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Smith, Robert Marshall

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Personal Information

Rank F/O
Forename(s) Robert Marshall
Surname Smith
Gender M
Age 28
Decorations
Date of Death 07-01-1945
Next of Kin Son of John Breingan Smith and Christina Winifred Smith (née Marshall), of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
SMITH RM

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster I
Serial Number LL961
Markings UM-S2

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country France
Burial/Memorial Place Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery
Grave Reference N. 31.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 1
Panel Number 99

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/36983
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 1
Squadron 626
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Main Entrance, Wickenby Airfield, Lincolnshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Memorial Stone, Metal Scupture, Info Board
Memorial Text This memorial commemorates the 1080 aircrew killed on operations with Nos (12B) and 626 squadrons whilst based at Royal Air Force Wickenby 1942-1945, the design and building of the memorial in 1981 was funded by subscription from members of the Wickenby R
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Miscellaneous Information

Surviving crew account: "We were flying in cloud and climbing when we felt a terrific bump and jar. Captain ordered to prepare to abandon and immediately after bale out. Just prior to impact the bomb aimer observed navigation lights to port approaching us. Our aircraft crashed about 2 miles from Laon on main railway line." The captain stayed with his aircraft and according to local witnesses avoided the town in a last minute pull up. Remainder of crew except rear gunner landed safely by parachute. No trace has yet been found of the rear gunner or his turret and it is the crew's opinion that the turret was knocked off in the collision. The navigator while descending through the cloud saw the glow of the aircraft burning. Flying Officer R M Smith was killed in the crash".
Robert was born on 8 July 1916 at Saskatoon. His father was born at Alloa, Scotland and was a banker and his mother was born at Orangeville, Ontario. He had one brother named Frederick Gordon. The schools he attended were Gordon Bell, Winnipeg 1927-1930, followed by Kelvin, Winnipeg 1930-1932 (Matric). His hobbies were gardening and reading and sports tennis, badminton, golf and swimming. Robert worked at the Canadian Bank of Commerce, working up from Junior to Discount Clerk. He enlisted on 7 August 1942.
On the night of 7 January 1945 his aircraft was in collision with another friendly aircraft. After he had ordered his crew to escape he then lost his own life when he managed to fly his aircraft away from a nearby town, saving many lives there but sadly losing his own. He was on his 24th operational sortie.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/2148/24
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/2145/29

Fellow Servicemen

McLean W (Sgt)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 07-01-1945
End Date 08-01-1945
Takeoff Station Wickenby
Day/Night Raid Night (36% moon)
Operation Munchen
Reason for Loss Outbound, collided with 150 Sqdn Lancaster PB781 at 15000' and abandoned just to the S of Laon (Aisne). The aircraft crashed at milepost 136.8 of the railway line from Laon to Soissons, about 2 km E of the Laon railway station.

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Casualty Pack

IBCC is delighted to introduce a unique facility to link the Losses Database to the relevant RAF Casualty Pack on the National Archives website. This project is the result of on-going collaboration between IBCC, the MOD Records Office and National Archives, Kew. This document describes what Casualty Packs are, when they were created, the process of making them available to the public and then goes on to describe the process by which you can view the contents of the packs. Casualty Packs (CPs) were created by the RAF whenever there was serious injury or loss of life associated with operational activity within the RAF. This includes operational flying losses, enemy action due to air raids, road accidents either on station or even off-station if they involved RAF vehicles. Deaths due to natural causes in service or accidents that did not involve RAF vehicles did not generally give rise to a CP.

CPs were originally given a unique reference number by the RAF. Each begins with the letter ‘P’ and is followed by six digits, then an oblique (forward slash) and the finally the year in which the incident took place- for example P396154/42.

The CPs are in the process of being made available to the general public as they are passed from the MOD Records Office, Portsmouth to National Archives, Kew. This process requires some rework to the files which is very time consuming, so the process of making them all available to National Archives will take several years. They are being made available in increasing date order.

Once CPs arrive at National Archives they are assigned a unique AIR81 number, so each CP has both a P-number and an AIR81 number. Both are searchable on the National Archives website under ‘Search the catalogue’ and both are included on the IBCC website.

The AIR81 reference on the IBCC website is a link to the file on the National Archives website. When you click on it, the relevant page will open in a new tab on your browser.

There is currently no plan to digitise AIR81 files, partly because they are fragile and partly because the information they contain can at times be sensitive, even harrowing, since they may contain exhumation reports and even photographs of corpses. Family members wishing to read the AIR81 files relating to their ancestors are advised to exercise caution and be guided by National Archives warnings where appropriate.

There are two means for accessing AIR81 files- to attend in person or to order a copy by post.

To attend in person, the attendee should first create a Reader’s Ticket. This can be done online by following this link: https://secure.nationalarchives.gov.uk/login/yourdetails. Then click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and click Order in Advance. Enter your Reader’s Ticket number and state the date on which you intend to visit. National Archives will have the file ready for you when you arrive, saving you time. When you visit Kew, you must quote the Reader’s Ticket number and take along two forms of ID- one bearing your signature and one bearing your address. When you view the files, you are permitted to take photographs of each page, should you wish.

Alternatively, if you wish to order a copy by post, please be aware that there is a charge for this service based on the number of pages in the file. Click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and then click Request a Copy. There is an £8.40 charge for National Archives staff to access the file and give you a quotation for the copying service. The process takes around 24 days to complete and can be expensive.

IBCC wishes to thank the staff at the MOD Records Office and National Archives for their engagement and assistance in making this facility available to our website users.