Pilot Officer Alexander George Murray-Smith

Died while at 5(C) OTU in a Bristol Beaufort I, registration number W6478 along with the observer Pilot Officer George Lawrence Eyles and an unknown crew member we don't have a name for. The aircraft was lost at about 8:45 on the evening of 7/12/1941. It appears that the aircraft stalled or suffered a catastrophic failure on its return to RAF Chivenor after a night navigation exercise. It is believed that a wing was seen to drop and the the aircraft dived into the water. A Court of Inquiry would have been held but any record of this, like so many others, has been destroyed. The only member of this crew to survive the accident was Sergeant Les Miles, who may have escaped by swimming out of the aircraft when the gun turret broke open. Murray-Smith's CWGC entry is here.