LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Robert Barnsley SMITH DFC
Service No: 402757
Born: Thirlmere NSW, 11 September 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 14 October 1940
Unit: No. 105 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Bourn
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), 19 May 1944
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 105 Squadron Mosquito aircraft ML921), near Bourn, 9 April 1944, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Smallwood Smith and Ethel Minnie Smith, of Bowral, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Bowral NSW
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Bowral Memorial, Bowral NSW
The Citation for the award of DFC to Flight Lieutenant Smith was a General Citation promulgated in the London Gazette of 19 May 1944, page 2292.
At 1453 hours on 9 April 1944 Mosquito ML921 took off from Bourn detailed to carry out an air test. The aircraft swung out of control on take-off and crashed into an obstruction. It was considered that the accident was due to considerable loss of power from the starboard engine or propeller, this loss occurring at or just before flying speed was reached. The Pilot was very experienced on this type of aircraft.
The crew members of ML921 were:
Flight Lieutenant Peter Eric Cadman DFC (145333) (RAFVR) (Navigator) Fatally injured: Died: 10 April 1944
Flight Lieutenant Robert Barnsley Smith DFC (402757) (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, 166/38/477
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line