Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Historian reveals pilot’s costly wartime mistake
ASECOND World War pilot who mistook greenhouses for the White Cliffs of Dover parachuted into Nazi-occupied territory – and spent the conflict as a prisoner of war, a historian has revealed.
Sgt Robert Stirling was part of 87 Squadron and lost his bearings while chasing a German bomber towards France in April 1941.
The young pilot, then 23, realised he was dangerously low on fuel and attempted to return to Exeter, where he was stationed.
But his compass was broken and during his attempt to navigate back to base he believed the reflection of the thousands of greenhouses was the famous chalk cliffs on the Kent coastline.
Believing he was on safe ground, he bailed from his Hawker Hurricane aircraft.
But he found himself on the uninhabited Lihou Island, close to Guernsey in the Channel Islands, which at the time was under Nazi rule.
The costly error was a result of significant swathes of Guernsey’s landmass being covered in glass due to its extensive tomato industry.
Sgt Stirling then somehow managed to walk across a minefield and causeway and ended up spending the night at the home of a local family.
At the end of curfew the following morning, he gave himself up to police and the Nazis and spent the rest of the war in a PoW camp in Germany.
Little is known about his time at the Stalag IX camp apart from he tried to escape three times – once on a bicycle – but was always caught.
His remarkable story has now been pieced together by a guide from Guernsey who was told about it by a member of the family that shielded him. They were with him on one of his tours.
Guide Tim Osborne said: “We know he ended up in 87 Squadron and on April 11, around 10pm, off he went. We know he went chasing a German bomber southbound towards France.
“We don’t know if he lost sight but somewhere he lost his bearing. He then saw a flick of light that he thought was the white cliffs of Dover.
But these were actually greenhouses in Guernsey.
“He was almost out of fuel and opted to bail out and jumped out of the airplane and was lucky to land in one piece on Lihou Island, near Guernsey.
“He managed to bury his parachute and dust himself down before walking across the causeway and a minefield without knowing it.
“It was incredible, actually. He then just jumped on a rocky beach and followed the coast round before knocking on the door of Tom and Myra Brouard at about 1am.
“Tom thought it was the Germans, but he said he was from the RAF and had just bailed out.
“He allowed him in and they talked all night and fed him meat and potatoes. He decided to give himself up at the end of the curfew.
“He must have gone through a neighbour’s house and called the police station. They turned up with German soldiers, who took him away to France and then Germany, where he spent the rest of the war in a PoW camp.”
Sgt Stirling was reported missing in action and presumed dead to his family and friends.
But three weeks after the capture, an aunt of his, who lived in Canada, contacted his parents to let them know he was alive.
Remarkably, she had been listening to the radio and heard a German propaganda broadcast reporting he was interred in the camp.
Sgt Stirling returned to his home in Glasgow after the war and spent his career in banking. He died in 1984, leaving his wife Betty and three children.
Mr Osborne said he started researching the “remarkable” tale after being given Tom Brouard’s “meticulous” records of the events by his daughter Pat Jenner, who came on one of his tours last autumn.
He then spent several months piecing together the events after getting in touch with Sgt Stirling’s family through a local Facebook page in Scotland, local archives and other records.
Mr Osborne said: “I’m so pleased it came together. I’ve had quite a lot of feedback from it.
“People found it fascinating and a lot of people had never even heard of the story.”
Mrs Jenner said her parents rarely spoke about the occupation growing up and a lot of the detail uncovered was new to her.
She said: “I’m just overwhelmed with it, really, and just thankful to Tim. It was a story that I felt needed to be put out there because my mum and dad didn’t speak much about it and were very coy about it.”
People found it fascinating and a lot had never even heard of the story TIM OSBORNE