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Sheila K. Rathbone Smith (b. 1924) of Oxford, England, served as a barrage balloon operator with the British Women's Royal Air Force during World War II. Sheila Katharina Rathbone Smith was born in England on 31 August 1924 to a British father and a German mother. She grew up in Hampstead and London, England, and attended high school in Oxford. Smith joined the British Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1942 and served as a barrage balloon operator in London and Newcastle for three years. She then worked in transportation, organizing the movement of British troops and prisoners of war in England. She was discharged in 1946 with the rank of leading aircraft woman (LACW). Smith modeled after the war, most notably for fashion designer Hardy Amies. She married in 1951 and relocated to the United States.