LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Frank Reginald TICKLE
Service No: 409772
Born: Woodchurch, England, 19 September 1909
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1941 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 207 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Spilsby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 207 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ME807), France, 16 July 1944, Aged 34 Years
Buried: Lignieres-de-Touraine Communal Cemetery, Indre-et-Loire, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ephraim John Gerrard Tickle and Esther Tickle; husband of Phyllis Margaret Tickle, of South Yarra, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Box Hill VIC
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2214 hours on the night of 15 July 1944 Lancaster ME807 took off from Spilsby detailed to bomb railway yards at Nevers, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft came down at Lignieres-de-Touraine (Indre-et-Loire), a small village south of the Loire some 22 kms west south west of Tours, France. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of ME807 were:
Pilot Officer Michael James Wallace Cantwell (J/90372) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Edward Dalgleish (177620) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Joseph Harold Fellows (1581317) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Richard Arthur Gaut (2220609) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Frederick George Graham (J/88399) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Flight Lieutenant George Leeson Jones (127237) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Frank Reginald Tickle (409772) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Barrington St John Woollard (179243) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/24/300