LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Stanley William SMETHURST
Service No: 418014
Born: St Kilda VIC, 16 March 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 April 1942
Unit: No. 78 Squadron
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 78 Squadron Kittyhawk aircraft A29-455), near Camden NSW, 30 September 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Camden War Cemetery NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edwin E. Smethurst and Annie P. Smethurst, of Pakenham East, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Pakenham VIC
Remembered: Panel 104, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0915 hours on 30 September 1943, Kittyhawk A29-455 flown by Sergeant Smethurst crashed at the Oaks airstrip near Camden and he was killed. The aircraft crashed during a non-operational flight on an authorised Army co-operative exercise while carrying out a practice strafing attack on Army gun positions adjacent to the landing strip. The aircraft surged at the bottom of a dive and struck the ground.
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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/38/294; A9845, 158