William Henry Smyth b 1915 Belfast, flew with RAF WW2, POW 41-55

[jives11]

greetings,

I am assisting a group of Amateur Historians in Brittany (ABSA) to document WW2 aircraft losses in their area.  One of the aircraft I'm helping with is Blenheim Z6163 of 500 Squadron. It crash landed near Brest in September 1941. The three man crew were unharmed, escaped from the aircraft and successfully evaded capture for 6 weeks, before finally being arrested after a search by the Germans in Nantes. The three men spent the rest of the war in a variety of PoW camps including the famous Stalag Luft III.

The crew were :

Pilot Officer. REECE, FRANCIS (Dunedin, NZ)
Sergeant. SMYTH HENRY W. (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
Sergeant. APPLEYARD JAMES DOUGLAS (Ontario, Canada)
the site we have created is here: http://www.absa3945.com/Pertes%20Bretagne/Cotes%20Armor/28%20septembre%201941/blenheim_iv_z6163.htm We are trying to include a picture of each of the men and possibly some background.

I have copies of the POW report which each man completed in 1945, and I can see that William Henry Smyth was born in 1915 and gave an address on North Rd, Belfast at his time of enlistment. his trade was Furniture Salesman.

I also have copies of pictures taken at the time of the Aircraft ditched on the beach at Brest.

If anyone knows anything about William Henry Smyth or can provide any pointers I would be very interested to hear. This is an entirely amateur effort, both for me and the French association. ABSA would simply like some background on William and ideally a picture, to put along side his fellow crew members. It is possible he is still alive, though alas, his two comrades have since passed away.

many thanks


Jonathan

[aghadowey]

An interesting project but have you considered that William Henry Smyth (and the other POWs) could still be alive? Rootschat isn't a forum for tracing living people so if this is the case we can't post any details here. Another problem is that few records post WWII will be available online (again, a privacy issue).

[jives11]

An interesting project but have you considered that William Henry Smyth (and the other POWs) could still be alive? Rootschat isn't a forum for tracing living people so if this is the case we can't post any details here. Another problem is that few records post WWII will be available online (again, a privacy issue).

Yes - I am aware of that. I believe that the two other crew are now deceased, and at 97, William Smyth Would be very old, but I have not revealed his DoB or address at enlistment , which I know from his POW record which I have. It is probably likely that he married,  and that he had a family who may well still be alive. All of this could be established using freebmd for England & Wales, but as there is not an equivalent for Ireland I wondered if anyone recognises the family , or can point me in the right direction.

[reds69za]

Hi, my name is Fletcher Smyth. William is my Grandfather. Unfortunately, he died more than 30 years ago. However, his son, my father is still alive. He lives in South Africa and I am sure would be able to provide you with further details.

[jives11]

Hi, my name is Fletcher Smyth. William is my Grandfather. Unfortunately, he died more than 30 years ago. However, his son, my father is still alive. He lives in South Africa and I am sure would be able to provide you with further details.

Thank you Fletcher, you might be interested in the site we created dedicated to your Grandfathers crew

https://www.absa3945.com/Pertes%20Bretagne/Cotes%20Armor/28%20septembre%201941/blenheim_iv_z6163.htm

Translated by google here

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.absa3945.com%2FPertes%2520Bretagne%2FCotes%2520Armor%2F28%2520septembre%25201941%2Fblenheim_iv_z6163.htm

and

https://www.absa3945.com/Pertes%20Bretagne/Cotes%20Armor/28%20septembre%201941/SMYTH.htm

[Kiltaglassan]

Welcome to RootsChat, Fletcher 

Hi, my name is Fletcher Smyth. William is my Grandfather. Unfortunately, he died more than 30 years ago. However, his son, my father is still alive. He lives in South Africa and I am sure would be able to provide you with further details.

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KG