Royal Air Force, Service no.1595640
Born: 14th July 1921.
Story
Stanley Coates was the son of WW1 veteran Albert Edward Coates (1897-1979) and Ethel Robshaw (1899-1986) who worked at Barnbow Munitions site during the War. Albert and Ethel married in Kippax on 27th December 1919 (both pictured below). Albert had two brothers who were killed in the War, and a third brother survived.
Stanley was a pit pony driver before the war, living with his parents at 42 Sandgate Terrace. As he was a coal miner at the outbreak of War, he was exempt from service in the Second World War. However, just as his father had lied about his age to enlist in the Royal Artillery in the First World War, so Stanley lied about his profession to enlist in the Royal Air Force, by claiming to be a bricklayer.
Stanley passed the medical test on 13th July 1943, and his military character was assessed as very good. He enlisted with the R.A.F. on 29th July 1943 at Doncaster (pictured above), and entered as a Second Class (AC2) Aircraftsman, which was the lowest rank in the RAF (also known as a ‘Plonk’) where he was recommended for training as an Air Gunner. He attended No. 1 Aircrew Reception Centre on 13th September 1943, and was sent to No. 14 Initial Training Wing in Bridlington on 25th September, which assumed responsibility for the initial service training of air gunners. On 6th November 1943, he attended No.1 Elementary Air Gunners’ School in Bridlington, which was the next level of training for air gunners. Having achieved a Grade B on 28th December 1943, he was sent the same day to the Air Gunners’ School at RAF Bishop’s Court, Northern Ireland. After attaining 77% in his assessment, he was promoted to Air Gunner Sergeant on 19th February 1944. Stanley was then posted to Base 51, which was RAF Swinderby in Lincolnshire, later renamed Base 75, RAF Norton Disney. As well as an RAF base, this was a bomb, ammunition, oxygen, and mustard gas depot. Stanley remained here, undertaking flying missions, until 1st June 1944.
Stanley was a Rear-turret gunner (known as a ‘tail-end Charlie’), whose primary role was to be a lookout: to defend his aircraft from enemy fighter attack from the rear of the plane and to warn the pilot when to undertake evasive manoeuvres. This meant flying in a confined, see-through turret, enveloped by the pitch-black sky and constantly revolving the 180-degree turret to scan outside to spot a shadow that might be an attacking night fighter. Exposed and vulnerable to attack, the life expectancy for this position was 2 weeks, or 5 operations. Around 20,000 ‘tail-end Charlies’ were killed in conflict. The term ‘tail-ender’ transferred to cricket, referring to a batsman at the end of an innings who is generally not expected to last long. Below: a Rear-turret on a Handley Page Halifax at Breighton, Yorkshire:
The fact that Stanley survived the War is probably due in no small part to his life outside the War. At St. Mary’s Church on 18th March 1944, whilst on leave, Stanley married Nellie Farrar (1924-2016), who lived a few doors away from him at 19 Sandgate Terrace . Nellie was an Aircraftwomen with the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, and was on leave herself, being based at RAF Leeming, North Yorkshire (both pictured below):
Stanley hadn’t obtained authorisation for a honeymoon, as he was registered absent without leave from 22nd March 1944 through to when he returned to duty on 30th March 1944, and was promptly docked 9 days’ pay. Now a married man, this became a regular occurrence. He was docked two more days’ pay on 29th June 1944, and two more on 24th July 1944, after which he was given a severe reprimand. 7 more days were docked on 12th August, and 8 more days on 19th August, after which Stanley was arrested, detained for 28 days (which were also docked from his pay), and demoted back down to Aircraftman on 5th September 1944. He was posted to RAF St Athan in South Wales on 6th November 1944, and was subsequently docked 2 more days’ pay for being absent on 20th January 1945. He was posted even further away from Kippax at RAF Merryfield in Ilton, Ilminster, Somerset on 17th July 1945, until he was released from service on 24th September 1945.
Stan returned to Kippax, and resumed coal mining. He had four children with Nellie: Dianne in 1945, Rita in 1949, Annette in 1956, and Bryan in 1961. The family moved to Coronation Avenue, then 57 Station Road in 1951, and finally 44 Gibson Lane in 1989. Stan used to race greyhounds as a hobby, training them in Billywood, and he kept an allotment opposite the Swimming baths to grow vegetables. After retiring in 1984, Stan and Nellie spent many of their Summer months at their caravan in Reighton Sands, Stan would spend lots of time at the Kippax Central Working Man’s Club, often with Harold Battye, a fellow coal miner and Second World War veteran from Sandgate Terrace, who also later moved to Station Road.
Stan and Nellie celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary on 18th March 1994. Shortly after, Stan was found to have untreatable cancer. Stan and Nellie still spent that Summer at their caravan on the coast, and the last photograph of Stan (below) was taken at Lotherton Hall. He passed away the same month whilst at home, on 25th September 1994, at the age of 73, and is buried in Kippax with his son Bryan.
Kippax Roll of Honour 