George Bates Smith was born on December 26, 1918. He served in the 7234 Food Service Squadron as a First Lieutenant in World War II. During the Berlin Airlift, he was one of the pilots of the C-47 #43-48256 "Gooney Bird" aircraft. The C-47, fully loaded with goods for Berlin, that was shut off from supplies because of the Soviet blockade, seemed to have had problems climbing fast enough to clear the Taunus hills and hit the first peak, the Steinkopf, at 2200 hours. It is about 2km North of the City of Koenigstein. The reason for the crash is not known. 1LT Smith is buried now in the Mobile National Cemetery, Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama, USA.

Aboard C-47 #43-48256 were:
1LT George B. Smith
1LT Leland V. Williams
Karl von Hagen (civilian, Department of the Army)

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.steel-toys.com