Stanley John Slade was born in Henley, Oxfordshire in 1920. His parents were Joseph Stanley and Winifred Mary Slade (nee Walker). Stanley attended Lord Williams’s School in Thame in the 1930s, and the CWGC records a marriage to a Mary Theresa.

Stanley joined the RAF (VR) in April 1941 as NCO aircrew, service number 1443184 and was promoted to Pilot Officer from Flight Sergeant on 5th April 1943.

He was serving with the Canadians in 405 (Vancouver) Sqn based at Gransden Lodge near Cambridge flying Lancaster Mk III bombers leading the bomber attacks as “pathfinders”.

On 27th September 1943 six aircraft from 405 Sqn took part in a bombing mission for Hanover. JB210, D Delta took off at 19.45hrs with a full crew of seven including Stanley Slade and nothing was heard from them again. Four of the six aircraft successfully returned, although 49 aircraft were lost in the raid. As JB210 was lost without a trace, it is considered that the aircraft probably went down over the North Sea.

The crew are all recorded as being killed on 28th September 1943.

143997 Pilot Officer Stanley John Slade, RAF Volunteer Reserve has no known grave and is commemorated the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede, near Egham, Surrey. He is remembered in Thame on Lord Williams’s School memorial board.