Stanley Vincent - Second World War

Second World War

After a brief period with the Air Ministry, followed by attendance at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, he was promoted to Group Captain and in March 1940 returned to RAF Northolt where he commanded the station during the Battle of Britain.

Vincent often accompanied his station squadrons (usually 229 and 257 Squadrons) on scrambles and also flew lone 'station defence' sorties. He considered personally that he shot down 5 Do 17 enemy bombers on his various sorties. As he was alone on many of these sorties, confirmation has never been substantiated. He claimed a further two victories ( over Bf 109's) on 30 September 1940.During one action he was wounded, crash landing at Kenley. He later had numerous pieces of shrapnel removed from his back, having narrowly missed his spine.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in recognition of his skill and bravery. In 1941 he was posted to RAF North Weald and, after a brief spell at RAF Biggin Hill, in June 1941 he moved to 11 Group as Group Captain (Operations) before a spell at RAF Fighter Command HQ. Promotion to Air Commodore followed in early 1942.

After he requested active duty, Vincent was sent to assist with the defence of Singapore and the Dutch East Indies Campaign. In February 1942 he took command of the combined Commonwealth fighter formation, No. 226 Group, which had only two Hurricane squadrons, along with the remnants of Brewster Buffalo units, at Palembang, Sumatra. Outnumbered and poorly-equipped Commonwealth and Dutch units fought a losing battle against overwhelming enemy forces and in March, Vincent was evacuated to Australia, where he advised on air defence systems. He was then appointed Deputy Chief of the Air Staff by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, a post he held for nine months.

He returned to England in mid-1943 and to RAF Fighter Command Operations Room, after which he was dispatched to Scotland and the command of No. 13 Group. He was also designated Air Officer Commanding of the planned invasion of Norway. When this failed to materialise he travelled back to the Far East and command of No. 221 Group (South East Asia Air Forces, Burma ) where he provided aerial support for the 14th Army and was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath.

He remained in Asia until the end of the war and, on the day of the victory parade, was invalided home with dysentery.

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