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Cranston Fine Arts  Aviation Art World War Two Veteran Signatures UK and Commonwealth S  Stafford, John |
John Jack Stafford
Jack Stafford left New Zealand for the UK in 1943 and was assigned to Hurricanes with OTU at Annan before being posted to No.486 Squadron in November 1943 as a Sergeant Pilot. Based at Tangmere flying the Hawker Typhoon, No.486 Sqn was engaged in dive-bombing and ground attack operations over Europe in preparation for D-Day the following year. In April 1944 after a brief hiatus with de Havilland, Stafford returned to action and was credited with eight V-1s destroyed between 19th June and 29th August. He was promoted to Warrant Officer and commissioned the following month. Stafford was involved with covering the airborne invasion to capture the Arnhem and Nijmegan Bridges before the squadron moved to Grimbergen in Belgium. After No.486 Sqn moved to Volkel in Holland, Stafford and Flying Officer Bremner were credited with the first confirmed Me262 for the squadron on Christmas Day 1944. Jack was promoted to Flight Lieutenant in February 1945 and made Flight Commander of A Flight. On 12th April Stafford shot down and Fw190D-9 east of Ludwigslust, his last of the war. On 15th May he was posted to No.80 Sqn at Fassberg before moving to Copenhagen. His final tally was 2 confirmed kills, 3 shared and 8 V-1 rockets destroyed. Jack received the DFC and left the RNZAF in April of 1946. Sadly John passed away on the 1st of August, 2015.
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| Distinguished Flying Cross |
| John Jack Stafford - Signed Aviation Art |
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| Text for the above items : |
Knight's Realm by Brian Bateman. Spring, April 15, 1945. With the pincers from both the Eastern and Western Fronts encircling the Third Reich any hopes of a German victory had long since been crushed. The German pilots goal now was to survive from day to day and wish for a quick end to an already hopeless situation. The pilots of the vaunted JG26 had been respected and feared in the war since their inception on 28 September 1939 to their bitter end in 1945, achieving more than 2,700 aerial victories, a kill ratio of 3 to 1. Even though these pilots realized the final outcome of this war they continued to fight on as ordered - some for honor, most flying reconnaissance and low level bombing attacks against oncoming allied forces trying to stop the insurgence of armies into the Fatherland. |
Known Victory Claims - John Harry Stafford | |||||||
DATE | PILOT | UNIT | JG | CLAIMED | LOCATION | TIME | FRONT |
| 19/06/1944 | Flight Lieutenant John Stafford | No.486 Sqn RAF | V-1 | Western Front | |||
| 20/06/1944 | Flight Lieutenant John Stafford | No.486 Sqn RAF | V-1 | Western Front | |||
| 22/06/1944 | Flight Lieutenant John Stafford | No.486 Sqn RAF | V-1 | NE of Battle | Western Front | ||
| 30/06/1944 | Flight Lieutenant John Stafford | No.486 Sqn RAF | V-1 | Western Front | |||
| 04/07/1944 | Flight Lieutenant John Stafford | No.486 Sqn RAF | V-1 | Hailsham | Western Front | ||
| 04/07/1944 | Flight Lieutenant John Stafford | No.486 Sqn RAF | V-1 | Tonbridge | Western Front | ||
| 26/07/1944 | Flight Lieutenant John Stafford | No.486 Sqn RAF | V-1 | N of Hastings | Western Front | ||
| 29/08/1944 | Flight Lieutenant John Stafford | No.486 Sqn RAF | V-1 | N of Tonbridge | Western Front | ||
| 25/12/1944 | Flight Lieutenant John Stafford | No.486 Sqn RAF | Me262 | Aachen | Western Front | ||
| 23/01/1945 | Flight Lieutenant John Stafford | No.486 Sqn RAF | Me109 | Rheine | Western Front | ||
| 02/02/1945 | Flight Lieutenant John Stafford | No.486 Sqn RAF | Do217 | S Paderborn | Western Front | ||
| 22/02/1945 | Flight Lieutenant John Stafford | No.486 Sqn RAF | Me109 | S Munster | Western Front | ||
| 12/04/1945 | Flight Lieutenant John Stafford | No.486 Sqn RAF | Fw190 | E Ludwigslust | Western Front |
Known Claims : 13
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