Career
Smith was the first American to participate in a World World War II naval victory and is sometimes considered the first American to be directly involved in World World War II for his actions. A number of United States pilots, who had ferried Catalinas across to the United Kingdom and were supposed to familiarize the Royal Air Force crews with the plane, were unofficially used as copilots on operations ("unofficially" because the United States of America was not at war with Germany at that time). Smith was acting as copilot of AH545 WQ-Z of Number.
209 Squadron Royal Air Force which had been specifically assigned a search area after contact was lost with the Bismarck shortly after the Battle of the Denmark Strait.
They flew out of a flying boat base on Lough Erne and through the Donegal Corridor. Smith was at the controls when the battleship was spotted around at 10:10 on 26 May 1941, heading for Brest.
He jettisoned the depth charges and made for cloud cover under heavy anti-aircraft fire, losing sight of the Bismarck and never regaining contact. Two other Americans were also in Catalinas that spotted the Bismarck later in the day: Lieutenant Johnson in M of Number.
240 Squadron Royal Air Force, and Ensign Rinehart in O of Number.
210 Squadron Royal Air Force. Knowing the battleship"s position accurately enabled the British navy to intercept it and sink it soon after. He was later sent to Hawaii, and was flying a training mission between Midway and Pearl Harbor when the base was attacked on the morning of December 7, 1941. He remained in the Pacific Theatre for the remainder of the war, later fought in of Korea, reached the rank of captain, and retired from the Navy in 1962.
After his retirement he lived in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington.
He died in 2006 at the age of 90. At one stage during his naval career Smith worked alongside Richard Nixon, whom he described as "one of the most conscientious and hard-working officers I ever met".