Douglas Oliver Tunbridge
Memorial: Staple Hill - Page Park
Regiment: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Medals: 1939–45 Star, Air Crew Europe Star, War Medal 1939–1945
Rank and number: Flight Sergeant (Air Gunner)
Parents: Cecil E. Tunbridge and Leila H. Tunbridge
Home address: Staple Hill, Gloucestershire
Pre-war occupation: Not known
Date of birth: 1922
Date of death: 19/03/1944
Buried/Commemorated at: Buried at Rheinberg War Cemetery, Germany and commemorated on Staple Hill War Memorial
Age: 21
Further information:
Douglas arrived in England from Australia in 1928 at the age of 6 with his parents and his older sister Thelma. Douglas was in a Lancaster bomber that took off from RAF Bourn Cambridge, along with over 800 other aircraft on a bombing mission of Frankfurt on the evening of the 19th March. The visibility over the target was reported to be poor but despite this, many bombs hit their mark. Douglas’s aircraft however crashed in the general area of Kaiserslautern, and all of the crew died on impact except for the critically injured pilot who died 6 days later. Douglas and the crew were buried locally at Hochspeyer and later re-interred in Rheinberg War Cemetery.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/
https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/tunbridge-do/
https://raf-pathfinders.com/crew-callan/