet was built up to over 100 aircraft by September; P-51 Mustangs and Griffon-engined Spitfire XIVs were tuned to make them almost fast enough, and during the short summer nights the Tempests shared defensive duty with de Havilland Mosquitoes. There was no need for radar — at night the V-1’s engine could be heard from 16 km (10 miles) or more away, and the exhaust plume was visible from a long distance. Wing Commander Roland Beamont had the 20 mm cannons on his Tempest harmonised (regulated) at 300 yards (275 m) (i.e. set to fire at the same spot 300 yards ahead). This was so successful that all other aircraft in 150 Wing were thus modified.

In daylight, V-1 chases were chaotic and often unsuccessful until a special defence zone was declared between London and the coast, in which only the fastest fighters were permitted. Between June and 5 September 1944, the handful of 150 Wing Tempests shot down 638 flying bombs, with No. 3 Squadron RAF alone claiming 305. One Tempest pilot, Squadron Leader Joseph Berry of No. 501 (Tempest) Squadron, shot down 59 V-1s, and Wing Commander Roland Beamont destroyed 31.

Next most successful were the Mosquito (428), Spitfire XIV (303), and Mustang (232). All other types combined added 158.

Moggy

I thought the narator said that the Tempest was the ONLY fighter able to shoot down the V1 – which is clearly not correct.

Ken

I beleive the narrator said ” The tempest was the only fighter fast enough to catch the V1″ i do not know if this is true or not , perhaps other fighters could only catch if closing from the side or are in front when spotted.
I am sure someone knows the truth and will be keen to elaborate.;)

Tuck

Ta

I have watched all of these progammes over the years and this episode was definately one of the best. Really enjoyed it.

I can back up what folks say about not knowing what their family have done. My uncle had a bad war in the RAF because he spent all 7 years of it on Whitley’s, Hampdens, Wellingtons and other stuff that was outclassed and lost many friends. He won’t talk about it full stop and won’t even tell me his squadrons or even his service number. The only other thing I know is that his wife told me he was in the first RAF group who got to Nagasaki at the end, and he said that that single event changed his life. In 1945 he parked up his plane and has never stepped in one since. Some people just don’t want to talk about their past.

ISTR that one of the aces, maybe Tuck, Deere or Cunningham found a German bomber popping in and out of the murk on a foul day in Wales. (Aren’t most of them?)

He gave it a squirt, it jettisoned its bomb load and scooted.

That day a relative of his (Brother-in-law possibly) was killed by a stray bomb at an army camp in a remote part of Wales.

Moggy

Tuck