LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Kenneth Victor SMITH
Service No: 423077
Born: Bronte NSW, 28 August 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 June 1942
Unit: No. 115 Squadron (RAF), RAF Witchford, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 115 Squadron Lancaster aircraft HK544), North West Europe, 18 October 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Hillas William Smith, and of Eva Mabel Smith, of Miranda, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Miranda NSW
Remembered: Panel 258, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster HK544 of 115 Squadron took off From RAF Station Witchford at 0831 hours on 18 October 1944, to attack Bonn, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations it was recorded in 1950 that the missing crew members had no known grave.
The crew members of HK544 were:
Sergeant John Charles Constable (1890908) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Robert Russell Denholm (417567) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Sergeant Thomas Greener (1673038) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Eric Thomas Mason (1814786) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant George Jack Rutson (1894564) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Ivan George Skelton (1527140 (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer Kenneth Victor Smith (423077) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/38/730