RODERICK SMITH WING COMMANDER
DIES AT 80 – 16 April 2002
Wing Commander Roderick Smith, one of Canada's most skillful Spitfire fighter pilots of the Second World War, has died in Vancouver. He was 80. During his wartime career, Mr. Smith shot down 13 and 1/5 enemy aircraft. He was presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross by King George VI and later a bar to that decoration. The one-fifth came when he shared in the destruction of a Messerschmitt 262 – the first jet aircraft to enter combat.
"Rod was among the top Canadian aces in World War Two," said Major-General Richard Rohmer, who served as a fighter-reconnaissance pilot. In September, 1940, at the age of 18, the young Mr. Smith joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and before long was flying Spitfires.
"It was a dream come true," said his sister Wendy Noble. "He had admired it [the Spitfire] from afar for years."
Roderick Illingworth Alpine Smith was born in Saskatchewan in 1922. His father Donald was a civil engineer and his mother Blanche was a multiple provincial tennis champion. The young Roderick had an early fascination with flying
"When I was 5, I saw a biplane flying from a field near Regina in Canada where I lived. It broke its undercarriage at the moment it lifted off and belly-landed later in a cloud of dust. Aeroplanes captivated me ever after," Mr. Smith wrote in his recollections of his flying and wartime experience.
As a teenager he flew model airplanes, read the leading aviation magazines and haunted Regina airport, Ms. Noble said. Following on the heels of his older brother Jerrold, Mr. Smith joined the RCAF, trained in Canada and then was sent to Scotland for operational training on Spitfire I's. As a flight lieutenant, he first saw action chasing Messerschmitts in the skies over France. "On the climb up my stomach felt like ice, but when we got near the Pas de Calais, anti-aircraft shells burst all around us, and I then felt fine!" Mr. Smith wrote. At the time of his death, he was writing a book about his experiences. In May 1942, Mr. Smith was posted to Malta, where he flew in the Battle of Malta. He joined 126 RAF Squadron and was surprised to discover his brother Jerrold was already there. The brothers lived together and began flying as a pair. Jerry also flew Spitfires and together they destroyed a Junkers 88, Four weeks later, his brother went missing and was later presumed killed in action. "Throughout July, Malta was receiving four or five bombing raids a day," Mr. Smith wrote.
At the time of Jerry's death, the brothers were both in the air over Malta,b recalled his good friend Robert Stevens. Mr. Smith heard over his radio that one of their planes had gone down.
"I knew that it was Jerry," he later told Mr. Stevens. Promoted Flight Commander, Mr. Smith almost followed his brother. "For some reason I glanced down at my left wing and happened to see a small bullet hole in it just a few feet from me . . . . I looked again at the bullet hole in my left wing, and saw a second one about a foot from it." Within seconds, enemy cannon shots struck his engine, which exploded into a ball of fire. "[I] called 'Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!' . . . Immediately, the Malta controller responded. 'Keep transmitting . . . we've got you.' " Mr. Smith bailed out as the plane filled with smoke and its power failed. He was picked up at sea. Mr. Smith was both a great pilot and had a great shot, Mr. Stevens said. "It was the combination of the two that made the difference."
On June 6, 1944, D-Day, as Flight Commander of 412 Squadron, he covered the Normandy beach head. A week later, his squadron landed at their new Normandy base of Beny-sur-Mer. He shot down an FW 190 and they turned their attention to shooting enemy vehicles on the roads. The battle of Normandy was followed by a move to Brussels and in September they covered the vital bridge at Nijmegen as part of the Arnhem airborne landings.
Mr. Smith returned to Canada in December, 1944, and retired from the service the following year. His ties with the Air Force continued and in 1946 he joined the auxiliary and continued to fly while studying engineering at McGill University. He graduated with his engineering degree in 1950 but decided to try law instead.
He moved to Toronto to attend Osgoode Hall. During that time he was promoted to Wing Commander and was appointed commanding officer of 411 Squadron. In 1952, he retired after his inner ear was severely damaged when he walked in front of a jet engine. The injury grounded him but his love of flying never diminished.
"It was a devastating blow to him, but he accepted it," Gen. Rohmer said. Having a notable war record, Mr. Smith was frequently invited to gala events, including when Princess Elizabeth came to Toronto, said Mr. Stevens, who also attended Osgoode Hall.
A tall, handsome man who stood at more than six feet, and who move gracefully and had an unusual laugh, Mr. Smith was never at a loss for suitors. While he enjoyed the company of many women friends, he never married, Mr. Stevens said. In 1953, after graduating from law school, he decided to Vancouver and flew a small single-engine plane to get there. "I don't think it would fly as high as the mountains," Mr. Stevens said. In Vancouver, he was called to the bar the following year and continued to practise law until his retirement in 1987.
After his retirement from law he spent time writing his memoirs. While researching his book, he attended fighter-pilot reunions and reconnected with some of his old wartime friends. He also travelled to Malta, Normandy and Germany where he visited the family of Heinz Heuser, a man he shot down over Malta in 1942 and subsequently befriended. Mr. Smith was predeceased by brothers Jerrold and Donald. He leaves his sister Wendy Noble. A wake for Mr. Smith will be held at the Royal Canadian Military Institute on University Avenue in Toronto at 5 p.m. tomorrow.
Roderick Smith, aviator and lawyer; born Regina, March 11, 1922; died Vancouver, April 16, 2002.