The Citizen is researching a biography of Flt.-Sgt. Stanley Herbert Spallin (Royal Canadian Air Force), whose name was selected at random at 11:11 a.m. on Remembrance Day from a list of more than 110,000 Canadian war dead by @WeAreTheDead.
He died on Nov. 5, 1942.
Read more about the @WeAreTheDead project here.
You can send any detail you think relevant to our staff working on the file.
Reporters:
Andrew Duffy via aduffy@postmedia.com, Twitter at @citizenduffy
David Reevely via dreevely@postmedia.com, Twitter at @davidreevely
Editor:
Brian Platt via bplatt@postmedia.com, Twitter at @btaplatt
Although there are different spellings of his name in some documents (Herbert, Hurbert, Hubert), Herbert appears to be the correct one, as given on his death certificate.
He was identified as a Warrant Officer Class II, but in all the files around his death he is said to be a Flight Sergeant, so that’s what we’re calling him for now.
Here is his enlistment paper:
And this is a letter of recommendation from his high school principal:
We are not certain if he’s in this video, but this was his Royal Air Force 609 Squadron, which included British, Belgian, Polish, Canadian and Australian pilots:
609 RAF BAF from Andre Richir on Vimeo.
There is a large collection of photos of No. 609 Squadron on Facebook, and this one has been identified as Flt.-Sgt. Spallin.
Flt.-Sgt. Spallin was killed when the Typhoon he was flying over Dover harbour in England ran into a so-called balloon barrage — a defensive measure where cables are hoisted up by balloons to take down enemy planes.
Visibility was poor, and he apparently hit a cable. His plane was never found.
Here is the official crash report:
He has one descendant, Yvonne Holden, born to an English woman living in Cambridge. She now lives in British Columbia. We have reached her by phone.
