Stuart Cox was born on April 1, 1923 and lived in Chipstead, Surrey. Soon after leaving school he saw an RAF advertisement for their first University Short Course entry. The RAF was

expanding rapidly and there was a shortage of suitable entrants for commissioned rank, so

successful applicants would be sent to a university for two terms and then enter the RAF as

aircrew for the duration of the war. A place at university and a grant after the war was

promised. Stuart applied and was successful and, although he did not realise it at the time, it

was a turning point in his life – had he not done this, he would never have gone to university

after the war and qualified in medicine.



Stuart worked as a clerk in the City of London whilst waiting for further instructions from the Air Ministry. He was in London throughout the Battle of Brittain and contributed to the war effort by becoming a member of the Home Guard. Eventually, he was told to report to Queen’s

University of Belfast - and had to look in his school atlas to find out where Belfast was! He

travelled across the Irish Sea from Stranraer in Scotland to Larne in Northern Ireland and on

arrival, thought the grass in Ireland was very green! Stuart and his 24 fellow ‘would-be RAF

aircrew’ became members of the University Air Squadron. In fact, they were the only members because they took up all the facilities for their initial training in flying, navigation, Morse code and signalling, meteorology, air law, drill and so on.



Stuart had rooms in Queen’s Chambers, opposite the main gate to the university building. It

was very comfortable indeed; each student had a single room with a bathroom to every three

rooms. Meals were taken over the road in the refectory and good meals they were. He was

in Belfast when America entered the war. Stuart says, “Late one night in December 1941 I

heard a strange shuffling noise in the road outside. I looked out of the window to see endless

marching men; the shuffling sound was made by their rubber soled boots. I realised that they

were Americans who had just come into the war (Pearl Harbour having been bombed by the

Japanese on 7 December 1941). They were the first Americans to arrive in the UK."



In April 1942, Stuart went home having enjoyed university life. After a week or two he was

instructed to report to RAF Aircrew Reception Centre at St John’s Wood, London on 2 May

1942. From there, on May 23, he went to Brighton until June 10 then to No 6, Elementary

Flying School, Sywell, Northampton. On July 7, he went to the Aircrew Dispersal Centre at

Heaton Park, Manchester and then finally on August 25, he was at Greenock bound for North

America. He eventually arrived in Clewiston as a member of Course 11. On this same course

were Hugo Trotter, Pete Varley, Peter (Puff) Train and George Watt.



After Clewiston, Stuart was posted to several airfields in the UK, one being Barrow in Furness

where he met and married Eithne Forman. Stuart was also sent as instructor to the Central

Gunnery School, escorted Anthony Eden to Berlin and was in the June 1946 flypast over

London. He was offered an instructors job at Cranwell but as this did not involve much piloting

he resigned and went to Queen’s University, Belfast to study medicine (one of his lecturers

was Errol Flynn’ father, Theodore). Qualifying in 1953, he became a highly respected GP in Gillingham, Kent until retiring in the early 1980s.

Stuart became a local councillor and later Chairman of Kent County Council. He was a JP, and Chairman of Kent Police, Fire Service and Health Authority at various times before fully retiring. His interests were sailing and golf and he was Commodore of the Medway Yacht Club. One of his greatest achievements was to rescue a local hospice from closure by making it part of his duty to local healthcare. Stuart’s happiest memories were from his flying years and supported many flying charities, in particular the RAF Benevolent Fund.