Tobin, Eugene Quimby “Red”, born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 04-01-1917, 
raised from early childhood in Los Angeles, California, 
the son of Ignatius Quimby Tobin and Mary Alicia, born O’Fallon, Tobin. Tobin 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. Eugene 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. Flight lieutenant Andrew Beck Mamedoff (12-08-1912 – 08-10-1941), right 
known as “Andy”, was an American pilot who flew with the Royal Air Force 
during the Battle of Britain in World War II. He was also, like Tobin, one of eleven 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.
The Tobin family lived in Salt Lake, where their father was involved in a mining interest, and subseqyuetly lived in Denver, Colorado.
Tobin and his friends and fellow Americans Andrew Mamedoff and Vernon Charles “Shorty” Keogh 
were among 32 pilots recruited by American soldier of fortune Charles William Sweeny 
to join the French Air Force. However, by the time they reached France, Germany had already invaded the country. The trio made their way to England and joined the Royal Air Force in 1940. (Of the rest of Sweeny’s recruits, four were killed, 11 were taken prisoner, and two others reached England.
“Shorty” was lost on 15-02-1941, aged 29, while on convoy protection off Flamborough Head – he may have been a victim of disorientation in cloud or oxygen failure during the chase of a Heinkel.
On 08-08-1940 Tobin was posted to No. 609 Squadron RAF, nickname “West Riding” 
under command of Squadron Leader Horace Stanley “George” Darley, 
at Middle Wallop airfield. Darley survived the war and passed away 29-12-1999, age 86, in Tunbridge Wells.
Tobin flew his first mission on 16-08-1940. He flew many missions during the height of the Battle of Britain in August and September. He was credited with two shared kills – a Messerchmitt Bf 110 
fighter on 25 August and a Dornier Do 17 
bomber on 15 September.
He was posted to RAF Kirton in Lindsey in Lincolnshire on 18-09-1940 and was a founding member of the No. 71 ‘Eagle’ Squadron 
under command of Squadron Leader Walter Myers Churchill, 
along with Arthur Gerald Donahue, 
Andrew Mamedoff and Vernon Keogh. Donahue on the 11-09-1942,age 29, intercepted a Ju88 off Ostend in Spitfire Vb BL511 and shot it down but return fire caused his engine to overheat and he was forced to ditch in the Channel off Gravelines. Despite extensive searching he was not found and so he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. 
After arriving in Britain Tobin had been diagnosed with lupus which at the time was an often fatal autoimmune disease, but kept his illness which reduced his stamina a secret so he could continue to fly for the RAF.
Death and burial ground of Tobin, Eugene Quimby “Red”.
On 07-09-1941, age 24, Tobin was killed in combat with Messerschmitt Bf 109s fighters of Jagdgeschwader 26, nickname Schlageter 
under command of Major Gerhard Schöpfel 
on 71 Squadron’s first sweep over northern France, one of three Supermarine Spitfires shot down, possibly hit by Joachim Muncheberg. 
Tobin crashed into a hillside near Boulogne-sur-Mer and was buried in At Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, France. 42 Rue de Dringhen, 62200 Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. Major Schöpfel survived the war and died of natural causes on 17-05-2003 at the age of 90, in Bergisch Gladbach-Refrath.
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