ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 221180
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| Date: | Thursday 29 March 1917 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8 |
| Owner/operator: | 37 (Reserve) Sqn RFC |
| Registration: | A3451 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Radford Aerodrome, Coventry, Warwickshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Radford Aerodrome, Coventry, Warwickshire |
| RFC Scampton, Lincolnshire | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
29.3.17: Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8 A3451, 37 (Reserve) Squadron, RFC Scampton, Lincolnshire. Written off (destroyed) when Spun into the ground and caught fire on impact on delivery flight, from Radford Aerodrome, Coventry, Warwickshire, to RFC Scampton, Lincolnshire. Pilot - 2nd Lt Arthur Boon (Service Number 3208, aged 22) - was killed.
R.E.8 A3451 was being collected from Radford aerodrome, to be delivered to 37 (Reserve) Squadron at RFC Scampton, Lincolnshire. According to the aircraft accident record card for the aircraft (see link #3):
"Court of Inquiry 87/Acc/84
5/5/17
Flying accident. Spinning, nose dived, machine caught fire on impact, Cause unknown. The machine and engine was in good order before flight. The Court of Inquiry was of the opinion that the accident was due to unknown causes"
2nd Lt Arthur Boon of 7th Manchester Regiment, from Buxton in Derbyshire, was killed. He was the son of James Boon, Trevor House, near Ruabon and was buried at Coventry, London Road cemetery. According to the biography of 2nd Lt Arthur Boon (see link #6)
"James Boon and Mercy Patrick had married in the Wolstanton area of Staffordshire. They had moved to the Stockport area by 1895 as Arthur’s birth is registered in the town. By 1914, they were living at 127 Shaw Heath, then a very well-to-do part of town. During the wartime period, Mr & Mrs Boon also had addresses at “Brooklea” and “Trevor House”, both large properties in the North Wales village of Ruabon. After the War, they had settled at Temple Road, Buxton.
Arthur enlisted into the army on 11 November 1914, joining the 2/7th Battalion, Manchester Regiment and he was given the service number 3028. His service papers still exist at the National Archives and these show him to have been about average height for those times at 5’ 7”. On 26 March 1915, he was promoted to Corporal and, shortly afterwards, was selected to become an officer. Arthur received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant on 5 July 1915 and was posted to one of the Battalions of the Manchester Regiment still in training in the UK
Early in 1916, he was leading his men on night exercise near Oxford, when he fell down the steep side of a quarry. He was unconscious for about half an hour and had injured his abdomen. He was admitted to the Army’s 3rd Southern General Hospital at Oxford where he remained for ten days before being pronounced fully fit.
The National Archives confirms that Arthur had an entitlement to service medals. This means that he served overseas on active service at some point but it is not known if this was with the Manchester Regiment or after he transferred to the Flying Corps and qualified as a pilot. At the time of his death, he was attached to 37(Reserve) Squadron RFC and was killed in a flying accident near Coventry."
Sources:
1. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1917.htm
2. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2750961/boon,-arthur/
3. http://www.rafmuseumstoryvault.org.uk/archive/boon-a.-arthur
4. http://www.aviationarchaeology.org.uk/marg/crashes1917.htm
5. http://www.clwydfhs.org.uk/cofadeiladau/cefnmawr_wm.htm
6. http://www.stockport1914-1918.co.uk/soldier.php?name_id=278
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Jan-2019 14:27 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 28-Jan-2019 17:29 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator] |
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