Smart, Arthur Bertram
Personal Information
Rank | P/O |
Forename(s) | Arthur Bertram |
Surname | Smart |
Gender | M |
Decorations | DFM |
Date of Death | 13-06-1943 |
Aircraft Information
Aircraft | Avro Lancaster III |
Serial Number | ED603 |
Markings | OL-L |
Memorial Information
Burial/Memorial Country | United Kingdom |
Burial/Memorial Place | Runnymede Memorial |
Grave Reference | Panel 133. |
Epitaph |
IBCC Memorial Information
Phase | 1 |
Panel Number | 98 |
Enlistment Information
Service Number | 51914 |
Service | Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve |
Group | 8 |
Squadron | 83 |
Squadron Motto | Strike to defend |
Trade | Flight Engineer |
Country of Origin | United Kingdom |
Other Memorials
Location | RAF Wyton Memorial Garden, Wyton, Cambridgeshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Memorial Stone & Inscribed Metal Plaque |
Memorial Text | Commemorating the Pathfinder Sqns operating from RAF Wyton, 1942-1945 |
Location | RAF Wyton, Cambridgeshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Memorial Stone & Inscribed Metal Plaque |
Memorial Text | Commemorating 83 Sqn Lancaster, one of the Pathfinder Sqn's operating from RAF Wyton 1942 - 1945 |
Location | St. Michaels's Church, Coningsby, Lincolnshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Inscribed Wooden Plaque & 83 Sqn Badge |
Memorial Text | This Chapel was furnished by members and friends of 83 Pathfinder Sqn and is dedicated to the memory of those airmen who lost their lives on flying operations from RAF Coningsby in WWII |
Miscellaneous Information
The remains of this aircraft were discovered in 1996 and are being recovered from the Ijsselmeer at the moment. In early September 2023, the Dutch authorities confirmed that they have found skeletal remains within the wreckage, presumed to be those of the three airmen with no known grave. In November 2023, the Dutch defence ministry confirmed that they had found two cigarette cases, inscribed with the initials of P/O Smart and P/O Moore and that the remains of each of the three missing men had been idenitified, allowing them to have a proper burial, 80 years after they perished. |
Subject to a TV documentary with Guy Martin |
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The National Archives
Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/687/12 |
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/687/11 |
Fellow Servicemen
Please note that this list gives all the losses aboard the quoted aircraft and occasionally these may have occurred on an earlier date when the aircraft was not itself lost. Please check the dates of death carefully.
Last Operation Information
Start Date | 12-06-1943 |
End Date | 13-06-1943 |
Takeoff Station | Wyton |
Day/Night Raid | Night (69% moon) |
Operation | Bochum |
Reason for Loss | Crashed into the Ijsselmeer, south of Breezandhaven. Recent excavation of the site by Leemans Speciaalwerken using a cofferdam has revealed the remains of the missing three airmen and two monogrammed cigarette cases belonging to Smart and Moore. |