LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Jeffrey Noel SMITH
Service No: 432577
Born: Hinton NSW, 21 December 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 January 1943
Unit: No. 29 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 29 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft LF342), Yorkshire, 28 September 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur and Emily Edith Smith; husband of Joyce Yvonne Smith, of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Parkes NSW
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the 28th September 1944, Wellington LF342 took off from RAF Bruntingthorpe at 1925 hours, for a four hour evening cross-country exercise. A normal position report was received at 2024 hours. The aircraft came apart while in a dive, and crashed at 2035 hours at Branton near Finningley airfield. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of LF342 were:
Flight Sergeant Anthony James Cantwell (429922) (Pilot)
Sergeant James Edward Conchie (2235489) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Neil Graham (1868113) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Cecil Ralph Gollop (1566258) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Jeffrey Noel Smith (432577) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Maxwell Woodhead (1580619) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/38/711