Photo Brian Chandler
R. Smith
Royal Air Force
3rd December 1940 age 20
A light is gone
A voice we loved is stilled
A place is vacant
That never can be filled.
Simon Glancey has provided the following:
L.A.C. Smith was killed during the recovery operation of Armstrong Whitworth Whitley P4958 of 78 Squadron, which had crashed at R.A.F. Linton on Ouse. The Whitley had suffered engine problems on take off when leaving for a mission to Lorient, and had crashed fully-loaded after over-running the end of the runway. The aircraft caught fire, without any crew casualties. However, during the ensuing recovery operation to remove the bomb load, at least one of the bombs exploded, killing five members of the ground crew and injuring five.
Also killed in the same incident was LAC A.J. Patterson
Aircraft accidents
The CWGC entry for Leading Aircraftman Smith
