Our colleague Andrew Behan has kindly researched this man: Sergeant Linton Henry Nightingale was born on 25 June 1921 in Balham, the third of the eight children of Linton George Prior Nightingale and Sarah Maud Nightingale née Blunden. His father was a Grocery and Provisions Dealer. Electoral Registers from 1922 to 1937 show the family living at 4 Oakmead Road, Balham. The 1939 England and Wales Register show that they had moved to 86 Landor Road, Stockwell. At the start of World War Two he joined the Auxiliary Fire Service as a Messenger and was stationed at Clapham Common Fire Station 86Z. He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 24 March 1941. He was a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner and his service number was 1386933.
On 22 March 1944, aged 22 years, whilst attached to 49 Squadron he was aboard a Lancaster Mk III Bomber, serial number ND672 (EA-U) that took off from RAK Fiskerton, Lincolnshire at 19.11 hours as part of an 800+ aircraft bombing raid on Frankfurt, Germany. There were seven people on board board: Flying Officer, Donald George Turner, Pilot; Sergeant Eric Lee, Flight Engineer; Flight Sergeant Stanley James Upton, Navigator; Sergeant Linton Henry Nightingale, Wireless Operator/Air Gunner; Sergeant Peter Donald Velasco, Air Gunner; Flying Officer Wilfred Pearce, Bomb Aimer and Flight Sergeant Jack Norman Ernest Bennett RCAF, Air Gunner.
At about 21.00 hours, shortly after crossing the Dutch coast and entering Germany the aircraft was attacked by a German night fighter from below and the plane erupted immediately into flames. Only Sergeant Peter Velasco was able to bail out and was made a prisoner of war. The aeroplane crashed into a ploughed field about 6 kilometres WNW (west-northwest) of Beckum, Germany. Flight Sergeant Bennett was identified by the Germans and was buried in a local churchyard, but the five others were all buried at the scene of the crash. On 26 November 1947 their remains were re-interred in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Grunewaldstrasse 47533, Kleve, Germany, in Plot 31, Row E, Communal Grave 12-16. Similarly, Flight Sergeant Bennett's remains were re-interred the next day along side them in Grave 17.
Our says this photo was taken during aircrew training. It has other photos and more information about Nightingale.
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