The Airmen's Stories - F/O J G Boyle

John Greer Boyle was born on 29th March 1914 in Castlemain, Ontario, the son of Dr. William Joseph Patrick Boyle BA and Marie Catherine Boyle (nee Greer).

His father died in April 1924 and his mother remarried in the early 1930s to Harry D Miller.

Boyle was educated at the Glebe Collegiate Institute in Ottawa, Ontario where he studied art and represented the college in gymnastics.

Above image (taken from his ID retrieved from the crash) courtesy of Shoreham Aircraft Museum

He was very interested in aviation and on graduation worked for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in Ottawa while paying to train for his private pilots licence at the local flying club. He resigned from his position in 1937 and travelled to England, joining the RAF on a short service commission in August that year.

He was posted to 9 FTS Hullavington on 24th October and after completing his training went as a staff pilot to No.1 Air Observers' School at North Coates on 15th August 1938.

Boyle was serving with 611 Squadron in September 1939 but moved to 41 Squadron at Catterick in 1940. On 11th August he shared in the destruction of a Ju88, on 5th September he destroyed a Me109, on the 9th a He111, on the 15th a Me109 and shared a Do17 and on the 17th two Me109s.

On 28th September 1940 Boyle was shot down and killed in a combat over Charing, Kent. His Spitfire, X4426, crashed and burned out at Erriotts Farm, Dadmans, Lynsted.

Boyle was 26. He is buried in Lynsted New Churchyard, Kent.