Name: Gerald George Fryer Rank: Petty Officer Airman Service Number: FX/95624 Service: 830 Squadron, HMS Furious, Fleet Air Arm Royal Navy Date of Birth: October 14, 1924 Place of Birth: Ruislip, Middlesex, England Address at Enlistment: Watford, Hertfordshire Date of Death: August 22, 1944 Age: 20 Memorial: Lee-On-Solent Memorial, Hampshire Reference: Bay 5, Panel 2 Gerald was the son of George Dixon Fryer (1891-1961) and Edith (Nightingale) Fryer (1892-1977), and the brother of Frank Hardman Fryer (1920-1977). Gerald George Fryer was selected for overseas training at No 1 Naval Air Gunner School, part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, at RCAF Station Yarmouth (East Camp) in Nova Scotia. He completed nine months of TAG training in Yarmouth with Course 47A (March 1943). Gerald George Fryer was posted to 830 Squadron aboard HMS Furious in the summer of 1944. August 22, 1944, marked the launch of Operation Goodwood. This was a series of intense carrier-borne strikes aimed at neutralizing the German battleship Tirpitz in Kaafjord, Norway. HMS Furious, carrying the Fairey Barracudas of 830 Squadron, operated alongside Fleet carriers like HMS Indefatigable and HMS Formidable in treacherous northern waters. There were both morning and afternoon strikes (Goodwood I and II) on August 22nd. The weather over the targets was notoriously poor, with heavy low cloud cover and German smoke screens obscuring the fjords, forcing aircraft into extended, fatiguing holding patterns before returning to the fleet. Petty Officer Airman Gerald George Fryer went missing, presumed killed at sea, off the coast of Norway on August 22, 1944, when his aircraft crashed into the sea 40 miles off the Norwegian coast while waiting to land back on-board HMS Furious. The other two crew were Sub-Lieutenant (A) Leslie John Green, RNVR (Pilot), and Sub-Lieutenant (A) John Henry Charles Wilson, RNVR (Observer).