Raymond Thorold-Smith, (30 June 1918 – 15 March 1943) was an Australian flying ace who served in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during the Second World War. He was credited with having shot down at least six aircraft.
From Manly, Thorold-Smith was a university student at the time he joined the RAAF in 1940. Once his flight training was completed, he was sent to the United Kingdom. Posted to No. 452 Squadron in April 1941, he flew intensively on sorties to German-occupied France during the Circus offensive, during which he destroyed a number of German aircraft. By the end of the year, he had been promoted to flight lieutenant and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. In March 1942, he was appointed commander of the squadron and later led it to back to Australia, where it formed part of No. 1 Fighter Wing at Darwin. In March 1943, he failed to return from a sortie to intercept Japanese bombers attacking Darwin and was presumed to have been killed.
Early life
Raymond Thorold-Smith was born at Manly, in Sydney, Australia, on 30 June 1918, the son of Joseph Patrick and Beatrice Mary Thorold-Smith. He was schooled locally at Christian Brothers College, before going on to Waverley College in Sydney. For his tertiary education, he went to the University of Sydney, training in medicine. He was active in sports; being a proficient rugby union player, he represented the university in the sport and was also a New South Wales representative, playing one game against Queensland in 1938. He was a lifeguard, as a member of the Queenscliff Surf Life Saving Club.
Second World War
In his fourth year of university studies at the time, Thorold-Smith joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) on 21 May 1940 as an aircraftman. He had originally joined the Australian Imperial Force but decided to transfer to the RAAF. Nicknamed 'Throttle', his initial training was at the RAAF station at Bradfield Park and then Narromine before he proceeded to Canada, for further training at Calgary. Having gained his wings, he was commissioned as a pilot officer in January 1941 and was sent to the United Kingdom to serve in the aerial campaign there.
Arriving in the United Kingdom in February, Thorold-Smith, after a period of time at an Operational Training Unit, was posted to the newly formed No. 452 Squadron on 21 April. Equipped with Supermarine Spitfire fighters and based at Kirton in Lindsey, his new unit was the first of the Australian Article XV squadrons to be formed in Fighter Command. Following a period of intensive training, it became operational on 22 May.
Circus offensive
From July, No. 452 Squadron participated in the Circus offensive. This was a co-operative effort with Bomber Command which involved the use of small groups of bombers to attack targets in occupied Europe with the intention of drawing the Luftwaffe into engagement with fighters that would escort the bombers. Alongside the New Zealand No. 485 Squadron and the British No. 602 Squadron, it was part of the Kenley Wing. On 9 August, Thorold-Smith, along with future flying ace Pilot Officer Keith Truscott, shared in the destruction of a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter, during a sortie escorting bombers attacking a power station at Béthune. However, the Australian military aviation historian Anthony Cooper notes that there is a possibility that this may have been an instance of a misidentified Spitfire. The sortie of 9 August was the first occasion on which Thorold-Smith flew as a section commander. On 27 August, while escorting Bristol Blenheim light bombers to Saint-Omer, Thorold-Smith destroyed a Bf 109 to the west of Gravelines, the confirmation of which being provided by Flight Lieutenant Paddy Finucane, one of the squadron's flight commanders. Continuing with the sortie, Thorold-Smith destroyed a second Bf 109 as he and Finucane flew west of Dunkirk.
On 18 September, No. 452 Squadron was one of several units escorting Blenheims on a mission to bomb a power station near Rouen. The Luftwaffe mounted a vigorous response, sending up a large number of fighters and in the ensuing and wide-ranging dogfight, Thorold-Smith shot down a Bf 109 over Rouen while his wingman was shot down and killed. Flying to the east of Hardelot on 13 October while acting as close escorts for some Blenheims targeting Arques, No. 452 Squadron was attacked by several Luftwaffe fighters. Out of seven German aircraft claimed to have been destroyed by pilots of the squadron, Thorold-Smith destroyed one Bf 109. He also damaged a second. On the return flight to England, he helped direct an Air Search Rescue vessel to the location of an Australian pilot who had baled out into the English Channel.