Alan Smith, right, with, from the left, Johnnie Johnson, “Cocky” Dundas and Douglas Bader at RAF Westhampnett in Sussex
Fighter pilot who flew as Douglas Bader’s faithful wingman before becoming an ace in his own right
When in March 1941 the legless fighter ace Douglas Bader took over command of the Tangmere Wing, in West Sussex, as the RAF went on to the offensive against the Luftwaffe in the wake of its Battle of Britain success, almost his first act was to appoint Alan Smith his wingman — the pilot who is deputed to guard the leader’s tail against any would-be attacker.
Smith discharged this task so well that Bader was later to describe him as “leech-like” and “a perfect number two”. No enemy ever had Bader in his sights while Smith was on the watch, and it was only on an occasion when illness prevented him from discharging that task that Bader was brought down.
But watching Bader’s back was certainly not Smith’s only claim to his undoubted niche in the annals of fighter operations in the Second World War.
His wingman’s role may have militated against his opening his own account as a fighter pilot earlier than he did. But he claimed his first combat victory in July 1941 and after Bader was shot down over the Pas-de-Calais in August, he went on to achieve further combat successes both with the Tangmere Wing and in the following year in North Africa, where he became an ace (five combat victories).
Demobbed as a flight lieutenant in 1945 he ended his war with the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar.
In civilian life he distinguished himself in the knitwear industry, for his services to which he was knighted.
Alan Smith was born in 1917 in South Shields, on the Tyne. His father, a sea captain, was lost at sea when he was a boy and he was compelled to leave Bede College, Sunderland, at the age of 14 in 1931 to help his mother to run the family ironmongery business. In 1937 he obtained a post with Unilever. He also joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve and learnt to fly.
When war came in September 1939 he was called up and undertook further operational training, gaining his wings and joining 616 Squadron as a sergeant pilot in January 1941. After the RAF’s successes in 1940 in the essentially defensive Battle of Britain, the high command now determined to take the fight to the Germans and attempted to impose air superiority in the skies over Northern France. This was to be done through fighter sweeps in which it was hoped to lure the enemy up into action or by escorted bomber raids of Luftwaffe airfields and other targets. To a certain extent the roles were now reversed, with the short-range Spitfire encountering the same problems as the Messerschmitt 109 had over England during the Battle of Britain.
In addition, RAF pilots who survived being shot down were almost certain to become prisoners, rather than living to fight another day as they had done in the summer of 1940. Nevertheless No 616, which became part of the Tangmere Wing, later based at nearby Westhampnett, benefited from the charisma of its fighter ace wing leader.
Bader’s aggressive tactics inspired his pilots, who included the eventually top-scoring “Johnnie” Johnson and “Cockie” Dundas, as they took on the Me 109s of the two Jagdgeschwader (fighter wings) defending the Pas-de-Calais, JG 6 and JG 26, the latter commanded by the redoubtable Adolf Galland.
Smith had his first kill on July 2, when he shot down an Me 109 near Lille. Another success that month was owed to the failure of his oxygen supply, which compelled him to descend to low level. Spotting a line of Ju 87 Stukas parked on an airfield, he made a pass over it, destroying two and damaging others in a strafing attack.
On August 9 Bader’s luck ran out when his faithful wingman was unable to fly because of a severe cold. The circumstances of his being brought down are not absolutely certain: a German aircraft may have collided with him, or he may have been shot down. In any event he was able to bale out — minus one of his tin legs which he had to leave lodged in his mangled cockpit.
When the RAF delivered him a spare false limb, dropped during a bombing raid on St Omer where Bader was being held in hospital, Smith had the satisfaction of being one of the pilots of the Spitfire escort for the attacking Blenheim force. Smith remained with 616 until November, adding another combat victory to his tally and being awarded his first DFC.
After a period spent acquainting American pilots with flying the Spitfire, Smith was posted to North Africa as flight commander of 93 Squadron, giving air cover to the Anglo-American “Torch” landings of November 1942.
In the period of hectic air fighting that followed as the Germans and Italians reinforced their air forces in the theatre, Smith had several more combat victories, among them at least two Focke Wulf 190s, fighters whose superior performance had caused consternation among Spitfire pilots when they had first been encountered over France.
Smith was awarded a Bar to his DFC for his “inspired skill and leadership”.
Rested from operations for the second time in 1943, Smith spent the remainder of the war as an instructor, at first at fighter schools in the UK and then in Florida, where many British pilots were being trained.
In 1943 he had married Margaret Stewart Todd, and after being demobilised he went to work for his father-in-law’s woollen mill, Todd & Duncan, at Kinross. He had found his métier, and he was managing director of the company from 1946 to 1960. Thereafter for the next 22 years he was chairman and chief executive of the Scottish knitwear industry group of companies Dawson International. He was appointed CBE for his services to the industry in 1976 and knighted in 1982. In 1967 he had been appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Kinross.
His wife, with whom he had five children, died in 1971. He married in 1977 Alice Elizabeth Moncur. He is survived by her and by the three sons and a daughter of his first marriage. Another daughter predeceased him.
Sir Alan Smith, CBE, DFC and Bar, wartime fighter ace and knitwear industry executive, was born on March 14, 1917. He died on March 1, 2013, aged 95
'Бій відлунав. Жовто-сині знамена затріпотіли на станції знов'
