211651 P/O. Harry Murdoch Stoffer Royal Air Force 106 Squadron (d.24th Apr 1942) My uncle, Pilot Officer Harry Murdoch Stoffer flew Manchester bombers for 106 Squadron, operating out of RAF Conningsby. At 22.00 hours on April 23rd, he took off on a raid on Rostock in Northern Germany. The mission went to plan but on his return, the aircraft was hit by flack over Denmark and the port hand engine caught fire. Harry ordered his crew to bale out and those using the forward hatch had a desperate struggle to open it against the air stream. They finally departed the aircraft at around 2,000 ft and all landed safely.
Harry remained at the controls and the aircraft hit the ground at a flat angle before bursting in to flames. Local people could see Stoffer sitting in his seat but had no chance of getting to him due to the intensity of the blaze. Only when the fire had burnt out could the Germans retrieve his remains and he was laid to rest at the Aabenraa Cemetary in Denmark. Touchingly, a German eight man squad fired a volley at the end of the ceremony out of respect for his bravery. His crew were all captured and became POW's.
He was just 20 years old and I have a framed photograph of him hanging in my home. Looking impossibly youthful in his RAF uniform, the photo has a handwritten note from him reading 'To Mother, with all my love. Harry'.
That photo was the most prized possession of Kitty, his mother and sat as a central shrine in her living room in Streatham, South London. It was then equally prized by his sister who was my God Mother in her home in Dingwall, Scotland. Harry's grandfather (and mine) was Captain Duncan Finlayson who was for many years the Chief Constable for Ross and Cromarty.
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