LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer William Thomas Wright SMITHSON
Service No: 412730
Born: White Cliffs VIC, 1 February 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 July 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: Ferry Command (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (US Air Transport Command C87 (Liberator Express) aircraft 41-11708), South Atlantic Ocean, 17 January 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas Wright Smithson and Hannah Smithson, of Bexley, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 3, Column 1, Ottawa Memorial, Ontario, Canada
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Sergeant John Clayton Smithson (6878)
On 17 January 1943 Charlie 87 aircraft 41-11708 went missing on an operational flight. The aircraft departed from Accra, Ghana, at 2330 hours on a flight to Natal, Brazil, but failed to reach its destination. The aircraft was crewed by personnel from US Transport Command and carried RCAF, RAAF and civilian passengers. One body may have been found on a life raft in the vicinity of Natal, but no trace of the other passengers or crew was found. In 1948 it was recorded that the missing personnel had lost their lives at sea.
On board 41-11708 were:
Sergeant John Lowery Bell (107899) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Mr Clinton Blackwell Berry (Radio Operator) Canadian Civilian
Flying Officer Geoffrey Addison Clegg (123981) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Norman Patrick Drury (R/108444) (RCAF) (Radio Operator)
Sergeant Harold Victor Lamb (412150) (Radio Operator)
Mr Paul Blecker Makepeace (Pilot) US Civilian
Flight Lieutenant Herbert James Martin (C/1479) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Mr William Richard Nixon (Pilot) Canadian Civilian
Mr Cecil McCombie Otway (Radio Operator) Canadian Civilian
Flying Officer William Thomas Wright Smithson (412730) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant John Henry Warman (R/84897) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Peter Charles Zoephel (J/11212) (RCAF) (Navigator)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Christie, C.A. (Carl Andrew) Ocean Bridge: The History of RAF Ferry Command, University of Toronto Press Toronto Canada, 1995
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/38/23
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line