Royal Australian Air Force Spitfire pilot. William Smith was the son of Samuel William and Freda Constance Adelaide Smith. The family moved to Victoria and William attended Melbourne High School from 1930 to 1934 where he received the Intermediate and Leaving Certificates. Soon after leaving school he joined the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works and was living at Thornbury and working in the City of Melbourne as a Clerk in the Water Supply Office when he joined the Royal Australian Air Force on November 11, 1940. He was allotted service number 400942 and received his wings as a pilot on May 1, 1941. William Smith was promoted sergeant on June 27 the day he left Sydney for England where he disembarked on September 2. On November 4 he was posted to No. 452 (RAAF) Squadron which had been formed under the Empire Air Training Scheme. He moved to RAF Station Redhill, Surrey on March 5, 1942 where he joined No. 457 (RAAF) Squadron flying Spitfires on April 9. A month later on May 9 during a large scale fighter sweep over France, 457 Squadron encountered some 20-25 German Focke-Wulf 190 fighters as it headed home. William Smith was last seen by his squadron near the coast of France engaged in a dogfight with enemy aircraft at 20,000 feet over the English Channel. His aircraft was shot down and he was buried when it crashed nose first at high speed into a farmer's paddock. It was only in 2011 that the wreckage and his body were located. He was then buried in a Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery.∼´piloto da RAF, abatido sobre o canal da mancha em maio de 1942, destroços e corpo encontrados em 2011.
Royal Australian Air Force Spitfire pilot. William Smith was the son of Samuel William and Freda Constance Adelaide Smith. The family moved to Victoria and William attended Melbourne High School from 1930 to 1934 where he received the Intermediate and Leaving Certificates. Soon after leaving school he joined the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works and was living at Thornbury and working in the City of Melbourne as a Clerk in the Water Supply Office when he joined the Royal Australian Air Force on November 11, 1940. He was allotted service number 400942 and received his wings as a pilot on May 1, 1941. William Smith was promoted sergeant on June 27 the day he left Sydney for England where he disembarked on September 2. On November 4 he was posted to No. 452 (RAAF) Squadron which had been formed under the Empire Air Training Scheme. He moved to RAF Station Redhill, Surrey on March 5, 1942 where he joined No. 457 (RAAF) Squadron flying Spitfires on April 9. A month later on May 9 during a large scale fighter sweep over France, 457 Squadron encountered some 20-25 German Focke-Wulf 190 fighters as it headed home. William Smith was last seen by his squadron near the coast of France engaged in a dogfight with enemy aircraft at 20,000 feet over the English Channel. His aircraft was shot down and he was buried when it crashed nose first at high speed into a farmer's paddock. It was only in 2011 that the wreckage and his body were located. He was then buried in a Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery.∼´piloto da RAF, abatido sobre o canal da mancha em maio de 1942, destroços e corpo encontrados em 2011.
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