The Airmen's Stories - P/O T S Wildblood

Timothy Seddon Wildblood was born in Egypt on 3rd March 1920, the only son of Brigadier Edward Harold Wildblood (1878-1926) who joined the army in 1900 and fought in the Boer War, narrowly surviving the British defeat at Sannas Post. He served with the Leinster Regiment in WW1 at the Second Battle of Ypres and the Somme. After service in Palestine and Waziristan he emerged with a DSO and Bar and five MiDs. His last posting was the Royal Tank Corps.

He married Margaret Spencer Bull in India.

TS Wildblood was educated at Colmes Rectory, Alton from 1926 to 1928, The Towers, Crowthorne from 1928 to 1933 and Wellington College from 1933 to 1937. He won a King's Cadetship to the RAF College, Cranwell and entered 'B' Squadron there on 1st January 1938.

On graduation, Wildblood joined 152 Squadron on 1st October 1939, then forming at Acklington with Gladiators. On 27th February 1940, with P/O JSB Jones, Wildblood shared in the destruction of a He111 which crashed into the sea 10 miles off Coquet Island, Northumberland.

The Heinkel was a He 111H-3 from 3/KG26 operating from Schleswig, the crew being:

Hptmn Hans-Joachim Helm - KIA
Uffz. Karl Lassnig - KIA
Uffz. Heinrich Buchisch - Missing
Ofw. Artur Thiele - Missing
Gef.r Walter Rixen - Missing

Wildblood claimed a Me109 destroyed on 11th August 1940, a Me110 on the 12th and a Ju87 and another shared on the 18th.

He failed to return from combat over the Channel on 25th August in Spitfire R6994.

Wildblood is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 10. He received a Mention in Despatches (gazetted 17th March 1941).

(Above image courtesy of Dean Sumner)