Constance Babington Smith MBE Legion of Merit FRSL (15 October 1912 - 31 July 2000) was a journalist and writer.
Babington Smith was the daughter of the the senior Civil Servant Henry Babington Smith. She was educated at home at Chinthurst, England and in France, before moving to London in adult life. She worked for the milliner Aage Thasrup and also Vogue magazine in London, before venturing into journalism, with The Aeroplane magazine.
Her knowledge of aircraft took her into the WAAF in the Second World War, where she served with the Allied Photographic Intelligence Unit at Medmenham, and reaching the rank of Flight Officer. Constance was credited with the discovery of the V2 rocket site at Peenemunde, Germany. She was portrayed in the 1965 film Operation Crossbow by Sylvia Syms
After VE-Day Constance was attached to USAAF Intelligence in Washington, to continue work on photgraphs in the Pacific theatre.
From 1946 to 1950 she was a researcher for Life Magazine. She later moved to Cambridge, England, where she converted to Greek Orthodoxy and become a writer and biographer.
- Air Spy (1957)
- Testing Time (1961)
- Amy Johnson (1961)
- John Masefield (1978)
- Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 9 August 2000
- Obituary, The Guardian, 12 August 2000
Constance Babington Smith MBE Legion of Merit FRSL (15 October 1912 - 31 July 2000) was a journalist and writer.
Babington Smith was the daughter of the the senior Civil Servant Henry Babington Smith. She was educated at home at Chinthurst, England and in France, before moving to London in adult life. She worked for the milliner Aage Thasrup and also Vogue magazine in London, before venturing into journalism, with The Aeroplane magazine.
Her knowledge of aircraft took her into the WAAF in the Second World War, where she served with the Allied Photographic Intelligence Unit at Medmenham, and reaching the rank of Flight Officer. Constance was credited with the discovery of the V2 rocket site at Peenemunde, Germany. She was portrayed in the 1965 film Operation Crossbow by Sylvia Syms
After VE-Day Constance was attached to USAAF Intelligence in Washington, to continue work on photgraphs in the Pacific theatre.
From 1946 to 1950 she was a researcher for Life Magazine. She later moved to Cambridge, England, where she converted to Greek Orthodoxy and become a writer and biographer.
- Air Spy (1957)
- Testing Time (1961)
- Amy Johnson (1961)
- John Masefield (1978)
- Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 9 August 2000
- Obituary, The Guardian, 12 August 2000