On June the 17th 1944, the Kidderminster Shuttle newspaper shared with its readers, the following update from the newly-opened second front: 

“Squadron Leader Martin Bryan-Smith DFC, who last October married Miss Anne Tomkinson, third daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Tomkinson of “Heathfield” Wolverley, near Kidderminster, is reported missing…”

Martin Bryan-Smith was born on the 5th of May 1911 in Coventry, Warwickshire. He was the youngest son of Mr. Frank Bryan-Smith and Ellen Gertrude Bryan-Smith; the youngest son by just a few minutes however, his twin brother Anthony, claiming the bragging writes enjoyed by all firstborn twins. 

Martin’s father was a bank manager.

As young lads, the twins boarded at Dean Close school in Cheltenham, where they developed a love for the sport of hockey, going on to become well known throughout the midland counties for their prowess in the game.

Martin was also known to have later become a keen horseman, participating in several well-publicised point-to-points.

The 1939 register shows the family living at Carpenters Hill, Heath Green in Bromsgrove Worcestershire; it also confirms that Martin had followed his father into banking, being registered as a bank clerk. His twin brother Anthony, meanwhile, was a publisher’s representative.

At some stage in the early war-years, the family moved to Penn, near Wolverhampton; their new home being a house named 'Trees.'

Around the time that Martin started his career in banking, some of the savvier politicians in Whitehall were beginning to eye the goings-on in Germany with more than a little suspicion. They were clearly concerned that “the war to end all wars” which had been won some fifteen or so years earlier, might not live up to its name…

With a growing belief that Europe was on the verge of a second major conflict, in 1936 the Air Ministry decided that the Royal Auxiliary Airforce (the active reserve for the RAF) needed some reserve capability of its own. Hence the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was formed.

Martin and his twin brother Anthony, shared the view that if the predictions of some of the more pessimistic journalists were actually going to come to fruition, they must ‘do their bit’ before any settlement was achieved - so they both enlisted with the RAFVR.

When war eventually came, the high demand for aircrew quickly absorbed all available Royal Auxiliary Airforce personnel, meaning that the RAFVR automatically became the main entry-point for aircrew joining the RAF.

In its early years, the RAFVR was made-up of civilians who’d been recruited from flying schools and were taught by RAF-trained instructors who’d fulfilled all aircrew-trades (wireless operators, observers, gunnery and of course, flying).

The trade that Martin excelled at was air-gunnery.

By the end of 1941 more than half of Bomber Command aircrew were members of the RAFVR and eventually, of the RAF aircrew in Bomber Command, probably more than 95% had joined via the RAFVR route.

Tragically, Martin’s twin brother, Anthony, lost his life shortly after being assigned to operational flying. Anthony was an air-gunner too, and had been assigned to 49 Squadron. He died on the 15th of April 1940 whilst returning from an aborted mine-laying mission (‘gardening’ in RAF terminology).

The pilot of Anthony’s doomed Handley-Page Hampden (serial No. L4043), Squadron Leader Lowe, subsequently reported:

"We did not lay our mines due to bad weather which rapidly deteriorated on the way home. I was having trouble with all my flying instruments but the compass and turn and bank indicators were still working...”

When one of his Hampden's engines started to spit and cough, Squadron Leader Lowe offered his crew the option to bail out, but none wished to jump. The aircraft was rapidly becoming uncontrollable and the captain decided to crash-land on the coastline; Squadron Leader Lowe continued:

"I instructed the crew to collect in the compartment behind the pilot’s seat. I held off as long as possible, but the aircraft swung violently towards the cliffs and rocks below. I managed to correct this slightly, but not enough to clear a line of rocks running out into the sea. When I was holding off and practically stalling, I pulled the nose up and landed on a tail slide with very little speed."

Anthony’s Hampden, L4043, crash-landed at around 04:00 hours on the 15th of April 1940 near Ryhope, south of Sunderland. Martin’s twin brother Anthony was attempting to join the other two members of the crew amidships when the aircraft crash-landed. He was only half-way through the rear door and was killed instantaneously.

Miraculously, the navigator, P/O Beauchamp only received slight cuts on the hand, the W/Op, AC1 Appleton bumped his head and was slightly concussed and the pilot escaped with a cut lip.

Pilot Officer Anthony Bryan-Smith was buried in the Hylton (Castledown) Cemetery in Co. Durham.

Desperately pushing the trauma of losing his twin brother to one side, Martin became an air-gunner of some repute, being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for his service as a Flight Officer on Wellington bombers with 38 Squadron (promulgated in the London Gazette on the 8th of April 1941). The DFC was a medal awarded for:

"an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty performed whilst flying in active operations against the enemy" 

So. the award bears testament to Martin’s unstinting bravery and determination to ensuring that his crew returned home safely, despite ongoing attacks from enemy fighter-planes.

The DFC was a significant gallantry award, being only third in line after the Victoria Cross and the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross.

Just two weeks after receiving this award, Martin was also Mentioned in Dispatches (MiD), meaning that for a further courageous act in the face of the enemy, his name was included by his superior officer, in an official dispatch to high command.

This MiD gained Martin a certificate and an oak leaf emblem to wear on his uniform medal ribbons; the award being confirmed in the London Gazette on April the 24th, 1941.

Martin’s prowess as an air-gunner clearly came to the notice of higher command and he was soon transferred to 97 Squadron – a squadron that had reformed in February 1941 at RAF Waddington, and was equipped with the Avro Manchester bomber.

Later however, the squadron was re-equipped with the Avro Lancaster, and in April 1943 became a Pathfinder Force squadron.

The Pathfinders were regarded as the elite of Bomber Command. They would fly over targets before the main bomber streams, dropping target-indicators to ensure that those bombers that followed, had a far greater chance of delivering their payloads accurately.

RAF Pathfinder aircrews were selected on merit, often being specifically chosen by Pathfinder pilots and then personally invited to join the "crème de la crème" of Bomber Command.

Candidates had to be willing to fly more operational missions than standard aircrew (45 rather than 30) and of course, being the “first in” always carried a higher risk, too.

Invited candidates could always refuse the offer, but the prestigious Pathfinder Eagle badge was a highly sought-after mark of excellence (being the RAFs only officially delineated elite force, the Pathfinders displayed a unique emblem of an eagle. The badge was worn on the left-hand-side breast pocket of the flyers' uniform, beneath any decorations).

Martin’s prowess as an air-gunner and his obvious bravery and coolness when under attack, saw him promoted to Squadron Leader. He was also appointed 97 Squadron’s Gunnery Leader.

He survived many operational missions, completing at least sixteen in the months leading up to D-Day, which included attacking targets in Hanover, Mannheim, Leipzig, Kassel, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Berlin.

On October the 11th 1943, Martin married his sweetheart, Miss Anne Tomkinson, at Wolverley Church.

Anne was the daughter of Gerald Tomkinson, the part-owner of one of Kidderminster’s largest carpet manufactories and a previous town Mayor. Annie lived at Heathfield in Wolverley and prior to marrying Martin, her needs were tended to by a team of domestic staff which consisted of a butler, a cook-housekeeper, two parlour maids and two housemaids.

Winifred Johnson, a US Army nurse serving at Wolverley Camp (the U.S. 52nd General Hospital), was invited to Anne’s ‘announcement party’ and in her diary she described Martin as being “very pleasant.”

Anne would have been delighted with the news that on June the 4th 1944, Martin was awarded a bar to his DFC – meaning that he’d actually been awarded a second Distinguished Flying Cross. This bar would be affixed to the ribbon of Martin’s original DFC to signify further gallantry after the initial award. Only around 1,500 DFC bars were awarded in World War Two, highlighting yet again, Martin’s courage and devotion to duty.

Just before dawn on June the 6th 1944, a vast army was bobbing around in troopships, lying in wait just off the Normandy coast. They were mostly seasick and they were all extremely anxious. Every man was keen to get ashore and get the job done. This was D-Day…

At 02:56 hours that same morning, Martin’s 97 Squadron had departed from RAF Coningsby to prepare the ground for the American 2nd Ranger Battalion led by Lieutenant Colonel James E. Rudder. The Rangers had been given the unenviable task of scaling the 100-foot cliffs at Point du Hoc to destroy the German heavy artillery that threatened nearby Omaha Beach, and the Rangers were relying on the ‘limey flyboys’ to soften their target up before they got there.

It was recorded in 97 Squadron’s Operations Record Book (ORB) that it was a:

"Beautiful morning, us going in, the Americans going out."

It was also reported in the ORB that:

“Today must be recorded as one of the most eventful days in the squadron’s history. The target had been given us at about 1pm. It was a battery of coastal heavy guns on the French coast at a point called St Pierre du Mont, which is situated just on the southeastern base of the Cherbourg Peninsula, also La Peanelle. It seemed quite a normal target until various other things came trickling in – things such as convoys to be avoided – keeping strictly on track, news of impending naval actions to the East, and many other things, until one became aware of the obvious - that the invasion of Europe was about to commence."

The Squadron Commander (Wing Commander Edward ‘Jimmy’ Carter DFC) was heard to exclaim:

“Thank God I’m still on ops and not at an O.T.U. (an Operational Training Unit).”

Wing Commander Jimmy Carter DFC would be piloting the Lancaster that Martin would fly in, and he’d handpicked his crew for this important mission. Martin’s crewmates in Lancaster ND739 ‘Z- Zebra’ that morning were some of the Pathfinder Group’s most experienced and highly decorated flyers; they boasted no less than nine Distinguished Flying Crosses or Distinguished Flying Medals between them. The crew consisted of:

• Pilot Officer Guy Dunning DFM (flight engineer)

• Flight Lieutenant Ron Conley DFC RAAF (navigator)

• Flight Lieutenant Herbert Rieger RCAF (bomb aimer)

• Flight Lieutenant Albert Chambers DFC and Bar (wireless operator) who had flown 58 ops and was the 97 Squadron Signals Leader

• Warrant Officer Frank Watson DFM (mid-upper gunner)

It was not uncommon for Pathfinder Lancasters to carry an eighth crew member on some ops, who sat alongside the navigator and operated ground-mapping radar for blind-bombing and accurate target marking. This was the case in Martin’s aircraft on the morning of the 6th of June, with Flying Officer ‘Hank’ Jeffery DFM flying with the crew as the second navigator/bomb-aimer in this role (as he had done on a previous occasion).

This crew, which at the time was probably one of the RAF’s most decorated, was also a very valued team of experts.

Everyone was keen to get the job done and excitement was at fever pitch. As he flew over the Channel, from his rear-gunner position in ‘Z-Zebra’s’ tail-turret, Martin would have seen thousands of landing craft and support vessels heading towards the French coast.

The squadron ORB confirmed that: 

“Eighteen of our aircraft were detailed. The attack started at 4.50am – about 30 minutes before dawn – with a red TI (target indicator) which was accurately dropped by an Oboe Mosquito on the target... by the time Main Force came into bomb, the target was well marked. The Main Force bombing was extremely accurate and the whole point was flattened.”

With the job done, Martin’s squadron turned to head home. The mission had been accomplished with extensive damage to the German positions.

After many heroics of their own, the American Rangers would eventually take Point du Hoc.

The 97 Squadron ORB continued:

"As we turned, we could see that we’d give the target a ‘right prang’ but saw ‘Z- Zebra’ go down."

The fate of Martin’s Lancaster was further confirmed:

“Two of our crews failed to return. One was captained by the Squadron Commander, W/Cdr E.J. Carter DFC who was flying in “Z” and the other was a Norwegian crew captained by Lt. Jespersen… It is believed that they encountered some JU88s” (one of the most versatile German combat aircraft of World War II – this belief, however, was later proven incorrect).

With regards to Martin’s Lancaster, the ORB stated that:

“ND739Z - Aircraft missing. Last heard on W/T (wireless telegraphy) at 0504 hours, acknowledging message from Controller.”

Martin was missing…

At Évreux airfield in Normandy, German night-fighter pilot Hauptmann Helmut Eberspacher of SKG10 was drinking ersatz coffee and smoking French cigarettes – outwardly relaxed, he was on alert, awaiting the order to take off and attack whatever target he was directed to. 

SKG10 was a Luftwaffe fast-bomber, ground-attack unit that was equipped with Focke-Wulf Fw 190s.

Eberspacher, the holder of the Iron Cross first and second class, had been promoted to Staffelkapitän to lead the 3rd Staffel of the 1st Gruppe a month earlier. 

SKG10 flew ‘hit and run’ fighter-bomber missions with their Fw 190s over southern England by day and by night. Due to the lack of regular night fighters in France and in view of the increasing number of night bombing missions being flown by the RAF against French targets, from April 1944 the Fw 190s of SKG10 were also employed on ‘Wilde Sau’ (Wild Boar) free-ranging, night-fighter missions against British bombers whenever the conditions allowed... 

It was for this purpose that Eberspacher and some of his pilots were sitting on alert at Évreux.

At around 04:30 hours, information reached the German Gruppe HQ that Allied bombers were pounding the coast between Carentan and Caen. Eberspacher was scrambled with three other Fw 190s into that sector. There was very limited assistance from the German fighter controllers whose radars had mostly been destroyed, whilst the surviving elements of the air defence system were being heavily jammed. However, there were so many RAF bombers in such a small area that it was almost inevitable that the Fw 190 pilots would find some to attack.

Fate was about to bring Eberspacher’s Fw 190 and Martin Bryan-Smith’s Lancaster together in the most tragic manner... 

Wing Commander Carter and his crew had dropped their bombs on the target and had turned for home when they were spotted by Oberleutnant Helmut Eberspacher’s Focke-Wulf 190 shortly after 05:00 hours.

Oberleutnant Eberspacher had spotted several Lancasters silhouetted against the moonlit clouds above him. He attacked Martin’s ‘Z-Zebra’ from below, targeting the Lancaster’s blind spot out of a healthy respect for the RAF gunners.

Cannon shells and machine gun fire from Eberspacher’s Fw 190 ripped into the underside of Martin's Lancaster, causing immediate catastrophic damage, probably wounding and killing some of the crew and setting the bomber on fire.

It's impossible to imagine the sheer terror experienced by the crew when the first bursts of cannon-fire ripped through the thin skin of 'Z-Zebra'. Unable to spot their attacker, there was simply nothing they could do. The frustration was even greater for W.O. Frank Watson and Martin Bryan-Smith, the mid and rear air-gunners respectively; it was their job to keep the enemy fighters at bay - but how could they return fire when the foe simply couldn't be seen?

In his flying log, Oberleutnant Eberspacher reported:

"As soon as I took course, I noticed above a row of British bombers flying below the moonlit cloud cover.

"However. they could not see me against the dark earth. We were at war and the enemy had to be combated, and I was in a favourable flying position. Within a few minutes, three British Lancaster bombers went down in flames."

Eberspacher reported no return fire from Martin’s ‘Z-Zebra’ Lancaster, and he knew at once that it was fatally damaged.

He then attacked a second Lancaster and then a third, shooting down all three within three minutes, with the loss of all on board except one Allied flyer.

None of Martin’s fellow crew members escaped from the burning Lancaster; the bombing height had been lower than usual so there was little time for any survivors of Eberspacher’s attack to bail out.

Although the rest of the squadron assumed that Martin’s Lancaster had crashed into the sea, it had in fact, ploughed into a waterlogged meadow near the town of Carentan - with the loss of all the crew.

In a lot of cases, RAF bomber crewmen who were killed over enemy or occupied territory during the Second World War, were given a decent burial by the Germans. However, the location of ‘Z-Zebra’s’ crash site, near Carentan in Normandy, rapidly became a battlefield following the D-Day invasion, so the war simply rolled over the site and the flyers' remains were never recovered.

In fact, Martin’s Lancaster lay undiscovered for some 68 years before, in 2012, a group of locals spotted what they thought was a wheel sticking out of the ground. An aviation archaeologist was immediately called in to investigate.

By this time the name of Martin Bryan-Smith and his fellow crew members from Lancaster ‘Z-Zebra’ had been listed on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede for some 49 years (the Memorial having been unveiled by HM Queen Elizabeth II on the 17th of October 1953).

The motto of Martin’s 97 Squadron was: "Achieve your aim" – he and his seven fellow airmen aboard ‘Z-Zebra’, those whose names were commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, had sacrificed their lives in doing just that…

The Air Force's Memorial at Runnymede commemorates by name over 20,000 men and women of the Commonwealth air forces, who were lost in the Second World War during operations from bases in the United Kingdom and North and Western Europe, and who have no known graves.

The fallen commemorated here served in Bomber, Fighter, Coastal, Transport, Flying Training and Maintenance Commands, and came from all parts of the Commonwealth. Some were from countries in continental Europe which had been overrun but whose airmen continued to fight in the ranks of the Royal Air Force.

Martin Bryan-Smith is also commemorated on the Dean Close Boarding School War Memorial in Cheltenham. His name appears directly below that of his twin brother

As mentioned above, in 2012 the suspected crash site of an Allied bomber was discovered when a wheel was spotted by locals, protruding from the ground in a grassy meadow. 

An investigative excavation was immediately undertaken and lo-and-behold, it soon became apparent that the wheel was affixed to the remnants of a Lancaster bomber. 

The fragmentary wreckage brought-up from the excavations, led the aviation archaeologists to believe that these may well be the remains of ND739 ‘Z-Zebra’, the Lancaster in which Martin Bryan-Smith had been the rear gunner.

A local metal detectorist, helping with the dig, then found a gold ring which bore the initials "AC" on its face, and the inscription “Love Vera” engraved on the back. Some detective work by British aviation historian and archaeologist Tony Graves led him to conclude that the "AC" inscription referred to Albert Chambers (ND739 ‘Z-Zebra's’ wireless operator) who had married 21-year-old Vera Grubb in October 1943, just eight months before the Lancaster was shot down on D-Day.

Several personal items also found during the dig, were extremely poignant: a silver-plated cigarette case twisted by the impact, a watch torn from the wrist of an airman, a mangled Bomber Command whistle, a forage cap, a silk flying glove, and remains of several wool serge battledress jackets (one of which bore a DFM ribbon, another with the remains of a Waterman pen in the pocket and one with a German 7.92mm bullet lodged inside a sleeve.

After 68-years, Squadron Leader Martin Bryan-Smith’s Lancaster ND739 (‘Z-Zebra’) had finally been found…

He wasn’t missing anymore.

Rest In Peace Martin Bryan-Smith, your well-documented courage will never be forgotten ~ your                                                                           sacrifice will be remembered For Evermore

Acknowledgements: This story could not have been told were it not for the wonderful team at the Kidderminster Museum of Carpet; most especially Geoff, Jill and Jean. Very many thanks to you all. www.museumofcarpet.org.uk

The story most definitely could not have been told without the brilliant work undertaken by the RAF Memorial Flight Club historians - www.memorialflightclub.com