On the evening of June 11, 1944, Flight Lieutenant Lacy Smith was leading a section of three aircraft patrolling the beach areas in the vicinity of Quistrehain. The section was flying West to East at approximately 1500 to 2000 feet when over the Rebehomme area 20mm flak came up in front of the aircraft from a wood. No. 3 (AUS.410250) Flying Officer David Stuart Murray (also trained in Canada) observed a strike on Flight Lieutenant Smith's Spitfire in the belly well forward either in the engine or just in front of the long range tank. The aircraft immediately lost speed and started to emit white fume trails from underneath. Flight Lieutenant Smith immediately started a steep turn to the left. His Spitfire continued to lose height and he called up on the R/T and said words to this effect, "I am going to put this thing down in a field." He continued to glide in a westerly direction until his Spitfire struck water and slowly nosed over. (AUS.405939) Warrant Officer Joshua William Scott (No.2) and Flying Officer Murray (No.3) circled over the crashed aircraft for two minutes, but did not observe any movement indicating Flight Lieutenant Smith was getting out of the cockpit. As flak continued, Scott and Murray left the area but returned five minutes later and observed that there was not change in the position of the crashed aircraft nor did they see any persons on the ground near the aircraft.
(The Age - February 11, 2011) A World War II Spitfire which became the tomb of an Australian pilot missing for almost seven decades is expected to be transferred to Melbourne's Point Cook RAAF Museum. Flight Lieutenant Smith's nephew Dennis Dostine - who lives at Sylvania, less than 10 kilometres from Sans Souci - said news that his uncle's remains had been found came out of the blue. "It was very welcome, but quite a surprise," he said yesterday. "We knew the basic facts of what happened as my mother received a letter from his commanding officer explaining what had happened, but we didn't know what river it was that he went into." Mr. Dostine, 78, will be joined by his wife, two children and their spouses at an interment ceremony in April when his uncle will be buried with full military honours at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Ranville. He will also be awarded five posthumous service medals. "We're glad that his remains, having been found, will be afforded the respect that they deserve," Mr Dostine said. The plane was removed from the river by French war museum owner Fabrice Corbin with the help of family and friends. After agreeing to hand the plane to Australian authorities, Mr Corbin apparently had a change of heart and this week was threatened with 48 hours' jail if he failed to stick to the agreement. The Frenchman said he felt he has been treated like a grave robber, while an official from France's Ministry of Culture said Mr Corbin had asked for compensation for the costs of extracting the plane. "After what happened, I think I should have not done it," Mr Corbin said this week via an interpreter. "I respect the Australian people, but not the Australian bureaucrats." The RAF Spitfire was initially offered to Britain before French authorities asked their Australian counterparts if they were interested.
Photo Caption: The Spitfire is hoisted from the Rive Ome in France, where it had lain for almost 70 years with the body of its Australian pilot, Flight Lieutenant Henry "Lacy" Smith, trapped in its cockpit.
(Brisbane Times – February 12, 2011)
The nephew of a Australian World War II pilot whose fighter plane was recovered in northern France is indifferent as to who gets to keep the aircraft, maintaining it's only "scrap metal". Australian Flight Lieutenant Henry `Lacy' Smith's Spitfire was dug out of an estuary in Ouistreham, in Normandy, northern France, in November by French war museum owner Fabrice Corbin and his family and friends.
When he was asked to hand the Spitfire over to French police, an irate Mr Corbin said he felt like he was being treated like a grave robber.
"After what happened, I think I should not have done it. I should have left the pilot rotten in the cockpit," he said this week via an interpreter.
Being a British plane, the Spitfire was initially offered to the United Kingdom before French authorities asked their Australian counterparts if they were interested in it.
The RAAF is now looking into options for possibly bringing the aircraft to Australia, a defence attache at the Australian Embassy in Paris said.
When AAP contacted Flt Lt Smith's nephew Dennis Dostine, a Sydneysider in his 70s, the retired fireman appeared genuinely surprised by the fuss.
"It's nothing more than scrap metal now," he said.
"Emotional scrap metal," he added.
Asked if Mr Corbin was entitled to keep the Spitfire, given he had found it and went to the trouble of extracting it, Mr Dostine did not take a view.
"I'm non-committal. I can't see there is any need to have a great argument over a piece of rusted metal," he said.
The Royal Australian Air Force's Museum at Point Cook in Victoria is the Spitfire's most likely destination if it is relocated to Australia.
Asked if he would take the trouble to see the plane if it was eventually housed there, Mr Dostine showed more interest.
"I would most definitely go down there," he said.
"I go to Victoria about once I year. I would most definitely take the opportunity, if it arose, to call in and have a look."
Adelaide Now - April 20, 2011) A Lone spitfire rumbled through French skies in a fitting final farewell to World War II Australian pilot Henry Lacy Smith, shot down over Normandy. Hundreds of people, including Lieutenant Smith's Australian relatives, official guests and local school children gathered at Ranville War Graves Cemetery yesterday for a full military burial some 67 years after the 27-year-old's death. "How about that?" Lt Smith's nephew Dennis Lacy Dostine said of the Spitfire flyover. "I heard it and looked up and then, to see it and hear those pistons pumping, what an amazing tribute to our Lacy." Lt Smith's Spitfire was hit by anti-aircraft fire on June 11, 1944. "I'm going to put this thing down in a field," he radioed after being hit. But presumably what he thought would be a soft landing surface turned out to be a canal and his aircraft skidded and flipped into the River Orne, where it remained for more than 60 years. The Spitfire was found and Lt Smith's remains recovered last November, leading to today's re-internment. "Although his remains are buried here in France, his memory and legacy live on in Australia," Chief of Air Force, Air Marshall Mark Binskin said. A volley of shots were fired after the remains were lowered, to be buried beneath a headstone reading: "Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth, And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings". Proceedings came to a standstill as the English Spitfire, appropriately piloted by a British 'Squadron Leader Smith', made four passes of the cemetery. "When he pulled back the stick and did a half roll, the whole place was just in awe. What a fitting tribute," said Mr Dostine, now 78, who remembers, as an eight-year-old boy, his Uncle Lacy leaving Sydney for Canada to continue his flying training. His descendants recall stories of the lieutenant, the excellent sportsman and snappy dresser, known for his "bravery, larrikin character, his love of country and sense of adventure". "From today, we have a grave site and a grave stone - a place for members of our family to visit and remember," great nephew Garth Chapman said during a eulogy on the family's behalf. Defence Personnel and Veterans' Affairs Minister Warren Snowdon, who attended today's burial, said the wreckage of Lt Smith's spitfire will be returned to Australia. "It is currently still under water ... It will be taken up and we will be moving it to Point Cook, the RAAF base in Australia," he told reporters after the burial.
Photo: Conserver at RAAF Museum working on the fuselage remains.
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