Were you in Aden in 1964 & did you know Flight Lieutenant William Smith?

[JanG]

Hello - My name is Jan & I'm trying to find more information about my father, Flight Lieutenant William Stanley Smith (Bill) who was in Aden in 1964 in 26 Squadron.
He flew Belvederes, and was awarded an Air Force Cross for an incident on the 5/10/1964 - however was killed in another incident on the 30/10/1964. I can only find minimal details about this second crash, and I have no memories of him or Aden as I was only a year old at the time.
If you have any information, or suggestions of where I can get more detail, please let me know. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

 

[Prudhoe]

Hi Jan – my dad was in Aden at that time on 37 Squadron, but I’m afraid he died a couple of years ago. I find it hard to find much information about 37 Sqn, maybe because they disbanded before the internet came along. 26 Sqn is probably a similar case, but these links might show you something more than you already have.


http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1964.htm
Belvedere XG463 is listed as crashing on 30 Oct 64

http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Aden/
Some background on what was going on in Aden

http://www.radfanhunters.co.uk/Khormaksar.htm
Some more on Aden with a couple of pictures of XG463

 

[Ex-Bay]

Hello - My name is Jan & I'm trying to find more information about my father, Flight Lieutenant William Stanley Smith (Bill) who was in Aden in 1964 in 26 Squadron.
He flew Belvederes, and was awarded an Air Force Cross for an incident on the 5/10/1964 - however was killed in another incident on the 30/10/1964. I can only find minimal details about this second crash, and I have no memories of him or Aden as I was only a year old at the time.
If you have any information, or suggestions of where I can get more detail, please let me know. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Have you tried the Imperial War Museum ?

 

[8:15fromOdium]

Jan,

A good place to start would be the Air Historical Branch of the RAF (http://www.raf.mod.uk/ahb/. They have responsibility to respond to historical RAF casualty enquiries made by members of the public. The mailing details are on the website. I hope your search goes well.

 

[Climebear]

Jan

This page for the RAF Website gives a whole list fo contacts that could help you: http://www.raf.mod.uk/links/contacts.cfm

 

[JanG]

Thank you - your help is appreciated

Thank you - your help is appreciated

Thank you to all who took the time to reply - it was a long time ago I know and there are now probably very few about who were there, but my mother still finds it difficult to talk about what happened. Sometimes you just need to try and find out more.

 

[timbo_66]

Hi Jan,

just found this website http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1964.htm. It lists a Belvedere HC1 that crashed on 30/10/1964 20 miles WNW of Khormaksar. The aircraft was XG463 and belonged to 26 Sqn. the blurb that goes with it says 'Crashed 20 miles WNW of Khormaksar, Aden after an explosion in the front engine either damaged the flying controls or incapacitated the pilots. All three on board were killed'. Presumably this was your late father's aircraft?

 

[Very Heavy very Humble]

Kew PRO

Kew PRO

You could also look in the Public recods office at Kew for the Squadron Operational Records Book (ORB). I did this for my fathers squadron and found it a very usefull source of information.

 

[Boarderlyne]

If you know your Dad's full name and Date of Birth, you can always write off to The National Archive for a copy of his record of service. Costs you a couple of quid, but gives you a bit more information

 

[Alanincyprus]

Flt Lt Smith

Flt Lt Smith

Timbo

Brilliant - well done.

Alan

 

[Mustangmk3]

bill Smith

bill Smith

Yes I was on 26 squadron when Flt Lt Bill Smith was one of our pilots. I helped service the aircraft that he flew in fact I have a bit of a history with one of the aircraft that Bill was flying when he received a medal for landing his aircraft with a serious defect. I also have issues with the Belvedere in general.
If you are out there Jan I could tell you more, but if you look into the RAF Seletar Magazine I wrote a bit on my experiences of the Belvedere in which I talk about some its short comings.
Any way thats enough for now cos I don't know quite who I am talking to.
MustangMk3.

 

[vim_fuego]

Yes I was on 26 squadron when Flt Lt Bill Smith was one of our pilots. I helped service the aircraft that he flew in fact I have a bit of a history with one of the aircraft that Bill was flying when he received a medal for landing his aircraft with a serious defect. I also have issues with the Belvedere in general.
If you are out there Jan I could tell you more, but if you look into the RAF Seletar Magazine I wrote a bit on my experiences of the Belvedere in which I talk about some its short comings.
Any way thats enough for now cos I don't know quite who I am talking to.
MustangMk3.

I hope Jan gets to see this but the thread is almost 4 years old...still you never know and a great post from you!

 

[rest have risen above me]

A look at Jan's profile shows she hasn't looked since 2013. Isn't it possible for the tech buffs to send her an e-mail to inform her that there may be something worth reading on the Goat? I'm not sure if you're allowed due to rules and stuff. Just a thought and maybe a straw to grasp.

 

[JanG]

Hi Mustangmk3

Hi Mustangmk3

Yes I was on 26 squadron when Flt Lt Bill Smith was one of our pilots. I helped service the aircraft that he flew in fact I have a bit of a history with one of the aircraft that Bill was flying when he received a medal for landing his aircraft with a serious defect. I also have issues with the Belvedere in general.
If you are out there Jan I could tell you more, but if you look into the RAF Seletar Magazine I wrote a bit on my experiences of the Belvedere in which I talk about some its short comings.
Any way thats enough for now cos I don't know quite who I am talking to.
MustangMk3.

Thank you for your reply & apologies for not seeing it earlier. I will look for the magazine (I hope it's on line), but I'd love to hear anything about my fathers past - about Aden & the Belvederes etc as I was only a year old when he died and have no memories at all of this time although we were in Aden with him.