Grave location: Plot 13. Row A. Grave 10.

A standard Commonwealth Grave Commission (CWGC) inscribed gravestone.

Eugene “Red” Tobin Gene Tobin was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 4 January 1917, the son of Ignatius Quimby Tobin and Mary Alicia Tobin. The Tobin family lived in Salt Lake, where their father was involved in a mining interest, and subseqyuetly lived in Denver, Colorado. 

Gene initially came to Europe to fight on the side of Finland against the Soviet Union's invasion of that country, but hostilities had ceased before he arrived. He was already a qualified pilot, having learned to fly in the 1930s.

Tobin and Andrew Mamedoff had been flying friends at Mines Field in California before the war.

He joined the French Air Force towards the end of the Battle of France, but as France fell he came to England with his friends and fellow Americans Andrew Mamedoff and Vernon Keogh and joined the Royal Air Force in 1940.

On 8 August 1940 Tobin was posted to No. 609 Squadron RAF at Middle Wallop airfield. He flew his first mission on 16 August 1940. He flew many missions during the height of the Battle of Britain in August and September. He was credited with two shared 'kills' – an Bf 110 on 25 August and a Do17 on 15 September.

He was one of 11 American pilots who flew with RAF Fighter Command between 10 July and 31 October 1940, thereby qualifying for the Battle of Britain clasp to the 1939–45 campaign star.

He was posted to RAF Kirton in Lindsey in Lincolnshire on 18 September 1940 and was a founding member of the No. 71 'Eagle' Squadron.

On 7 September 1941, Tobin was killed in combat with Bf 109's of JG 26 on No. 71 Squadron's first sweep over northern France, in Spitfire Mk Vb W3801, one of three Spitfires shot down. He crashed into a hillside near Boulogne-sur-Mer. He was 24 years old.

He is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, France. (From the American Air Museum Britian)

From the CWGC Files:

FLYING OFFICER EUGENE QUIMBY TOBIN

Service Number: 81622

Regiment & Unit/Ship: Royal Air Force, 71 (Eagle) Sqdn.

Died 07 September 1941

Age 24 years old

Country of Service: United Kingdom

Additional Info: Son of I. Quimby Tobin and Mary Alicia Tobin, of Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.