George Smith joined the RAF in 1941 on his twenty-fifth birthday, after being released from his reserved profession as a police officer in Hastings. He trained as a pilot in Canada, travelling out there on the Queen Mary, which had been pressed into service as a troopship. Training: 33 EFTS Caron Course 44 (Tiger Moths) 36 SFTS Penhold Alberta Course 57 Pre-AFU EFTS Course 11 Perth AFU Course Church Lawford No 1533 BAT Flight No.20 Course Church Lawford. (Oxfords) 28 OTU at Wymeswold and Castle Donington (Wellingtons). 1662 HCU at Blyton, Lincs (Lancasters) Joined 100 Squadron RAF Waltham in October 1943. The crew got shot down and had to bail out over Switzerland. After several months of internment the crew were repatriated in an exchange scheme. The full story of Smith's crash and repatriation is documented in Chapter 8 of Roger Anthoine's excellent book "Infringing Neutrality - The RAF in Switzerland 1940-45". During this time Smith was known as "Bish" or "Jock". Later in life he was known as Alistair Crowley-Smith, passing away in 1994 on the Isle of Wight.