Sir Alan Smith,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, DFC*, DL (14 March 19171 March 2013), was a British

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

fighter ace and businessman.

Early life

Smith was born at

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

. He left Bede College School, Sunderland at 14 after the death of his merchant navy sea captain father to work in his mother's

ironmongery Ironmongery originally referred, first, to the manufacture of iron goods and, second, to the place of sale of such items for domestic rather than industrial use. In both contexts, the term has expanded to include items made of steel, aluminium ...

store and then set up his own business.

Military service

He trained as a pilot after joining the

RAF Volunteer Reserve The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force in the event of another war. The Air Ministry intended it to form a supplement to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF) ...

and joined

No. 610 Squadron RAF No. 610 (County of Chester) Squadron of the Royal Air Force was a Squadron of the Auxiliary Air Force. Comprising very high quality pilots, often ex- RAF officers and occasionally locally based company Test pilots from companies such as de Havil ...

. He then joined

No. 616 Squadron RAF No. 616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron is an active Reserve unit of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF) assigned to the RAF ISTAR Force at RAF Waddington. It was originally formed as a unit of the British Auxiliary Air Force in 1938, active throu ...

as a sergeant pilot in January 1941 based at

RAF Tangmere RAF Tangmere was a Royal Air Force station located in Tangmere, England, famous for its role in the Battle of Britain, and one of several stations near Chichester, West Sussex. The famous Second World War aces Wing Commander Douglas Bader, a ...

. He was under the command of Wing Commander

Douglas Bader Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, (; 21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared ...

who selected him as his

wingman A wingman (or wingmate) is a pilot or UAV who supports another pilot in a potentially dangerous flying environment. ''Wingman'' was originally the plane flying beside and slightly behind the lead plane in an aircraft formation. According to th ...

in which role he was described as "leech-like", and "a perfect number two". Two further well-known individuals made up Bader's section of four aircraft during this period: Johnnie Johnson and 'Cocky' Dundas.Sir Alan Smith Obituary Daily Telegraph
Retrieved 4 March 2013 His appointment as wing man followed

's entry into the dispersal hut when he was told "Right you'll do. God help you if you let any Hun get on my tail". The section operated under the callsign 'Dogsbody' which originated from

's initials: "DB". Three of the four (Bader, Dundas and Smith) went on to receive knighthoods and all four survived the war. On 9 August 1941 Smith had a head cold and hence was grounded on medical orders. As he was about to be commissioned he headed to London to be fitted for his new uniform.Johnson, ''Wing Leader'', p.110. He was therefore unavailable to fly and protect his CO's tail and Bader was shot down and spent the remainder of the war as a PoW. Smith then served as an instructor and trained Americans to fly the Spitfire. He joined

No. 93 Squadron RAF No. 93 Squadron RAF was an aircraft squadron of the Royal Air Force during World War II. It was initially formed during World War I on 1 September 1917 but it did not become operational and was disbanded one year later in August 1918. The unit was ...

and took part in

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...

flying from

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

and he shot down four

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' (" Shrike") is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, ...

fighters and other aircraft. After service as a flying instructor in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

he left the RAF in December 1945 as a

Flight Lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...

having clocked up over 1500 flying hours.

Career

Smith then moved to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

where he became a managing director and then a chief executive in the textile industry. He also served as Chairman of

Quayle Munro Quayle Munro was a merchant bank founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1983. The bank specialised in corporate finance advice. In 2012 the firm moved its headquarters to London. Quayle Munro was acquired by Houlihan Lokey in January 2018. Histor ...

, merchant bank, in Edinburgh.

Honours and decorations

He was appointed

in 1976 and was knighted in 1982. On 4 November 1941, the then Pilot Officer Alan Smith, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No. 616 Squadron is awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in recognition of gallantry displayed in flying operations against the enemy: On 16 February 1943, Flight Lieutenant Alan Smith DFC, Royal Air Force Reserve, No. 93 Squadron is awarded a Bar to the Distinguished Flying Cross in recognition of gallantry displayed in flying operations against the enemy: On 1 January 1976, as chairman of Dawson International, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the new year honours.Business News Staff. "Honours for Bank Governor, CBI director-general and NRDC head." Times ondon, England2 January 1976: 13. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 5 March 2013. On 12 June 1982, he was appointed a Knight Batchelor as chairman and chief executive of Dawson International in the Queen's Birthday Honours."The Queen's birthday awards in full." Times ondon, England12 June 1982: 8+. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 5 March 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Alan Royal Air Force officers British World War II flying aces People from South Shields Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Knights Bachelor English aviators English chief executives Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deputy Lieutenants in Scotland 1917 births 2013 deaths Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II 20th-century English businesspeople