Stamper decided to join the Royal Air Force after experiencing a biplane land close to his school in Settle Yorkshire. He joined up at RAF Cardington, before being posted overseas to Southern Rhodesia. He returned to East London 48 Air School to train as a bomb aimer, before returning to Rhodesia with 101 Squadron, where he unfortunately caught malaria. After losing his crew whilst in hospital he was posted to 100 Squadron at RAF Grimsby, Lincolnshire. Stamper was stationed in Bulawayo South Africa for desk-based training in the IWT (Initial Training Wing) then at Mount Hampden for navigation and flying training school. He returned to England and went to Whitley Bay for more training, then formed a crew with two others. Their first operation was to sink a large German force off the Dutch coast.  He flew in a Lancaster Bomber explaining how safe it felt compared to other bomber aircraft. Stamper describes his experiences in the Nuremberg raid where Bomber Command lost ninety-seven out of a force of two hundred and fifty after passing the main route of enemy night fighters. He recalls the Dresden raid targeting railway martialling yards, which resulted in a firestorm. Stamper later took part in Operation Manna, dropping food parcels to the starving Dutch population, and remembers tying chocolate for the children in his handkerchief. After the war, the crew felt something was missing for them, so they formed the 100 Squadron Association and Stamper became the first treasurer. The Association unveiled a memorial at Holton le Clay near RAF Grimsby with Stamper giving the dedication each reunion.

Stan joined the RAF in July 1940 and was assigned to a reconnaissance unit and returning from a mission his aircraft had engine failure, and he baled out over occupied Belgium. After walking for two days he was able to board a train to Brussels where his ability to speak French helped him. Here he met the Resistance who used the Comète Line to smuggle him to a village near the Spanish border. Here his group was discovered by German troops. Despite being in civilian clothes with false papers he, and his comrades, avoided being shot. They were interrogated quite roughly and he spent four months in solitary confinement. Eventually he was taken to a Gestapo prison and later to a POW camp where he faced further interrogation. Near the end of the war he and his comrades were moved to several different camps before eventually being freed in May 1945.

Len Manning joined the Air Cadets in 1938 and then volunteered as an Air Gunner in 1943. He underwent rigorous training and was ready to fly in Summer 1944. Len managed three raids in his RAF career, his first took him to Nevers in the South of France, the second was a 1000 bomber daylight raid on Caen, and on the third he made a narrow escape after his plane was shot down by a German fighter. Len was lucky to be found by the French resistance after walking over 8 miles to the nearest village. He tells of how the resistance looked after him and managed to keep him hidden from German soldiers – despite some very close calls. He remained hidden until the German retreat, when he was reunited with the RAF in Paris. His story provides a unique insight into life behind enemy lines in occupied France and highlights the remarkable bravery and resourcefulness of the French resistance. Len acknowledges how lucky he was to survive and gives credit to the German fighter pilot who shot the wing of his plane and not the fuselage, a decision that ultimately saved his life.