Pilot Officer John Batten Smith, nephew of Conrad Biddlecombe, flew with 101 Lancaster Squadron Bomber Command in WWII. Base at Lugford Magna, England
The night of March 30*h 1944 he piloted Lancaster DV 276 taking part in the raid on the town of Nuremburg, Germany. Having bomb him with his crew were on the way back to base when about six miles from the target they were caught by a Luffwaffe fighter..
They were about the 83″” bomber shot down, John and his crew all died as the bomber crashed beside the autobahn six miles from Nuremburg (Source: Nuremburg Raid by Martin Middlebrook)
There are two letters from John Batten Smith to his Aunt Thelma Biddlecombe. She was sister of Conrad Biddlecombe, a WW1 pilot and test pilot in the 1920’s.
He also joined F.P. Raynham as navigator to compete in the 1919 Daily Mail Atlantic Race. Their attempt did not get beyond the runway field at St John’s.
John Batten Smith was a Lancaster pilot. He and his crew were casualties of the Nuremburg raid.
The letters were in a collection of the Biddlecombe family that Thelma Biddlecombe built. This came into my family’s possession when she died.
