John ‘Sherlock’ Holmes was a schoolboy when WWII broke out in 1939 but even then he knew his destiny lay in the skies. “Boys from these parts don’t join the RAF,” he was told on more than one occasion. But they were wrong…. After many months undergoing selection and training, he eventually made it into the air crew of 196 Squadron. It was there he embarked on a love affair with the Stirling Bomber. It was there he met his crew, his brothers in arms.