Flying Officer (Pilot) John Stuart BARBER (131081)
77 Squadron Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Date of birth: 1st June 1922
Date of death: 22nd October 1943

Killed in action aged 21
Buried at Hanover War Cemetery Plot II Row F Collective Graves 3 to 10
He was born at Norwood on the 1st of June 1922 the elder son of Phillip Stanley Barber, produce broker, and Iris Ada Stuart (nee Baker) of 48 Lowndes Square, London SWI.

He was educated at the Junior King's School from September 1930 to 1936 and at Shrewsbury School, where he was in Tombling's House until 1940. He matriculated for St John's College Cambridge in 1940 but did not accept his place there.

Instead, he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve where he rose to the rank of Leading Aircraftsman before being commissioned as a Pilot Officer on the 9th of October 1942. He was promoted to Flying Officer on the 9th of April 1943.

On the 12th of July 1943 he was completing his final training with 1663 heavy Conversion Unit when he took off with his crew from RAF Rafford for a night cross country training exercise in Halifax Mk V DG404 OO-A. Soon after takeoff they encountered atrocious weather conditions over the Yorkshire Dales and, shortly afterwards, they suffered a loss of power in one of their engines. A force landing was attempted at Brown Hill Plain on Heathfield Moor, two miles to the north west of Pateley Bridge but the aircraft crashed at approximately 2am, killing two of the crew and injuring the others. In spite of his injuries Sergeant Hall managed to summon help and the survivors were taken to Highfield Farm where one of the crew died before an ambulance arrived. The four injured crew members were taken to Harrogate Hospital for treatment.

The crew was: -

Pilot Officer John Stuart Barber (Pilot) injured (Killed in action 22nd of October 1943)
Sergeant Walter Douglas Hall (Flight Engineer) injured (Killed in action 29th of December 1943)
Sergeant Thomas Henry Woollard (Navigator) killed
Sergeant Thomas Reid (Bomb Aimer) killed
Sergeant John Godley (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) killed
Pilot Officer Arthur James Walker (Air Gunner) injured (Killed in action 14th of October 1944)
Sergeant Douglas Walter Batten RAAF (Air Gunner) injured (Killed in active 22nd of January 1944)

On completion of his training he was posted to 77 Squadron based at RAF Elvington in Yorkshire.

On the 22nd of October 1943 Bomber Command ordered a raid on the city of Kassel. In all 569 aircraft, 322 Lancasters and 247 Halifaxes were despatched for the operation. The initial H2S "blind" target markings overshot the target but 8 out of 9 of the visual markers correctly identified and landed on the centre of Kassel. The result of the raid was a firestorm the like of which had not been seen since Hamburg in July of 1943. It is estimated that damage was extensive with as many as 100,000 to 120,000 people being made homeless. Also 155 industrial buildings were hit as were 16 police and military buildings including the local Gestapo. Railway installations were severely hit and the Henschel aircraft factory was badly damaged.

John Barber and his crew took off from Elvington at 6.02pm in Halifax Mk III JD121 KN-O for the operation. The aircraft crashed at Tiestelsen, 9 kilometres to the south east of Brakel, with the loss of the entire crew.

The crew was: -

Flying Officer John Stuart Barber (Pilot)
Sergeant Derek Waters Stribley (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Roy Owen Hand (Navigator)
Flying Officer Eric Raymond Price (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Ivor Melvyn Smith (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Pretsell (Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer Class II Harry Arthur Weber RCAF (Air Gunner)

Theirs was one of forty three aircraft which failed to return from the operation.

He is commemorated on the war memorial at Shrewsbury School and on the memorial at St John's College Cambridge.
Junior King's School

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