Sgt. Frederick Tomlinson
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Air Bomber 78 Squadron
from:Scunthorpe, UK
(d.13th June 1944)
Freddie enlisted in the RAFVR on the 3rd of July 1940. He was trained on his General Duties and was then mustered as a Ground Gunner until the 30th of July 1942. He volunteered for Aircrew and was initially selected for Pilot service. He arrived at Canada at the beginning of January to start his Technical training, and was hospitalized for a week for an unknown reason from the 30th of January until the 6th of February 1943. He was re-mustered as an under-training Air Bomber.
He was promoted to Sergeant on August 6th 1943, and arrived back in the UK on November 9th, 1943. In early January 1944 he started his Operational training at No. 10 OTU and did submarine raids in the Bay of Biscay until the 27th of May when he crewed up at the Heavy Conversion Unit and onto 41 Base with 78th Squadron.
He completed 4 bombing raids in a 4 engine Halifax MkIII taking place on the nights of June 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th with his last being on the night of the 12th of June. While returning from bombing railway communications at Amiens, they were attacked by Gehrard Raht, a nightfighter ace who survived the war. They were attacked while over the English Channel and had enough time to turn inland, and crashed in a ball of fire in-between the small towns of Varengeville Sur-Mer and Longueil, Seine-Maritime. While the town was occupied by the Germans, all 7 crew members including Freddie were given a proper burial in a Longueil churchyard.
