Son of George William and Sarah Tye, of Northcote New Zealand. He joined the New Zealand Air Force as soon as the war began and began training as a pilot. He did his basic training in New Zealand and then came to England and joined Operational Training Unit 23, based in Pershore Worcestershire. Here, he joined a crew and completed his training as a Wellington Bomber pilot. He was a very experienced and capable pilot and completed 33 operations flying into Germany and over France and Italy. He was posted to R.A.F. Lichfield in May 1942 and became an Instructor Pilot on Wellington Bombers, helping to train new crews how to fly, which was very dangerous. He was sadly killed on one of these training flights.