LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Robert Sidney SMITH DFC
Service No: 403766
Born: Scone NSW, 6 December 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 March 1941
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), 8 May 1945 (Citation Title: No. 156 Squadron RAF)
Unit: No. 156 Squadron (RAF), RAF Warboys, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 156 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB216), North West Europe, 16 December 1943, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Sidney and Linda Frances St. Clare Smith, of Muswellbrook, New South Wales, Australia. Diploma of Agriculture (Hawkesbury).
Roll of Honour: Lower Portland NSW
Remembered: Panel 189, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
DFC Citation: Flying Officer Smith as wireless operator has completed numerous operations against the enemy, in the course of which he has invariably displayed the utmost fortitude, courage and devotion to duty.
Lancaster JB216 of 156 Squadron took off from RAF Station Warboys at 1628 hours on 16 December 1943, to carry out a bombing attack on Berlin. At 1845 hours a fix was obtained of the aircraft over North Sea in position 52.22N 002.48E approximately 200 miles from base. No further message received from the aircraft which did not return to base. The aircraft and crew were lost without trace.
The crew members of JB216 were:
Flight Lieutenant Charles Oscar Aubert DFM (403490) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant William Starkey Fisher (1098374) (RAFVR)
Squadron Leader Ronald Hadley DFC (102608) (RAFVR)
Flight Lieutenant Norman Thomas Riggall Poulton DFM (400820) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Lieutenant Leslie John Powell DFC (406873) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant John Frederick Samuel DFC (400999) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Robert Sidney Smith DFC (403766) (Wireless Operator)
Flight Lieutenant Theodore Trilsbeck DFC (J/10163) (RCAF)
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, 166/38/370