[P61Studies]

Lt Albert F Smith was one of the P-38s lost in the first break of combat that day. None of the men of the unit reported seeing his loss, he was just reported MIA. In fact, his body, if recovered, has never been ID'd. Nine P-38s were lost by the squadron that day, probably the worst day in the squadron's history, including several of their veteran pilots.

As far as some history on him, I can give you some info from as noted below for ops from 2/1944 to his loss. If you want more specific info on bits from the individual ops noted below, I can post the info.

Noted in descending order by date (Euro style):

09/06/1944 - Flew escort op to Munich, Germany for 304th BW.

07/06/1944 - Flew escort op to Genoa/La Spezia, Italy for 304th & 55th BWs.

05/06/1944 - Flew dive bomb attack on ToOs in the Po Valley, Italy. During the op, he led the flight he was in for awhile until LT Kuske assumed command of the flight, as LT Launderville, his original flight leader, had his left engine cutting out & also managed to accidentaly ram a radar decoy balloon buoy on his turn to head back to base.

04/06/1944 - Flew escort op to Var River Bridge, France for 5th BW.

02/06/1944 - Flew escort op to Miskolc, Hungary. However, he didn't complete the op as he returned to base at 0920 hours due to his right coolant flaps malfunctioning.

31/05/1944 - Flew escort op to Ploesti, Rumania for general bombers & withdrawl for 5th BW.

29/05/1944 - Flew escort op to Atzgersdorf, Austria for 55th BW.

28/05/1944 - Flew dive bombing op to Gornji Stupnik A/D, Yugoslavia.

27/05/1944 - Flew escort op to Avignon, France for 5th BW.

25/05/1944 - Flew escort op to Porto Marghera, Italy for 47th BW.

24/05/1944 - Flew escort op to Wallersdorf, Austria for 55th BW.

22/05/1944 - Flew escort op to Avezzano M/Y, Italy for 5th BW.

18/05/1944 - Flew escort op to Lungultul where they escorted heavies coming back from the Ploesti, Rumania raid.

12/05/1944 - Flew escort op to Rignano, Italy for 5th BW.

10/05/1944 - Flew escort op for 49th BW heavies returning from Wiener Neustadt, Austria.

07/05/1944 - Flew escort op ro Bucharest, Rumania for 15th AF heavies.

25/04/1944 - Flew escort op to Verona & Vincza, Italy for 5th BW.

24/04/1944 - Flew escort op to Ploesti & Bucharest, Romania for 5th & 47th BW. However, though he recieved credit for sortie, returned due to mechanical problems at 1410 hours.

21/04/1944 - Flew escort op for heavies raiding Ploesti & Bucharest, Rumania.

18/04/1944 - Flew strafing op against Udine Campoformido, Italy.

17/04/1944 - Flew escort op to Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

16/04/1944 - Flew escort op for heavies raiding Brazov.

28/03/1944 - Flew escort op to Mestre, Italy for heavies.

20/03/1944 - Flew op, ultimately aborted, to Petrovac, Yugoslavia.

19/03/1944 - Flew heavy bomber escort op but returned early at 1345 hours as he couldn't get enough power from his engines.

18/03/1944 - Flew fighter sweep & strafing op near Treviso A/D, Italy.

17/03/1944 - Flew escort op for heavies to Vienna, Austria.

15/03/1944 - Flew escort op for heavies to Cassino, Italy.

11/03/1944 - Flew escort op for heavies to Toulon, France. He returned early though, at 0915 hours, due to the gas cap on his left main tank coming off.

07/03/1944 - Flew escort op for heavies to Toulon, France.

04/03/1944 - Flew escort op for heavies raiding Breslau, Germany.

25/02/1944 - Flew escort op for heavies withdrawing from Regensburg, Germany.

23/02/1944 - Flew escort op for heavies returning from Steyer, Austria.

That's as much as I can give you right now. Most of my 1st FG research is boxed up at the moment. I can give you the pertinent info from the squadron op reports for the ops above, but that's it for the moment.

No kill claims apparently.