206281 Flt Sgt. (Nav) Sidney Smith Royal Air Force 514 Squadron (d.5th Mar 1945) Sidney Smith was my uncle. Although he died almost ten years before I was born and my mother spoke very little about him. Therefore, I only have a few family tales to relate but one poignantly is that he wrote home from training in Canada to say that flying was so wonderful, it was worth dying for. Family history is that he lied about his age so that he could enlist into the RAF.
Tragically he and his crew-mates were killed towards the end of the War. I have been told that they flew a Wellington although I am not confident that is correct. They were shot down over Belgium and the crew were buried there together.
Much more than that I do not know. He had spent his childhood in an orphanage and was, I understand, a strong character. He had not long turned 21 when he died. We do have a lovely photograph of him walking arm-in-arm with two pretty girls, he is in RAF uniform.
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