Norman Cyril Frederick Sibley was born in 1923, the elder child of Frederick Thomas Sibley (1902-1970) and Florence Sadie Sibley née Lead (1902-1977). His birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1923 in the Willesden Registration District, Middlesex (now Greater London). The family lived at 33 Cobbold Road, Willesden, and his father was a moulder. His sister was Iris Daphne Sadie Sibley (1924-2016).
On 11 December 1939 he was appointed as a Temporary Postman Messenger in the NW London Postal Region, the appointment being confirmed in the .
He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, service number 1334367 and on 3 June 1942 he was aboard a Short Stirling Mk 1 bomber aeroplane of No.218 (Gold Coast) Squadron, bearing the markings HA-K, which took off from RAF Marham, Norfolk.
Flying at about 10,000 feet his aeroplane was shot down by Oblt Ludwig Becker at 00.27 hours on 4 June 1942 about 2 kms north of de Kooy, south of Den Helder, The Netherlands. The aircraft crashed at Het Kuitje, about 1 km south of Den Helder. Of the 8 crew aboard, only a Sgt K R Cox, service number 1019151, survived and was taken to Stalag 357. Sgt Sibley died, aged 19 years, along with Pilot 123861 Pilot Officer J R Webster, Pilot 106113 Pilot Officer James Garscadden, Observer 100055 Pilot Officer John Douglas Insuch, Wireless Operator/Air Gunner 071256 Flt Sgt Harold Cyril Frederick Broadbent DFM, Wireless Operator/Air Gunner R/60963 Flt Sgt Leo Louis Joseph Farley RCAF and Air Gunner 616593 Sgt Leonard James Smith.
They were originally buried in the Den Helder (Huisduinen) Cemetery, Jan Verfailleweg 20, Huisduinen, Den Helder, The Netherlands, but on 29 May 1947 their bodies were exhumed and reburied in at the Bergen-op-Zoom War Cemetery, Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands.
He is shown as 'SIBLEY N.C.F.' on the Western Postal District war memorial in Mount Pleasant, London, WC1. He is also commemorated on the , on the , and on .
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in to see them