Pilot Officer John Batten Smith, nephew of Conrad Biddlecombe, flew with 101 Lancaster Squadron Bomber Command in WWII. He was based at Ludford Magna in Lincolnshire, England.
The night of 30 March 1944 he piloted Lancaster DV 276, taking part in the raid on the town of Nuremberg, Germany. He and his crew were on their way back to base when about six miles from the target they were caught by a Luftwaffe fighter.
They were about the 83rd bomber shot down. John and his crew all died as the bomber crashed beside the autobahn, six miles from Nuremberg.
(Source: Nuremberg 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 1920s. 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 Nuremberg 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.
John Batten Smith was my mother’s second cousin. Teresa Biddlecombe was my first cousin twice removed.
