Warrant Officer Albert E. Smith DFC
Unit : 575 Squadron, 46 Group
Awards : Distinguished Flying Cross
Bert Smith was born on the 30th May 1917 in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. When he left school in 1930, he had become deeply interested in pursuits of an engineering nature and had trained as a radio engineer before becoming a teacher at a public elementary school, lecturing six to fourteen year olds on a broad cross-section of subjects. Smith joined the RAF in 1939 and trained as a Navigator, thereafter progressing to become an instructor, and then a Bomb Aimer. With the establishment of squadrons of transport aircraft dedicated to the deployment of parachutists, Smith was highly recommended for a move to 575 Squadron, where the skills of bomb aiming and navigation that he possessed were much in demand. Now a fully qualified pilot, Smith flew in a Dakota as Second Pilot to Flying Officer Ed Henry, a very easy going Canadian with whom he got on very well. The navigator was Flying Officer Harry McKinley, an American from Brooklyn who had joined the RCAF so that he could come to England, and here was loaned to 575 Squadron. He and Smith did not see eye to eye, and Smith regarded him as being so overbearing as to give even Americans a bad name. The wireless operator was Sergeant Bill Fowler, a young man, but very skilled with a radio, and he possessed the same easy manner as did Ed Henry, and he had little regard for rank. Though the crew was experienced, they had not yet seen a shot fired in anger.
They had flown to Arnhem with the First Lift on Sunday 17th, and on the second day they towed a Horsa glider. Amongst its passengers was Lt-Colonel Tommy Haddon of the 1st Border, who had attempted to fly to Arnhem on the first day of Market Garden but a malfunction had caused his glider to cast off over England. The formation was flying over enemy held territory when Smith's Dakota was hit by a shell burst. Ed Henry was killed immediately, and everyone in the plane carried a wound of some description. McKinley broke out into hysterics and had to be restrained by Fowler whilst Smith tried to keep the badly damaged plane airborne. He didn't know it at the time but most of his tail had been shot off, together with the rudders. A message came through from the pilots of the towed glider saying that they were going to cast off, but as they were over enemy territory, Smith told them to hang on while he took them to the other side of the front line. The damaged craft pulling the dead weight of a Horsa made flying conditions difficult, but Smith was able to get them over and into the British lines where the glider cast off, and once it was seen that they were safely down Smith turned back to base. The men in the glider were able to meet up with elements of XXX Corps heading north and so were taken to Arnhem by road, however when Haddon crossed the Rhine with the 4th Dorsets on Sunday 24th he was taken prisoner.
Although Smith's plane was now free of its burden, it was only when Smith headed for home that a potentially very serious problem was discovered. He had asked McKinley for a bearing home, but he was unable to give one because his navigational equipment had been destroyed. Smith headed on a bearing of 270º, reasoning that heading west in a straight line would bring them over England sooner or later. In fact the first indication they got of their position was when they flew over Dunkirk, which was still in German hands at the time and as a consequence much anti-aircraft fire came their way, but Smith got away by flying low over the rooftops. This experience had, however, given them a good fix on their position and Smith was able to correct their bearing and head for home. On previous missions when they came in to land, Bill Fowler had been in the habit of standing in the cockpit doorway, smoking a cigarette, and at the appropriate time he put down the flaps and undercarriage. In spite of their dangerous situation on Monday 18th, he did exactly the same drill when they came in to land. By this time Smith was considerably tired as he had been wrestling with the damaged plane for several hours, and when Ed Henry was killed, Smith had been hit on the inside of his right arm and had lost a fair amount of blood, however he brought the plane down safely. It wasn't until he came to go to bed that night and removed his trousers that he realised that he had also been hit in the leg.
Not suffering too badly from his ordeal, Smith was told to fly to London on the following day and participate in a BBC broadcast. He flew two more flights to Arnhem, believed to be on Wednesday and Thursday, and he once acted as Second Pilot to both the Group Captain and Wing Commander. Only a short time later though, after 14 months in their service, Smith left 575 Squadron on compassionate grounds due to a family tragedy.
Bert Smith and Harry McKinley were both awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, but in his modesty, Smith was a little confused by this award because in his eyes he had done nothing beyond what it was his job to do. Bert Smith currently resides in Northern Ireland.
My thanks to Bert Smith and Alan Hartley for this story.