Smith: chalked up two Me 109s on the same day

Battle of Britain pilot who led the low-level raid on Amiens prison
            which liberated Resistance fighters facing execution

GROUP CAPTAIN IRVING SMITH, who has died aged 82, scored six kills in the Battle of Britain and won two DFCs; he later led the historic raid on the German prison at Amiens.
A New Zealander, Smith took command of No 487 - a Royal New Zealand Air Force squadron equipped with Mosquitos - early in February 1944.   On February 18, he led a raiding force of 18 aircraft in Operation Jericho, which aimed to breach the walls of the jail and free the 700 prisoners held there, many of whom faced imminent execution.
Flying in blizzard conditions, Smith came into the attack just above the ground at the vulnerably low speed of 180 mph.   His task was to breach the prison's north and east walls, which were 20 ft high and three feet thick; the hope was that each of his four 500 lb bombs would lodge close enough to the walls to shatter the masonry.   It was then the job of the six Mosquitos of 464 Squadron to blow the ends off the main building.
The plan worked.   Smith, the first to attack, successfully breached the walls.   Shortly after the war; he visited Amiens to inspect his handiwork and was gratified to discover that every Mosquito crew in his first section had scored a bullseye.
Casualties inside the prison were heavy and some civilians outside were killed, but 258 prisoners escaped through the breach made by the New Zealanders.   Later in 1944, Smith led a successful raid on a barracks at Poitiers, where troops were assembling to attack the Maquis, and then he destroyed the SS headquarters at Vincey, near Metz.
Irving Stanley Smith was born on May 21 1917 at Invercargill, New Zealand.   He was educated at Whangarei High School and Sedden Memorial Technical College, Auckland, where he played the cornet and tenor horn as a member of the Ponsonby Boys' Brass Band.
He was then apprenticed as a coach painter, but in 1939, after being given a short service commission in the RNZAF, he volunteered to train in Britain and sailed for London in July.   Having completed his flying training a year later, Smith was sent to No 151, a Hawker Hurricane fighter squadron based at North Weald.
Being the darker in complexion of two Smiths on the squadron, he was dubbed "Black" Smith, the other inevitably becoming known as "White".
On August 15 1940, as the Luftwaffe mounted its Eagle offensive, Smith flew three patrols, destroying two Me 109 fighters and damaging a third.   Nine days later he shot down an He 111 bomber, and on August 30 combined with another pilot to - as he later put it - "frighten" an Me 109 pilot straight into the ground.
The next day, Smith flew four sorties, winging a Do 17 bomber on the first and destroying another on the third.   The following day 151 Squadron was withdrawn for a rest.   Smith was one of only four surviving pilots from the original squadron and, despite having notched up a mere two months of operational flying experience, was already regarded as an old hand.
On October 2, while training replacement pilots, he was sent to intercept a lone He 111 bomber which had attacked the Rolls-Royce factory at Derby.   Flying in cloud and on instruments, Smith felt the slipstream of another aircraft.   Looking up, he glimpsed the Heinkel and, as the aeroplane emerged from the clouds, he noticed that its starboard engine had stopped.   He attacked, putting the port engine out of action and forcing the bomber to ditch in the sea north of Skegness.
The squadron was then partly re-equipped with Boulton Paul Defiants and became a night fighter squadron.   Smith was awarded the DFC in March, and on May 10 1941 - the night of the heaviest raid of the Blitz - he destroyed an He 111 north of the Thames Estuary, having flown with his hood open to see his target better.
In February 1942 Smith took command of 151.   He celebrated his appointment the next night, while on convoy protection duty near Cromer, Norfolk.   As six German raiders crossed the East coast at near sea level, Smith threw his squadron into the attack and routed the enemy.   His gunner, Flight Sergeant Beale, shot down a Do 217 and damaged a Ju 88.
In April, the squadron was re-equipped with the fast and versatile Mosquito.   On the night of June 24, enemy bombers attacked factories in the West Midlands and East Anglia, but lost five aircraft.   Two of these were destroyed by Smith, who from a range of 300 yards sent an He 111 and a Do 217 spinning into the sea off Yarmouth; he also probably destroyed a second Heinkel.   By now a Wing Commander, Smith was awarded a Bar to his DFC in July 1942.
After two and a half years with 151, Smith was posted to Fighter Command Headquarters in March 1943.   He asked to return to operations, but his posting to command No 488 RNZAF squadron was overruled.   He finally took charge of No 487 at Hunsdon, in Hertfordshire, in February 1944.
After the Amiens raid, Smith became chief instructor on the Mosquito at 13 OTU, High Ercall, in Shropshire.   He was mentioned in despatches the following year and granted a permanent commission in the RAF.
After the war, he served at Air Headquarters, Malta, and then in 1950 took command of No 56, a Gloster Meteor jet fighter squadron.   He later commanded RAF Church Fenton and, having been promoted to Group Captain in 1958, commanded RAF Jever in Germany.   In 1961 he returned to staff duties, at Signals Command.   He was invalided from the service in 1966.
During a long retirement, Smith farmed at Northleigh, Devon, where, although he held - and expressed - firm views about how things should be done, he was much respected and known for his consideration of others.   He was always ready to help with village affairs.
He had a lifelong love of sailing and in his time owned a series of yachts, of which the last was Nymph, a Dragonfly class racing trimaran for which he devised an unusual junk rig and in which, at the age of 80, he achieved 18 knots.
Irving Smith was appointed OBE in 1953 and CBE in 1960.
He married, in 1942, Joan Debenham, then a WAAF officer.   They had two daughters, one of whom survives, and a son, General Sir Rupert Smith, formerly commander of the UN Protection Force in Bosnia.

---

Additional notes by Mick Ryan Web Master:

I had the privilege to serve under "Black" Smith when he was Station Commander at RAF Jever.   The stories about him are legion.  He was uncompromising about putting operational efficiency first.   Like all good leaders he was both feared and respected.
As an example of his attitude to supporting operational flying, he introduced some controversial changes at Jever.   He listened to the squadron pilots who complained about the time that they had to spend away from flying to complete routine chores - like drawing pay or changing equipment.   He ordered the Accounts Section to attend Met Briefing in Flying Wing HQ on the first day of each month and actually pay pilots as they left Met Briefing.
Next he ordered the Equipment Section to load up a bus with all the common items of flying clothing that the aircrew wore.   With much complaining the bus went round each squadron during working hours and met clothing and equipment requirements in the Squadron Crewroom.   In addition the equippers had to make out the paperwork - which was extensive in those days - and a real deterrent to a simple task of changing a pair of flying gloves.
There were many howls of anguish from the Accounts and Equipment Branch who said that they did not have the staff or the time to meet these outrageous requests.   Black's answer was that whenever the aircrew were night flying he expected to see the lights on in the Accounts and Equipment Branches so that they could catch up on their lost time.   After a few weeks of late working the Accounts and Stores managed to work out a way of meeting his demands without having to stay up for night flying.   They never refused his requests again.   In return Black accepted no excuses from pilots that they did not have time to complete their professional training or have unserviceable flying clothing because of such distractions.
When Black arrived the Officer Commanding Flying Wing was a tough, churlish and gruff Australian Wing Commander who was single and lived in the Officers' Mess.   One Sunday morning, when an emergency arose, Black Smith called his Wing Commanders to his quarter for consultation.   A terrified Orderly Officer was dispatched to try and get the WgCo Flying out of bed.   His rejection was as expected bluff and fierce.   The Station Duty Officer was next in line - the OO having failed.   He too was told to tell the Station Commander to "F*** Off - Didn't the Station Commander know it was Sunday morning!   This was duly relayed to the, by now impatient, Black Smith.   The Wing Commander was on the train back to England the following morning and we very quickly had a new Wing Commander Flying.
Yet in spite of this tough reputation, he was known to fight for his men.   One of the squadron pilots did something rather silly involving late night driving in fog and colliding with parked aircraft.   In due course the culprit was summoned to have a one-sided discussion with the AOC. To his surprise, when he was collected for transport to Group HQ, he found he was accompanied by Black Smith in the same car. He was very supportive, and when he arrived at the AOC's Office he found that Black Smith had already been pleading for him.