LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Frederick Cecil SMITH
Service No: 38259
Born: Northam WA, 30 May 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 25 Squadron, RAAF Station Pearce WA
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 25 Squadron Vultee Vengeance aircraft A27-246) RAAF Station Pearce, 19 September 1943, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Karrakatta War Cemetery WA
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George and Annie Melrose Smith, of East Perth.
Roll of Honour: Bejoording WA
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Vengeance aircraft A27-246 with Flying Officer Leslie Chester Master Garling (402333) as Pilot and Sergeant Frederick Cecil Smith (38259) as Observer crashed at a point approximately one mile east of PEARCE at 0830 hours. Both occupants of the aircraft were killed. Damage to aircraft – Totally destroyed, to be converted to salvage. This squadron’s form E/E. 24 Serial No. 18/43 refers. Meteorological equipment which was being used on this flight was destroyed, and as no other was available, Meteorological Flights were discontinued temporarily.
No. 25 Operations Record Book A50 Entry dated 19 September 1943
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
Metropolitan Cemeteries Board (Perth) On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 222