New Memorial Listings

New memorial data for individuals, crew, stations, squadrons and groups have been added.

View memorials

Smith, Sydney James

Request an edit Submit a photo

Personal Information

Rank Sgt
Forename(s) Sydney James
Surname Smith
Gender M
Age 19
Date of Death 24-01-1944
Next of Kin Son of Sydney Smith and Mary Boyle Smith (Chalmers), of Matheson, Ontario, Canada.
SMITH SJ 327

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Halifax V
Serial Number DK237
Markings NA-L

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery
Grave Reference 6. K. 19.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 244

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/184327
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 428 (Ghost)
Squadron Motto Usque ad finem (To the very end)
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Adjacent to fomer St. Georges Hotel, Teesside Airport, County Durham
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Memorial Stone with inscribed slate tablets
Memorial Text Dedicated to all who served on 428 (RCAF) Sqn at Middleton St. George during WWII, especially those who made the supreme sacrifice
View On Google Maps View On what3words

Miscellaneous Information

Sydney was born at Matheson, Ontario on 15 April 1924. His father was a relief administrator and was born on the Isle of Man, his mother was born in Scotland. He had four brothers, Ivan, Richard, Carson and Douglas and also a sister Shirley. The schools he attended were the Public school at Cochrane, Ontario. 1930-1939, Cochrane High 1939-1942 (Jnr. Matric) and then Timmins High and Vocational School where he studied as a machinist and completed grade IX. His sport interests were hockey, softball, football and rugby and his hobby was machinist. Sydney worked for C.N.R. and T & N.O. Railways, Kirkland Lake, Ontario.
He enlisted on 13 October 1942 and after training embarked from Canada on 16 July 1943 for the U.K. He arrived at 3PRC on 23 July 1943 then went to 24 OTU on 3 August 1943, 1659 CU on 6 October 1943 and finally 428 Squadron on 8 November 1943. Sadly, this young man lost his life on 24 January 1944, still only nineteen years old.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Click here to view

The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1850/2
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1850/1

Last Operation Information

Start Date 21-01-1944
End Date 22-01-1944
Takeoff Station Middleton St. George
Day/Night Raid Night (18% moon)
Operation Magdeburg- the first major raid on this target. 648 aircraft, 57 losses (8.8%). The Halifax loss rate was especially high at 15.6%. The German controller tracked the bomber stream across the North Sea and many night-fighters were already in the stream before it reached the German coast (using the newly developed Tame Boar methodology). The controller was slow in identifying Magdeburg as the target but this was of little consequence as the fighters were able to stay in the stream for the duration of the approach. Despite the high loss rate, this was not a successful attack. Stronger tail winds than anticipated placed some of the stream over the target before Zero Hour and dropped their bomb load anyway, making the target marking much less effective. German decoy markers exacerbated the situation. No local report is available but it is thought that most of the bombs fell outside of the city.
Reason for Loss Shot down over the target by a night-fighter

Honour This Person

Since 1945 the brave men and women who gave their lives whilst in the service of Bomber Command, to protect our country have been largely ignored and forgotten by successive governments.

It is now time to make that right.

Honour this person now

Events At IBCC

We have an exciting events programme here at IBCC! From Concerts with stars to our annual Salute to the 40s weekend, from Dinner dances to Family Fun Days..

Something for all the family!

View Upcoming Events
 
 
 
 

Please Wait

Close

Request An Edit

I warrant that the information i’m supplying is accurate to the best of my knowledge and I have the rights to provide this information.

Submit a Photo

I warrant that I own the copyright or have the correct commercial print licences in place for the images and or artwork I’m uploading.

Once submitted, your photo will be submitted for verification and will be shown on the database record shortly.

Disclaimer I acknowledge that I remain the copyright holder of the original document(s). I hereby grant copyright in the digital version to the International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) and I consent to IBCC making digital copies freely available online under a Creative Commons non-commercial licence. IBCC may also use, reproduce or incorporate it into other works in any media, or licence its use for purposes of ensuring the sustainability of its Digital Archive and Losses Database. I understand that digital copies will be owned and controlled by IBCC, and I irrevocably agree to IBCC using and publishing digital copies however it sees fit, but always in line with its responsibilities to preserve and protect such ephemera.

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.