205767 F/Sgt. Raymond Algernon "Pickle" Reeves Royal Air Force Volunteer Rese 166 Squadron from:Maidstone,Kent. (d.15th Feb 1944) Sorry I don't have any stories to relate about the chap listed He was a relation of mine. Unfortunatley, he was killed 6 months before I was born. My family would like to know all about *Raymond Algernon Reeves Smith. He came from Maidstone where I believe his parents ran a pub in Melville Road. (I would imagine that he would have been a popular lad because of that). We do know that he flew in a Lancaster and that he and his crew F/O R J Robinson, - Sgt H K Harrison,
- Sgt G F Clark,
- F/S *R A R Smith,
- F/S D J Stokes,
- Sgt N O Jones &
- F/O B O Wright
(all RAF VR)took off at 17.30 from Kirmington & were shot down by a night fighter & the aircraft crashed at 20.30 into a forest 2 km from Freudenburg & 4Km SE of Ribnitz - Damgaretn. The crew rest in the Berlin 1939 - 45 Cemetery, F/O Wright is named on panel 210 of the Runnymeade memorial.
We know that Raymond was married to a lady called Elsie Agnes (we don't know what her maiden name was, or anything else about her or if there were any children).
If any one knows anything about the crew mentioned above and Elsie Agnes my family and I would be very happy to hear about it, as Raymond is a missing link in our family tree.
You might think that Algernon is an unusual name but it appears it was a family name, my Grand Father was called Algernon Smith he was a photographer (had his own business) in Wrexham, North Wales. If anybody out there has any photos or memories of either people mentioned please let me know. My Grandfather took photos of staff at a munitions factory near Chester, he may have taken photos of other places during the war.
Yours sincerely
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