LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Albert Thomas SMITH
Service No: 411613
Born: Tingha NSW, 7 May 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 May 1941
Unit: No. 4 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 4 Squadron Wirraway aircraft A20-485), Owen Stanley Ranges PNG, 11 December 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Albert James Smith and Olive Clarice Smith, of Armidale, New South Wales.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 9, Port Moresby Memorial PNG
Remembered: Panel 98, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Armidale Dumaresq Council War Memorial Library, Armidale NSW
On 11 December 1942, Wirraway A20-485 took off from Berry aerodrome in a formation of six aircraft to bomb in the Buna area. The formation split up in cloud near the “Gap” in the Owen Stanley Ranges and A20-485 was not seen again.
The crew members of A20-485 were:
Sergeant Douglas Elgin Withers Bain (321898) (Observer)
Flying Officer Albert Thomas Smith (411613) (Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/57/250
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Ilbery, P.L.T. (Peter Leslie Thomas) (422957) Hatching an Air Force: 2SFTS, 5SFTS, 1BFTS Uranquinty and Wagga Wagga, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 2002