Summary

Gerald Stapleton was born in Durban, South Africa in 1920.

Gerald Stapleton was born in Durban, South Africa in 1920. In January 1939 he took up a short service commission in the RAF and eventually joined 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron in December 1939, prior to becoming one of the outstanding fighter pilots of the Battle of Britain, accounting for nearly twenty enemy aircraft destroyed, probably destroyed or damaged. Without doubt he was one of the real 'characters; to survive the war and to many the quintessential image of a Battle of Britain fighter pilot.