news Riddle of missing Spitfire ace.. Remains Found

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1327575/Missing-Spitfire-ace-shot-D-Day-Normandy-estuary.html

Riddle of missing Spitfire ace shot down after D-Day is solved after his plane wreck is found 66 years on

For 66 years, the brave young Spitfire pilot’s final resting place had been a mystery.

Flight Lieutenant Henry Lacy Smith was shot down by the Germans five days after D-Day on a mission supporting the Allied invasion in Normandy.

His last radio message to comrades was: ‘I’m going to put this thing down in a field.’

But the Australian’s plane then nose-dived into the sea and he was designated ‘missing believed killed’.

Now, however, the puzzle has been solved after locals spotted something sticking out of the mud in the Orne estuary near Caen at low tide and decided to investigate.

They could see only small parts of the legendary plane at the site, close to the D-Day landmarks of Sword Beach and Pegasus bridge.

But after staging a remarkable rescue operation they were astonished at how well preserved its fuselage and wooden propellor were. The dials on the instrument panel were still recognisable.

After the wreckage was towed ashore, the remains of Flight Lieutenant Smith were found in the cockpit. They were placed in a coffin and will be handed to the Australian Embassy in France today.

The pilot, known as Lacy to his friends, was one of the first pilots to land in France following the invasion of Europe. He was 27 when he was shot down on June 11, 1944.

The former textile worker had enlisted with the Royal Australian Air Force in May 1941.

He served with the RAAF’s 453 Squadron, motto ‘Ready to Strike’, which was part of RAF Fighter Command from June 1942, and married his English wife Edna the year before his death.

Official letters of condolence from his Squadron Leader, Donald Hamilton Smith, were sent to his widow in Bournemouth and to his father Richard in New South Wales, saying he was ‘lying in an unknown grave’.

The Squadron Leader wrote: ‘The loss of Lacy has deprived the squadron of a pilot whose skill, courage and cheerfulness were an example to all of us and for these qualities we shall always remember him.

‘I had learned to know him as one whose sense of duty and spirit of endeavour were of the highest order and an inspiration to all his fellow pilots.’

Flight Lieutenant Smith was leading three Spitfires patrolling the beach area five days after the Normandy invasion began when he crashed.

Fellow pilots said German anti-aircraft fire ‘came up in front of the aircraft from a wood’ and his Spitfire was hit by flak ‘in the belly’.

Their report said: ‘He continued to glide in a westerly direction towards Ouistreham. His aircraft finally struck water and skidded for a short period and then nosed into the water, finally turning over comparatively slowly on its back.’ No one saw the cockpit hood open, suggesting that he never managed to escape.

The plane was finally recovered thanks to Brigitte Corbin, 49, and her husband Fabrice, 50, who run a D-Day museum at Ouistreham.

They spent days digging out mud from around the Spitfire before it was raised to the surface with flotation bags and taken to the yacht club at Merville-Franceville.

Mrs Corbin said: ‘We would like to see the bones of Henry Lacy Smith the hero buried with full military honours here in France. We feel as French people that we owe this to his family. He died for us.’

If it has a wooden propeller fitted it must have been a very early Mark which wouldn't have been in use at this stage of the war.

If it has a wooden propeller fitted it must have been a very early Mark which wouldn't have been in use at this stage of the war.

Most Spitfires had wooden propeller blades. The deHavilland adjustable pitch had metal blades and these were first used in 1940 but the early Watts fixed pitch and all the later Rotol types were wooden.

If it has a wooden propeller fitted it must have been a very early Mark which wouldn't have been in use at this stage of the war.

4 blade propellor so that would make it a Mk VI or later.

Mike

From a quick search on 453 Sqdrn RAAF they were flying Mark IXb at that time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._453_Squadron_RAAF

Mike

Most Spitfires had wooden propeller blades. The Dehavilland constant speed had metal blades and these were first used in 1940 but the early Watts fixed pitch and all the later Rotol types were wooden.

Thanks for putting me right Adrian, I'd always thought the Rotol props were metal.

Ironically, the new Spitfire blades are made by Hoffman in Germany!

Rest In Peace, Henry.....:bow:

Ironically, the new Spitfire blades are made by Hoffman in Germany!

Do we make anything in this country any more?

May he finally be put to rest in a proper grave.

Rest in peace.

Do we make anything in this country any more?

no just remake things from years ago

Do we make anything in this country any more?

Yes, a Right mess of things!............

hi, a quick update on the missing australian's spitfire found at quistram near caen last november, apparently the curators of the grand bunker museum who found and recovered the aircraft have been taken to court and fined and would you believe have been told to put the aircraft back where they found it. reading between the lines who do you think orchestrated that,? i do know that raf innsworth were up in arms about it, but in the end of the day the poor pilot has been found and will have a funeral befitting a hero and the family will have closure, all the best, tony g.