Stanley Cranston Alldis | Caterpillar Club Brooch

The Caterpillar Club

The humble Caterpillar Club brooch. Measuring no more than 2 centimetres, these miniature lapel pins may seem unassuming. But if you take a closer look, if you perhaps turned one over, and if you look closely at the reverse - you will see a name. Behind that name, there will undoubtedly be a story. Here at Fellows, we have been privileged enough to tell four of these stories and this January for our Jewellery auction we're able to tell a fifth.

These brooches, gold with garnet eyes, were awarded to those people who bailed out of an aircraft and subsequently survived through the use of a parachute. More specifically, an Irvin Air Chute parachute. Because they are inscribed with the name of the person who jumped, we are often able to trace that person through military records to find service numbers and details of the event.

As a matter of fact, just last year we were able to trace the life of C E Stead. Not only did we uncover more about his life before he joined the RAF, but we were able to find a first-person account of the incident that earned him his place in this elusive club.

S. C. Alldis

The most recent pin that we are fortunate to put to auction once belonged to S C Alldis, who we believe to be Stanley Cranston Alldis, service number: 1398378.

Alldis was born in Sussex, in 1922. By the time WWII began, he would've been just 17 years old. He returned home at the end of the war and later married his wife, Brenda, in 1953 at age 31. He passed away aged 79 in 2002.

11th November 1944

On the 11th of November 1944 at 16:54 an Avro Lancaster MK 1 took off, carrying seven men from No. 57 Squadron.

Their names were Samuel Bowden (pilot), Lewis Wolfe Nagley (navigator), Cyril 'Titch' Bayford (air gunner), Sidney Charles Green (air gunner), Arthur Brett (flight engineer), James Aloysius McLaughlin (wireless operator), and Stanley Cranston Alldis (bomb aimer).

They departed from East Kirby for an operation against the Rhenania-Ossag oil refinery in Hamburg. Just over two hours later, at 19:27 the Lancaster was hit with exploding shells fired from the ground. On the first impact, the flak hit one of the engines and a rear turret which were subsequently torn off.

The remainder of the aircraft bounced and flew for over a kilometre until it finally crash-landed just outside Hamburg, near Beckdorf. Five out of the seven men on board were unfortunately lost to this accident.

It is believed that the two survivors bailed out of the aircraft via parachute; Lewis Wolfe Nagley and Stanley Cranston Alldis, both men were then taken prisoner of war.

In 2009 after over 60 years of research, the son of Cyril Bayford - the air gunner on board, was eventually able to track down the site of the crash. Consequently, he enlisted support from eyewitnesses and locals from the surrounding area, and with the assistance of an archaeologist, they were able to excavate the remnants of the plane crash. They found hundreds of items, including the pilot's watch strap which was then returned to his family and given to his great nephew. Many of the items on board have now been returned to East Kirkby. These items are now part of the collection at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre.

Sgt S. C. Alldis's Caterpillar Club Brooch

Previous Caterpillar Club Brooches at Fellows