Fred was a teenager when his home was destroyed in a bombing raid. At the age of eighteen he volunteered for the RAF, trained in gunnery and became the tail gunner in a Lancaster bomber. He took part in the nighttime bombing of Germany and, against the odds, survived 45 missions. There were some close moments and during this period he lost most of his friends in combat. After the war he had a recurring nightmare where, among a landscape of crashed aircraft, there was a space reserved for his bomber. At the start of the Berlin Airlift he was posted to Gatow as an intelligence officer, where his unit at first worked in a tent. Despite misgivings regarding its feasibility the Airlift went ahead anyway, initially using Dakotas and building up to larger aircraft. His billet was at the end of the runway, and at first he had trouble sleeping as the noise was constant, 24 hours a day. The Soviets were close by and made things awkward but never directly interfered although the local population were terrified that the Allies would leave them for the Russians. The devastation caused by bombing in Berlin was awful and the civilians were in poverty, although the airlift ration was about the same as those in Britain. While on duty a plane carrying coal crashed on take-off, killing all the crew. He served in Berlin for the entire duration of the Airlift and felt that it was better than bombing the city.

At the age of fifteen Stanley left school and became an Air Raid Precautions messenger. When he reached eighteen he volunteered for the RAF. He became a gunner on a bomber and carried out over 50 missions. Once his aircraft was caught by searchlights and received anti-aircraft fire, which they escaped by corkscrew diving 9000 feet. Many of the flights were with 624 Squadron, assigned to Special Operations Executive, dropping agents and supplies into enemy occupied territory. These drops were often at very low altitude and at the maximum of the aircraft range, with barely enough fuel to return home. He realised at the time that many of the agents, several of whom were women, would not survive very long. Looking back Stanley thought that he, and others, were too young and foolish to be scared. He regards his time with the RAF as the most interesting part of his life.