Smith | Geoffrey Charles
Biography
George Charles Smith, Pilot Officer, air gunner, was a member of the crew of the Stirling III BK718 which was shot down on 4th July 1943, either by Flak88 or Hayo Hermann (luftwaffepilot). They took off at 23.26 on 3rd July 1943 from West Wickham and crashed at Mehlem on the westbank of the Rhine, 10 km SSE of Bonn.
The crew is buried at Overloon War Cemetery, except Sgt I.H. Norris, who managed to leave the plane and was a Prisoner of War (POW).
The other crew members who died were:
Official information via findagrave.com:
Plane data: Short Stirling III
Serialnr. BK718
Call Sign: WP-M
Unit: 90 Sqdn.
Take off: 11:26 PM West Wickham airfield.
Target: Köln.
Operation: Bombing.
Shot down by FLAK.
Crashed at Bonn-Mehlem, Germany.
Buried Plot GGG-4-91 Allied cemetery Margraten, Netherlands.
Reburied 01/05/1947 Overloon War Cemetery, Netherlands.
Details of how Geoffrey came to be with this crew can be found in the extended side-story about the fate of the crew of the Stirling BK718.
Geoffrey Charles Smith was born on 8/4/1923 in St Helen’s, Lancashire. His parents were Charles and Ellen Smith. Charles was born on 11/9/1893 and Ellen on 27/10/1895. Charles Smith married Ellen Bellis in 1918 in St Helen’s.
In June 1921 Charles and Ellen Smith were living at 102, Birchley Street, St Helens, with Ellen’s parents, William and Emily Bellis and their other daughter, Elsie Bellis. In 1911 Charles had been described as a Glass Cutter – now he was working as a Foreman Plate Glass Cutter at the long established Pilkington Brothers Glass Works in St Helen’s. Prior to her marriage Ellen was an Apprentice Confectioner. Geoffrey was born two years later in 1923. They went on to have another child, William Brian Smith, on 7/5/1931.
By September 1939 Geoffrey C. Smith was living with his father at 16 Devonshire Gardens, Winchmore Hill which is now part of Endfield in North London. Charles was now described as a “Foreman Plate Sheet Cathedral Glass” and Geoffrey was working as an Engineering Junior Draughtsman. Geoffrey was still single. Charles was still married but neither his wife nor other son were present. Ellen Smith appears to have been living at 110 Birchley Street, St Helens at that time in the household of John E and Martha Edwards together with widow Lillian Naylor, but no child was present. She may have just been visiting them on the date of the register. No family connection with the Edwards is known – but they only lived a few houses away in Birchley Street from where Ellen and her parents lived in 1921 so they were probably friends. William may have been with other relatives.
Ellen Smith died on 3rd September 1956. She was living at 16 Devonshire Gardens in Enfield. At the time of her death Charles was shown as a Factory Foreman. Charles himself died on 15 July 1967 with his address still given as 16 Devonshire Gardens. Geoffrey’s brother, William Brian Smith, administered his estate. William was living at 24 Andrews Road, Earley, Reading at the time. He married Valerie Gillian Clarkson in Surrey in 1956 and had a daughter Karen Amanda Smith and a son Martin Geoffrey Smith. He died in Reading in 2017 and Valerie died there in 2023.
Geoffrey Charles Smith is commemorated on a memorial to ten men who died in WW2 at Grange Park Methodist Church in Enfield, close to Devonshire Gardens. The Church is built in the Art Deco style and only opened in 1938. It is also known as “ The Church in the Orchard”.
