LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Peter Harold SMITH
Service No: 407209
Born: Adelaide SA, 24 May 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 July 1940
Unit: No. 458 Squadron, RAF Holme-upon-Spalding Moor, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 458 Squadron Wellington IV aircraft Z1312), Dorset, 9 January 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harold Ryan Smith and Kathleen Smith, of Glenelg, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Glenelg SA
Remembered: Panel 106, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Date: 8-9 January 1942
Target: Cherbourg
Total Force: Dispatched – 31, Attacking – 11
RAAF Force: No. 455 Dispatched – 2, Attacking – 2; No. 458 Dispatched – 4, Attacking – 4
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 16
Total Aircraft Lost: 1
RAAF Aircraft Lost: No. 458 – 1
This Table does not include the loss of Wellington Z1312)
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Page 188
Wellington Z1312 took off from RAF Holme-upon-Spalding Moor at 0445 hours on the 9 January 1942 to bomb Cherbourg, France. The aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and turned back with its bomb load intact. It crashed at 0745 hours after colliding with high tension cables near Fifehead, Magdalen, 5 miles west south west of Shaftesbury, Dorset.
The crew members of Z1312 were:
Sergeant Thomas Leslie Brown (402028) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant (later Flying Officer) Herbert Reginald Garland (404456) (Pilot) Discharged from the RAAF: 4 September 1945
Sergeant Arthur Leslie Hewish (402353) (Observer)
Sergeant (later Flight Lieutenant) Ian Thomas Higlett (404454) (Second Pilot) Discharged from the RAAF: 14 February 1946
Sergeant Peter Harold Smith (407209) (Front Gunner)
Sergeant Dudley George Taylor (402471) (Wireless Operator)
No. 458 Squadron lost Wellington R1785 (Flying Officer Bernard Peter Hickey (404431) (Pilot)) on 8 January 1942.
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, 163/162/268
Bibliography:
Alexander, P. (Peter) We Find and Destroy: history of No. 458 Squadron, The 458 Squadron Council, 1959