JOHNNY SMYTHE – AN INTRODUCTION

John Henry Smythe QC, MBE (mil) OBE, or Johnny, as he was known to his friends was born in Sierra Leone in 1915. He was from the Krios tribe of Sierra Leone, find out more here. His grandfather, also John Henry Smythe, was born in Richmond, Virginia to a free black woman and a slave father. His mother bought his father‘s freedom, but this inauspicious start in no way inhibited young John’s impressive advancement in life.

Johnny volunteered to join the RAF in 1941 and travelled to the UK where his pilot training would start. He was one of only 60 men from the continent of Africa to serve as aircrew in the Air Force during the Second World War. Having qualified as a navigator and been promoted to a flight officer, Johnny was posted to 623 squadron based at Downham market flying the Short Stirling Bomber. On 18 November 1943 he was shot down over Germany, and although wounded, made a successful parachute jump from the plane. He evaded capture for a few hours but was captured and spent 18 months in Stalag Luft 1 prisoner of war camp.

After the camp was liberated, he returned from Germany and remained as an officer in the RAF but was seconded to the Colonial Office based in London. It was while in this capacity that Johnny was required to board the Empire Windrush, a captured German WW1 troopship which was chartered to return a large contingent of demobilised Caribbean men back to their homes. Johnny, as the senior officer on board, would go on to play a crucial role in the foundation of what we now know as ‘The Windrush Generation’.

This website is dedicated to telling Johnny’s incredible story, and is run by his son Eddy Smythe. Eddy gives regular public talks and media appearances to share the life and history of Johnny.