Taught The Duke to Fly

[Dave Homewood]

Here is an interesting snippet of information about AVM Stanley Vincent, who was appointed Deputy Chief of the Air Staff by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, in 1942, and held the post for nine months till mid-1943. This comes from The Press, dated 24 March 1976.

Taught the Duke

AIR Vice-Marshall Stanley Vincent, a former Deputy Chief of Air Staff with the R.N.Z.A.F., has died in Britain at the age of 78. He was commissioned in the Royal Flying Corps in 1915, and was the only Royal Air Force pilot to shoot down enemy aircraft from a single-seater fighter in both world wars.

Between the wars he was an instructor at Croydon, and taught the Duke of Windsor (then the Prince of Wales) to fly. At 43 he was one of the oldest pilots in the Battle of Britain. He was awarded the D.F.C. for making a lone attack on a formation of 38 enemy aircraft. Towards the end of the war he served in Singapore, Sumatra and Java, before escaping to Australia where he was put in charge of that country’s fighter defences. He served in New Zealand before returning to Britain in 1944.

[davidd]

The second to last sentence of the article really does not make any sense. If the first part of this sentence were changed to read: "Early in the war he served in Singapore, Sumatra" (etc.), which would greatly improve veracity of the article. Incidentally his full name was Stanley Flamank VINCENT, DFC, AFC, and his seniority in rank of Group Captain (as at January 1943) was 1st June 1942. He was attached to RNZAF on 18/6/42 in acting rank of Air Commodore, promoted to rank of Air Commodore w.e.f. 1/6/42. He had earlier been promoted to Wing Commander w.e.f. 1/1/37, thence to Group Captain w.e.f. 1/3/40.

[McFly]

Some images of AVM Stanley Vincent from the Air Force Museum collection...

"Deputy Chief of Air Staff, Air Commodore SF Vincent DFC AFC, RAF gives an address at a public display in Blenheim." (1943) - PR602



"Deputy Chief of Air Staff, Air Commodore SF Vincent DFC AFC, RAF on the wing of a Harvard." (1943) - PR613a


"Commanding Officer's Conference members at RNZAF Station Whenuapai. - Wing Commander CE Kay (back row 3rd from right). Wing Commander RH Clark-Hall (2nd row 4th from right). Wing Commander RJ Cohen (2nd row 2nd from right). Wing Commander FR Dix (2nd row far right).
Front: Group Captain RB Bannerman, unknown, Air Commodore JL Findlay, Air Commodore RV Goddard (Chief of Air Staff), Air Commodore SF Vincent, Air Commodore MW Buckley, Group Captain FET Hewlett, Group Captain KL Caldwell." (23/11/1942) - 2017-017.128

[davidd]

"Unknown" officer in front row is, I believe, Air Commodore G S Hodson. And on 2nd row, to left of Cohen, stands (I believe) "Mac" Calder. In 2nd to back row, think that is I R (Ian) Morrison (later CAS of RNZAF, 1960s), probably 5th from left, although 3rd from left looks like him too! There exist several photographs showing members of the various wartime COs conferences, and some of these may have more complete identification of the individuals.

Vincent "ceased attachment to RNZAF" and departed NZ for the UK on 10th April, 1943 (by air or ship?). He had arrived in New Zealand (presume by ship?) on 18th June 1942, so in NZ for about 9 months. Possible that his RAF number was 09109.

So far as I can tell, Vincent was attached to Air HQ (Wellington) from 18th June 1942, "for Air Staff duties". He was appointed Assistant CAS 13/7 - 26/8/42, then Acting CAS "during temporary absence overseas of Air Commodore R V Goddard, 27/8 - 9/10/42", and finally as "Deputy CAS and Member of Air Board from 10/10/42." Goddard's visit overseas was to the USA, and was for the purpose of setting up the Lend-Lease arrangements (Mutual Aid) between NZ and the USA, with this culminating in the signing of the agreement in Washington, in early September 1942. I think the NZ politician Walter Nash, would also have been present for this important meeting.