Pre-war He was commissioned as a
pilot officer in the Royal Air Force in 1931. He was promoted to
flying officer in 1933, and subsequently to
flight lieutenant, before promotion to
squadron leader in 1938. Tindal's first cousin,
Geoffrey Tindal-Carill-Worsley also served in the RAF during the Second World War, retiring an
air commodore. His kinsman, Wing Commander Archie Tindal, was the first Australian airman to be killed on the Australian mainland in the war and gave his name to an
RAAF air base. In the mid-1930s, while stationed at RAF Grantham, Tindal played rugby for
Leicester. He was also twice capped for the RAF, playing against the Royal Navy at Twickenham in 1933 and 1934. Tindal became a flying instructor in 1938, where his students included such future flying aces as
Stanford Tuck.
Second World War From the outbreak of the
Second World War in 1939, he served with 14 OTU and then he commanded 44 Squadron flying
Handley Page Hampden bombers. He was shot down on 11 December 1940 at Châteaubriant in occupied France, together with Sergeants E Martin, J McEwan and RP Tebutt. All were taken prisoner and Tindal was eventually imprisoned at
Stalag Luft III, where he spent the rest of the war.
Great Escape Tindal was on the first regular escape committee established after the Stalag Luft III compound was opened, with responsibility for intelligence and the 'contact' organisation. Preceding the Great Escape, his particular responsibility was to forge the documents of the escapers. He had originally been on the list of airmen due to escape from the camp in the daring enterprise, but had given his place to a Polish airman whose wife was due to give birth in England. This man was shot along with other airmen at the direct orders of
Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, an order that was one of the pieces of evidence most critical in securing Göring's conviction at the Nuremberg trials. Tindal had had his own escapes. He and two other airmen were the first to attempt a 'gate escape' dressed in their own uniforms with braid and badges Tindal had obtained by bribery, after which he managed to open his door through filing his key.
Post-war Tindal was promoted to group captain in 1946, with seniority to July 1945. He was appointed commandant of an RAF base in Treviso,
Italy, in 1945, before being appointed to a staff position in
Palestine, until his retirement in 1948. While in
Jerusalem, where he was stationed with his family, Tindal narrowly escaped the
King David Hotel bombing, on 22 July 1946. Tindal retired to
County Donegal in Ireland in 1949, where he bought a country house and farm. He was an early pioneer of fruit farming in Ireland, until his orchards were destroyed by
Tropical Storm Debbie in 1965. ==Personal life==