LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Thomas Claude SMITH
Service No: 409008
Born: Avoca VIC, 2 December 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 June 1941
Unit: No. 452 Squadron
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 452 Squadron Wirraway aircraft A20-633), near Sattler Airfield NT, 20 November 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Adelaide River War Cemetery NT
CWGC Additional Information: on of Claude Percival Thomas Smith and Nellie Irene Smith; husband of Dawn Estelle Smith, of Caulfield, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Avoca VIC
Remembered: Panel 105, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1810 hours on the 20 November 1944, Wirraway A20-633 crashed about 15 miles east of Sattler Strip, in the Darwin area, Northern Territory. The aircraft crashed in tall timber country while engaged in a search for a missing airman (Leading Aircraftman Maurice Evan Wise (88327) (Discharged: 30 January 1946)) who was later found.
The crew members of A20-633 were:
Flying Officer Evelyn Graham Ivor Etherington (403804) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Thomas Claude Smith (409008) (Second 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, 166/38/803