Enlisted with the Airforce in 1942.

Joined the Air Branch of the Royal Navy ( i.e. The Fleet Air Arm)

Commissioned Sub-Lieutenant. and joined HMS "Formidable" in Ceylon in 1944 as a Corsair fighter pilot with 1842 Squadron

Stirling bombed a Japanese destroyer at low level in Owase Harbour on the mainland of Japan, but came under intense anti-aircraft fire that disabled his engine and forced him to ditch inside the harbour. He swam and floated towards the open sea until he thought it safe to infalte his dinghy and start paddling, but his sail attracted rifle fire from the shore. A Japanese patrol boat heading for him was sunk by two Hellcat fighters and he was soon picked up a US submarine. (Source: New Zealand Herald 17/18 January 2004 (Weekend edition), page A27)

In his career with the Department of Lands and Survey, he oversaw keystone moments such as the changes to metric measurement and the microfilming of all records.

After the war he entered the Land and Surveys Department as Survey Cadet, qualifying as a registered surveyor in 1948. By 1973 he had become the Surveyor- General. He retired in 1981

The "Formidable" suffered a direct hit from a Kamikaze pilot. On July 1945 ,1842 Squadron was in the first British air attack against the Japanese mainland, the purpose of which was to attack airfields and other military type targets AWMM