LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Thomas Giles SMAIL
Service No: 400184
Born: Melbourne VIC, 7 August 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 June 1940
Unit: No. 14 Squadron (RAF), operating from Landing Ground 116, Egypt
Died: Aircraft Accident: (No. 14 Squadron Blenheim aircraft Z7991), Egypt, 17 March 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Tobruk War Cemetery, Libya
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas and Catherine Smail, of Gardenvale, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Gardenvale VIC
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Blenheim T2124 took off from the landing ground at Bir-El-Beheira on 17 March 1942 on a daytime operational flight. The aircraft crashed after colliding with Blenheim Z7991 and T2124 crashed and burst into flames. It was thought that the attention of the pilot of T2124 was focused on the leader of the formation to whom he was endeavouring to draw near, and that he failed to observe the other aircraft which was circuiting the landing ground with its undercarriage half retracted. The crew members of both aircraft were killed.
The crew members of Z7991 were:
Sergeant Arnold James Birrell Humphries (407351) (Observer)
Sergeant Richard George Sheridan Linley (1162048) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Thomas Giles Smail (400184) (Wireless Air Gunner)
The crew members of T2124 were:
Sergeant William Bernard Turley Godly (400175) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Robert James Good (407073) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Stanley Windmill (926510) (RAF) (Observer)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia on-Line Record A705, 163/162/306
Bibliography:
Napier, Michael Winged Crusaders: the exploits of 14 Squadron RFC & RAF 1915-1945, Pen & Sword Books, Barnsley UK, 2012