The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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222504 P/O. Kenneth Richard K. Smettem Royal Air Force 50 Squadron (d.30th Aug 1940) My Uncle, K.R.K. Smettem who was a pilot with 50 Sq at Lindholme. His Hampden was shot down on the 30th of August 1940. The crew are buried in the Groesbeek War Cemetery: P/O. K.R.K. Smettem, pilot Sgt. A.A. Horsefall Sgt. H.H. Best Keith Smettem Add to this record.  Additional Information: He is remembered on his parents' and his grandparents' graves in Barrow Cemetery. The Other Few: The contribution made by Bomber & Coastal Aircrew to the winning of the Battle of Britain GL Donnelly (Blackwell 2004) reports that Hampden L4079 of 50 Squadron, based at RAF Lindholme, was on a bombing mission to Munchengladbach when it was shot down by Oberleutnant Werner Streib. All four crew members were killed, and buried at Groesbeek. The Barrow News 14 September 1940 reported beneath the photograph above: Pilot Officer Kenneth R. K. Smettem (24) of 233, Ainslie-street, Barrow, who has been reported missing during flying operations. His father is a captain in the Merchant Navy. Earlier, on 20 April 1940, the same photograph was used to illustrate an account of an attack where ‘British flyers bombed German warships and military objectives. His aircraft was in the air for nearly eight hours. All the ‘planes engaged in this daring exploit returned safely. Pilot Officer Smettem was educated at Barrow Grammar School, and obtained a commission in the R.A.F. in April, 1939. He was home on leave just two weeks ago. All the men who took part in this raid were on the news films this week. Rod White Reply Related Content: RAF Lindholme No. 50 Squadron, Royal Air Force Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.