Frederick Escreet Smith (4 April 1919 – 15 May 2012)[1][2] was a British author, best known for his 1956 novel 633 Squadron about a Second World War RAF Mosquito squadron undertaking a seemingly impossible mission to bomb a well-protected German factory at the head of a Norwegian fjord.
Other books include: Of Masks and Minds (1954), Laws be Their Enemy (1955), Lydia Trendennis (1957), The Sin and the Sinners (1958), The Grotto of Tiberius (1961), The Devil Behind Me (1962), The Dark Cliffs (1962), The Storm Knight (1966), A Killing for the Hawks (1966), The Wider Sea of Love (1969), Waterloo (a 1970 novelisation, based on the 1970 film), The Persuaders!
(3 volumes of novelisations in 1972, based on the television series), See How We Run (1972), The Tormented (1974), Saffron's War (1975), Saffron's Army (1977), Saffron's Trials (1996), The War God (1980), The Obsession (1984), Rage of the Innocents (1986), A Meeting of Stars (1987), In Presence of my Foes (1988), Years of the Fury (1989), and a guide to how to Write a Successful Novel (1991).
As David Farrell, he also wrote The Other Cousin (1962), Temptation Isle (1962), Two Loves (1963), Strange Enemy (1967), Valley of Conflict (1967), Mullion Rock (1968).
Frederick E. Smith lived for 50 years in the Southbourne area of Bournemouth[3] and worked hard promoting the art of writing, editing a local writers' magazine, and lecturing across the country.