Harry Francis Burton Smith                                                                  Updated: 21 MAR 2022

Airman: e777188.htm Surname: Smith Init: HFB Rank: F/O Service: RNZAF Sqdn: 9

P_link: p113.htm Plane: LAN W4230 Operation: Bomb G Crash_site: Smålandsfarvandet

Crash_d: d240942 Buried_d: e777 C_link: e777.htm At_Next: NO KNOWN

Den 24. september 1942 styrtede LAN W4230 i Smålandsfarvandet nær Vejrø, måske omkring her. Zoom ud. LAN R5909 gik tabt i samme operation. p113MACR

"83 Lancasters fra 5 BG angreb Wismar og den nærliggende Dornier fabrik. 4 fly gik tabt. Mellem kl. 0215 og 0400 skød flere tyske skibe i Store Bælt mod de overflyvende bombemaskiner, og den 26. september blev et landingshjul og dele af en benzintank bjærget i farvandet nær Vejrø. Senere drev liget af et besætnings-medlem (Sgt G.W.A. Higson) ind på kysten ved Holsteinborg (måske omkring her) på Sjælland, og liget af et andet besætningsmedlem (Sgt J.W. Henry) drev i land
på Skalø (her)." (FT 86-88)

Flying Officer Harry Francis Burton Smith, 25 år, var søn af Alfred Ezra og Helena Smith, Wellington, New Zealand.
Hans navn er på Panel 114 på the Runnymede Memorial blandt mere end 20.000 navne på flyvere, der ikke har en kendt grav. (Kilde: CWGC)

2 flyvere fra LAN W4230 er begravet på Svinø Kirkegård, 5 har ingen kendt grav. Se Lancaster fotos. 7 flyvere.

On 24 September 1942 LAN W4230 crashed into the sea near Vejrø, maybe about here. Zoom out. LAN R5909 was lost on the same operation.

"83 Lancasters from 5 BG attacked Wismar and the Dornier factory nearby. 4 planes were lost. Between 02:15 and 04:00 several German ships in the Storebælt shot at the passing bombers. On 26 September a landing wheel and parts of a fuel tank were salvaged at sea near Vejrø. Later the body of a crew member (Sgt G.W.A. Higson) was washed ashore at Holsteinborg on Zealand, and the body of another crew member (Sgt J.W. Henry) drifted ashore on Skalø (here)." (FT 86-88)

Flying Officer Harry Francis Burton Smith, 25, was the son of Alfred Ezra and Helena Smith, of Wellington, New Zealand.
He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 114, among more than 20,000 airmen who have no known grave. (Source: CWGC)
He is remembered on The Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, Phase 1, Panel 99.

2 airmen from LAN W4230 are buried in Svinø Churchyard, 5 have no known grave.

See Vickers Armstrong Wellington * Vickers Wellington * No. 9 Squadron RAF - Wikipedia *  IX (B) Squadron Association * p113MACR has more.

Lancaster I W4230 WS-P took off from RAF Waddington at 02:52 on 23 SEP 1942. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this + Notes.) 7 airmen.