391 In the Service of Canada AIR FORCE biographies guns located on Wangerooge Island, part of the Frisian Island chain on the north coast of Holland.2 Flying Halifax NP737, Boyle took off from Linton at 1502 hours and were over the target at 1715. As Bomb Aimer, Chris pressed the bomb release at 1716 hours. Fires and a huge column of smoke rose from the target as Boyle headed for base. When they landed at 2006 hours, they were the last squadron aircraft to touch down. Nobody knew at the time, but this would be 426 Squadron’s last operation of the war and Chris and crew were the last “on ops.” Chris and his crew survived the war. He sailed home on the Isle de France in August 1945 and returned to Winnipeg in his words, “without a scratch.” In fact, Chris suffered a dramatic hearing loss and the horrors of air operations rested heavily in his mind and in his heart. Chris lost his best friend, Robert, a Gunner in the 19th Field Regiment, RCA killed in the final stages of the war in April 1945. After the war, Chris returned to his wife Ivy, and the couple had four children. They lived in Winnipeg, Vancouver, Toronto before finally settling in Surrey, British Columbia where they lived the rest of their lives together. Chris retired from Air Canada as a Flight Service Supervisor in August of 1973 at just fifty years of age, an accomplishment about which he was very proud. Chris was also proud of his children, Susan, Bob, Lois, Eric and four grandchildren, Ryan, Douglas,Pamela and Stuart as well as his service to Canada. 1. Lawrence Motiuk, Thunderbirds at War: Diary of a Bomber Squadron (Nepean: Larmot Associate, 1995) p 472-473. 2. No. 426 Squadron ORB April 1945. National Archives AIR-27-1843-8
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