Not unlike the other groups in Bomber Command, 100 Group was a model of diversity. Although 6 Group was a Canadian group comprised primarily of airmen from the Royal Canadian Air Force, thousands of Canadian airmen continued to serve with Royal Air Force squadrons. It should be pointed out that the same was true of other nationalities such as Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans and Free French to name but a few.

 Once posted overseas in mid 1944, F/O Tolmie was inexplicably told that he would be joining an RAF bomber squadron and not a Coastal Command unit. By this time many of the Canadian squadrons had improved their facilities to the point that they were the preferred destination of new airmen. Food and accommodations were felt to be better with RCAF units whereas just a few short years earlier the exact opposite was true. It is also a fact that by this point in the war the RCAF was commissioning all its aircrew and decorations were awarded more frequently in RCAF units. Aware of all the benefits, F/O Tolmie tried his best to convince the officer in charge of his posting that he wanted to serve with his countrymen, but his efforts were to no avail.

 Stationed at North Creake, F/O Tolmie and his crew flew diversionary raids along with other aircraft in their squadron and others in 100 Group. These raids typically involved flying to a "spoof" target in the hopes that that German radar controllers would believe that what appeared on their network was the main bombing force. The crew would drop bundles of "window" in an attempt to make the radar signature appear like a sizeable force of aircraft. Window was the name for aluminum foil strips (the modern day equivalent is chaff), usually about 3-4 inches wide and 20-24 inches long. On one occasion the crew dropped a special version of window that was made of larger sheets of foil each suspended by a parachute.

 At times the operations the crew conducted also strayed into SOE territory as on more than one occasion the crew was tasked to drop agents into occupied territory, their aircraft had been fitted with a special porthole for disembarking the aircraft for such purposes.

 However, the same hazaards faced by all aircrews were still faced by F/O Tolmie and his crew, on one particular take off in Stirling EX-D, D-Dog, the aircraft swung violently to the right and drifted off the runway, the aircraft barely cleared the control tower on becoming airborne. Although the Stirling had gained a bad reputation when compared to the Halifax or Lancaster, F/O Tolmie never felt any insecurities about flying in it. He attributes this to his youthful faith that those at Bomber Command Headquarters would never endanger the lives of their aircrew by giving them obsolete aircraft.

 Joining the Spalding crew was a specialist from the Royal Australian Air Force, in addition to operating a myriad of electronic equipment he would also locate frequencies used by German ground controllers and issue contradictory instructions to night fighter pilots attempting to intercept the main force. This was just another trick used in a cat and mouse game of countermeasures that had been raging between Bomber Command and the German defenses for nearly five years.

 When asked about the good fortune of his crew Mr. Tolmie quite modestly attributes it to pure luck and good timing.  While often overlooked by other elements of Bomber Command, the squadrons such as 199 squadron that made up 100 Group fought a different type of war in the night skies but saved an untold number of allied lives with their efforts. In a treacherous business with a razor thin margin between life and death, inflicting a moment of confusion on the German defenses could mean the difference between an allied bomber being intercepted.

 The contributions made by the squadrons of 100 Group cannot be understated.