Airmen on both sides of the European war shared the same universal fear of having to bail out over the English Channel.
The cold was killing, no matter the time of year. Even if you could get into a dinghy the chance of being seen in the expanse was small.
Thus, our story.
Stanley Napier grew up in the Toronto suburb of East York as the son of Daniel and Sarah.
Their life was uprooted in the early 1930s when his dad, a train engineer for Canadian National Railways, was transferred to the Capreol division, about 375 miles north.
Stan finished high school there and went to work for a chemist in the small town before joining the Royal Canadian Air Force, in July of 1940, just as the Battle of Britain was kicking off.
A key role of the British Commonwealth Training Plan was not just to train pilots and aircrew, but separate fliers into bombers and fighters. Napier was undoubtedly the latter, passing through Service Flying to get his wings and then hop a ship for England.
The RCAF began its large expansion in Britain during 1941, bringing No. 412 (Falcon) Squadron on line at the end of June on RAF Digby. Napier joined them later that year, along with many others out of the training plan including John Gillespie Magee, the poet who wrote High Flight.
Magee died in a flying accident that December.
Eight Spitfire Vb fighters took off from No. 412’s new home at Wellingore, on 12 April, 1942, headed for a patrol off the French coast. They found a group of German navy E Boats – the Kriegsmarine’s version of a Motor Torpedo Boat.
Down went 412 to strafe and a brawl broke out. Somewhere in it, Napier’s aircraft (BL 643) was shot down and he went into the water. His squadron mates called Air Sea Rescue but by the time a launch arrived the Canadian pilot was dead of exposure.
Flight Sergeant (P) Stan Napier is buried at the New Cemetery, Folkestone, Kent. His parents chose the inscription: “Too dearly loved to be forgotten.”
Per Ardua ad Astra to a brave young pilot.
