LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer George Trevelyan SMITH
Service No: 401793
Born: Ballarat VIC, 9 August 1911
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 March 1943
Unit: No. 22 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 22 Squadron Boston aircraft A28-21), Salamaua area, 6 February 1943, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Samuel Warwick Smith and Maude Smith; husband of Margery Mary Smith, of Toorak, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Toorak VIC
Remembered: Panel 6, Lae Memorial PNG
Remembered: Panel 101, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 6 February 1943, Boston A28-21 was one of four aircraft to take off from Ward’s Strip, Port Moresby, detailed to carry out a bombing and staffing attack on the enemy lines of communication in the Salamaua area. Some few minutes after engaging the target, A28-21 was seen to be on fire and losing height towards the sea and smoke was seen to be issuing from the aircraft. The aircraft crashed in the sea, but all that was seen was a dinghy and debris, but no trace of the crew members.
The crew members of A28-21 were:
Sergeant Lance Dawes (414541) (Second Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Roderick Thomas Kerr (401799) (First Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer George Trevelyan Smith (401793) (Pilot)
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, 166/38/36