2nd Lieutenant Stirling Mansfield Robins was commissioned into the Royal Flying Corps in November 1917 and joined No. 28 Squadron in Italy as a Sopwith Camel Pilot in June 1918. Just one week later, during the great Allied air offensive, his aircraft was reported missing, presumed to have been shot down by ground fire over Vigonovo. One month later Robins was confirmed as having been made a P.O.W. and was repatriated to the U.K. in late November 1918 after the Armistice.