Ever since Sergeant William Smith's spitfire was shot down over the English Channel during a World War Two dogfight, his family have hoped that one day his body could be found.The brave pilot was presumed to have crashed and died in the middle of the sea after his plane was targeted by an enemy aircraft in 1942.
For the next seven decades his relatives held on to the slim hope that a fishing trawler might one day drag up the wreckage so that they could bury their loved one.
Incredibly, their wish has now come true after Sgt Smith's remains were unearthed in his wrecked Spitfire - in a French farmer's field 30 miles inland.
It was discovered by a British historian and film crew who were looking for the wreckage of another downed Spitfire whose pilot had been taken prisoner by the Germans.
Their research and eye-witness accounts of a plane crashing led them to excavate a site near Cassel in northern France.
Unsurprisingly, they found parts of a Spitfire 25ft down but were shocked when they also discovered the skeletal remains of the pilot.
And the mystery of who the dead airman was was soon cleared up when a dogtag with Sgt Smith's name and service number on was also discovered.
Parts of a Spitfire were found by the search party, but they were stunned to also discover skeletal remains
It is assumed the pilot was either knocked unconscious or killed in his cockpit at 20,000ft over the Channel and his plane flew 50 miles out of control before crashing.
Now the hero's younger brother Bert, 84, is preparing to lead his family at a funeral with full military honours that is due to be held for Sgt Smith in Cassel on Thursday.
Mr Smith's son Mark, 55, said: 'My family had assumed that my uncle had been shot down and he and his plane had ended up in the Channel.
'When my father found out Bill's body had been found without hearing anything for 69 years he was stunned, shocked and some what relieved at the same time.
'We are relieved to finally find out what happened to Bill and it is important that there will be a resting place for him where family members can go and visit and pay their respects for years to come.'
Sgt Smith, from Melbourne, joined the Royal Australian Air Force before going off to war in 1941.
He was stationed at Redhill in Surrey with 457 Squadron and on May 9, 1942, his Spitfire helped escort a number of Boston bombers in a raid over northern France.
On their return to England the squadron was attacked by up to 30 Fock-Wulf Fw 190s midway between Mardyck and Dover.
Sgt Smith, who was 24 at the time, was last sighted at 20,000ft in combat with a number of Fw 190s and wasn't seen again.
Mr Smith, a school teacher, said: 'Bill's disappearance had a devastating impact on the family, especially his mother Freda who was very close to him.
'She used to scan and re-scan the photos of prisoners of war in the newspapers and look for someone that looked like Bill and would almost be convinced that some of them were him.
'She came to terms that he had died after the war when there was no returning hero.
'Dad didn't talk a lot about him but Bill's picture was always present on the mantlepiece of my family home as we were growing up.'
Send-off: This image shows an identification disc belonging to Sergeant Smith. The hero's younger brother Bert, 84, is preparing to lead his family at a funeral with full military honours
Historian Andy Saunders, from Hastings, East Sussex, found Sgt Smith's remains last November during the excavation of farm land.
Mr Saunders and a film crew from the Discovery History Channel were searching for a Spitfire that had been donated by the Parker Pen Company at the time. He said: 'The pilot of the Parker Pen Spitfire bailed out and that plane came down about two weeks before or after Sgt Smith's. 'All our research pointed us to this site for the other Spitfire.
'We had removed various parts of the aircraft when we started to find human remains.
'As soon we realised that we stopped work straight away and called the MoD in England and the local mayor.
'Obviously we hadn't expected to find any remains and there were no records at all for Sgt Smith in the area because he disappeared over the English Channel.
'We found his identity disc which was on a chain along with a lucky sixpence and a St Christopher.
'We have been in contact with William Smith's family and they are delighted that we have been able to solve this mystery.'
Sgt Smith's funeral will take place on Thursday at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission section of Cassel cemetery.
A documentary on the find and the funeral is due to be broadcast on Discovery History on Friday.
17 April 2012
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2131075/Remains-missing-Spitfire-pilot-feared-ditched-Channel-70-years-later-French-farmers-field--family-lay-rest-honours.html#ixzz1sK5umQcY
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