891 Squadron. H.M.S. Gannet. Royal Navy. Service Number FX669326
Early life:
Douglas was the son of David Smith and Hannah Jessica Smith née Yates, who were married on the 11th of April 1923 at Keighley Parish Church. David was a 26 year wholesale confectioner working for Bennett Brothers (Drysalters) of Towngate in Keighley. He lived at 55, Wheathead Lane, Exley Head. Hannah was a 25 year old accounts clerk working for John Yates of Burlington Chambers and was living at 13, Mornington Street in Keighley.
His father David Smith died in 1937 and is buried in Oakworth cemetery with his parents Tom and Margaret Louisa of Exley Head. The inscription reads: “Also David, son of Tom and Margaret Smith, and beloved husband of Jessie Smith, who died 3rd February 1937, aged 39 years.”
Douglas was born on the 20th of November 1923 and his birth was registered at Keighley in the last quarter of the year.
In the 1939 register he was living at 59, Wheathead Lane in Exley Head with his widowed mother Jessie aged 41 who was a wholesale grocer’s clerk. Douglas was sixteen and attending school, which would have been Keighley Boy’s Grammar School.
War service:
Douglas’ name appears in the Air Force list on the 19th of April 1941 as an Acting Pilot Officer (on probation) in the Training Branch.
According to the newspaper account (see below) he enlisted in 1943 but that does not match with this record. Perhaps 1943 was when he went to America as he joined the Fleet Air Arm in March 1944 after completing his training in America, becoming a Petty Officer Pilot.
His name appears in the British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death records as having died on the 6th of August 1945 and he was aged 21/22 at death when his aircraft crashed into a mountainside.
World War Two Index to Allied Airmen Roll of Honour, 1939-1945:
Douglas David Smith was serving with 891 Squadron from HMS Gannet at Eglinton, County Londonderry, when he flew his Hellcat aircraft into high ground at Claudy in the Sperrin Mountains, County Londonderry, during a night flying exercise.
Douglas was buried at Faughanvale (St Canice) Church of Ireland Churchyard, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
Keighley News, 11th August 1945:
PILOT’S DEATH
Mrs. J. Smith of 59, Wheathead Lane, Keighley, has been notified by the Admiralty that her only son, Petty Officer Pilot Douglas David Smith, was killed in a flying accident at Eglington, Northern Ireland, on Wednesday.
Aged 21, he joined the Forces in 1943, and did his training in America. He joined the Fleet Air Arm in March, 1944. An old boy of Keighley Boys’ Grammar School, he was formerly employed as a clerk at Keighley L.M.S. offices. The funeral took place at Eglington yesterday, and he was buried with full naval honours.
Note, he is named in the Air Force List as a Pilot Officer (Probationary) in April 1941, which calls into doubt the newspaper’s account of him joining the forces in 1943.
Remembrance:
Douglas is named on his Commonwealth war grave headstone at St. Canice’s Churchyard, Eglinton, County Londonderry, in Northern Ireland.
He is named on the Second World War memorial board in Keighley Library and on the Exley Head war memorial cross on Wheathead Lane.
Post war:
Davids mother Hannah Jessica (Jessie) Smith née Yates remarried in 1946 to Harry Potter at Lower Agbrigg near Wakefield and in 1946 and 1947 they were both named on the Keighley electoral roll for 55, Wheathead Lane, so they must have been living here after the wedding.
There is a death record for Hannah Jessica Potter aged 64 in early 1961. Her death was registered in the Worth Valley in the first quarter of that year.
The site of the aircraft wreckage (which does not contain any human remains) was surveyed and excavated by students of Foyle College in 2024 and an appeal was launched to find relatives. The story is available on the BBC website here.
Information sources:
West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1813-1935.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005.
1901 England, Wales & Scotland Census.
1911 Census For England & Wales.
1921 Census Of England & Wales.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007.
1939 England and Wales Register.
British Air Force Lists, 1919-1922 and 1938-1945.
West Yorkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1962.
British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960.
World War II Index to Allied Airmen Roll of Honour, 1939-1945.
London Gazettes World War II Military Notices, 1939-1945.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
UK and Ireland, Find a Grave® Index, 1300s-Current.
Keighley News archives at Keighley Library.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007.
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005.
Family grave inscription at Oakworth Cemetery.
