Nearly 70 years after he was reported missing in action, the remains of WW2 RAAF pilot William Smith have been found in his crashed plane. His Spitfire was found by a documentary crew in Hardifort, northern France.
William Smith was last seen on May 9, 1942, engaged in a dogfight over the English Channel. The 24-year-old, part of 457 Squadron, had been escorting a bomber raid on Bruges when a couple of dozen German Focke-Wulf 190 fighters attacked.
Smith will now be given a proper burial at the Arneke Commonwealth War cemetery in France in 2012. His plane was discovered almost buried on a farmer’s property, having been almost completely destroyed when it crashed nose-first into the ground.
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