E.A.W. Smith served in the Royal Air Force for over five years, in the Second World War. He was a fighter pilot, who flew Spitfires in ninety operational missions. He is an authority of air to ground warfare.

His war book, Spitfire Diary was published in 1988, by Wm. Kimber, London. It was republished in the United States in 1995 by Eakin Press, Austin, Texas. A third trade paperback edition was published by Eakin Press in 2000 and contains an important addendum, relating to the book and the war. Spitfire Diary captivated many reviewers, including such notables as Walter Cronkite, who wrote:

This is a most unusual and very special book. Almost half a century after World War II, here comes a volume of personal reminiscence, a collection of diary and letters that takes you right into the Spitfire cockpit, the briefing room, the ward room, the barracks in a manner that few novels and no histories have ever done. Ex-Spitfire pilot Smith, with his utter disdain for literary pretense, has given us an unusual candid, colorful, and yes, affectionate picture of the brave and brazen men of the RAF. I found the book to be a real delight.

Spitfire Diary never received a negative review.

E.A.W. (Ted) Smith emigrated to the United States in 1948, and became a citizen in 1957. He was born in Paddington, London, and was moved to East Acton, London, at ten days! He was brought up in Acton up to the age of eleven, when the family again moved, to Ealing; a stone’s throw from Wembley, home of the historic sports complex. Smith married Margareta Waernmark ( Van Mark) of Sweden in 1957, in New York. They are the parents of fraternal twins - a boy, Pehr, and a girl, Anna Maria.

After a career of 41 years in broadcasting, Smith retired as General Manager of the Lady Bird Johnson radio stations KLBJ AM and FM; in Austin, Texas, in December, 1991. When he retired, his presentation wrist watch was engraved with the words of Lady Bird Johnson… "Above and Beyond."