Gerald Stapleton

Who was Gerald Stapleton?

Squadron Leader Basil Gerald "Stapme" Stapleton DFC was a RAF officer and fighter ace who flew Spitfires and Typhoons during World War II. He preferred the name Gerald and was nicknamed 'Stapme' after a phrase used in his favourite cartoon strip Just Jake published in The Daily Mirror. His score of 6 enemy aircraft destroyed, 2 shared destroyed, 8 probably destroyed and 2 damaged, all achieved on Spitfires during the Battle of Britain made him one of the outstanding pilots of that battle and he was revered as one of Richard Hillary's contemporaries in whose book The Last Enemy, he features. Without doubt he was one of the real 'characters' to survive the war and to many the quintessential image of a Battle of Britain fighter pilot, complete with handlebar moustache.