Flight Lieutenant H. Bruce Smith, RCAF

Flight Lieutenant H. Bruce Smith (my uncle) was a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot who was attached to Coastal Command of the Royal Air Force when he was deployed overseas during World War ll.

(Above) Flight Lieutenant H. Bruce Smith, RCAF

(Above) The Royal Air Force Ensign

(Above) The Royal Canadian Air Force Ensign (1940-1965 version) 

(Below) This short personal history outlines some highlights of Bruce Smith's service with the RCAF and the RAF 

 

My uncle told me once that after a successful mission his CO told him that he was going to be promoted, nominated for a medal, and posted to Bermuda.  As the narrative states, shortly after this he was involved in the plane crash and although being vindicated after the court marshal, three things did not happen...no promotion, no medal, and no posting to the Bahamas.

Uncle Bruce was one of two Canadian pilots attached to 502 Squadron.  The other Canadian was a grain farmer from Saskatchewan and he too survived the war.  Many other commonwealth countries provided pilots to 502 squadron.  However, all of the other countries that supplied pilots to the squadron lost at least one officer in action.

Uncle Bruce told me that he attributed his survival to the training and mentoring provided by the RAF pilots that he flew with after he arrived in Great Britain.  

H. Bruce Smith retired from piloting aircraft at the end of World War 2.

(Above) A map showing the Bay of Biscay, where Bruce Smith flew most of his operational missions and where his cousin Stephen Lea was lost

   

 

The service [Coastal Command] saw action from the first day of hostilities until the last day of the Second World War. It flew over one million flying hours, 240,000 operations and destroyed 212 U-boats. Coastal Command's casualties amounted to 2,060 aircraft to all causes and some 5,866 personnel killed in action. During 1940–1945 Coastal Command sank 366 German transport vessels and damaged 134. The total tonnage sunk was 512,330 tons and another 513,454 tons damaged. A total of 10,663 persons were rescued by the Command, including 5,721 Allied crews, 277 enemy personnel, and 4,665 non-aircrews.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Coastal_Command_during_World_War_II 

Aircraft Flown by Bruce Smith in WW2

 

 (Above) The Handley Page Halifax

 

(Above) The Armstrong Whitworth Whitley

 

(Above) The Avro Anson

 

(Above) The North American Aviation Harvard

 

(Above) The Cessna Crane

(Above) The de Havilland Tiger Moth

Other Maps and Photographs

   

(Above) At the outbreak of WWII in 1939 there was one airfield on Lough Neagh,      located on the east shore at Aldergrove, which is now the site of Belfast International Airport.  This is where the Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) where Bruce Smith was stationed an an instructor.

 #6 Elementary Flying Training School

Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan

(Above) The aerial view of the base

Interesting people that Bruce Smith met that were mentioned in his letter

 

(Above) Lieutenant General Sir Henry Cholmondeley Jackson, KCB, CMG, DSO (1879-1972). He commanded the 50th (Northumbrian) Division on the Western Front in WW1. 

(Above) Dr. Sir Harry George Champion, CIE, (1891-1979) was a Professor of Forestry at Oxford University.  Champion published an initial classification of the forest types of India and Burma in 1936. This was revised in 1968 by S K. Seth and this is referred to as the Champion-Seth classification.

(Above) The Right Honourable the Lord [Claud] Schuster [1st Baron Schuster], GCB, CVO, KC (1869–1956). He was a British barrister and civil servant noted for his long tenure as Permanent Secretary to the Lord Chancellor's Office.