407933 Flying Officer (F/O) James Alexander (Alec) Saint-Smith DFM, of Earlwood, NSW, leaving ...

407933 Flying Officer (F/O) James Alexander (Alec) Saint-Smith DFM, of Earlwood, NSW, leaving Buckingham Palace after an investiture to receive a Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) for gallantry in a mission over Berlin, with Mrs Ethel Newman and Mrs Laura Henderson of London (right). F/O Saint-Smith, a pilot with No. 460 Squadron RAAF, was the captain of the Australian War Memorial's Avro Lancaster, G for George (W4789), on its first operational sortie to Mannheim in Germany, on 6 December 1942. He flew the aircraft on another 12 occasions, using it as his regular aircraft for the remainder of his tour, which ended in March 1943. During a second tour of operations with 627 Squadron RAF, Saint-Smith was killed in action on 29 June 1944, on his 73rd operation, when his Mosquito IV (DZ516), crashed near Vaulx, Belgium. He and his navigator, Flying Officer Geoffrey Ernest Heath DFC, DFM, RAAF (who as an NCO had served as Saint-Smith's navigator throughout his first tour of operations, with 460 Squadron) are now buried at Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension in France. F/O Saint-Smith was posthumously awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross on 24 August 1944 for his 'conspicuous gallantry and determination' in successfully completing numerous sorties over Germany and France with 627 Squadron. Mrs Ethel Newman and her family opened their home in Hampshire and provided hospitality to hundreds of airmen from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and Poland between August 1941 and 1945. This was part of a voluntary organisation known as the Lady Ryder Hospitality Scheme, set up to ensure that hospitality was provided for airmen arriving in Britain after graduating from the Empire Air Training Scheme. Mrs Laura Henderson was the co-founder of the Windmill Theatre in London's Great Windmill Street, famous for having 'never closed' during the Blitz.