ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 214685
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| Date: | Wednesday 20 December 1916 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Vickers FB.16A |
| Owner/operator: | Vickers Ltd |
| Registration: | |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Crayford Marshes, near Joyce Green Airfield, Dartford, Kent -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Test |
| Departure airport: | Joyce Green Airfield, Dartford, Kent |
| Joyce Green Airfield, Dartford, Kent | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Lt Henry Richard Deighton Simpson (20), RFC killed 20 December 1916 in a Vickers F.B.16A, Vickers Ltd. Crashed on test - 'excessive strain on machine', at Crayford Marshes near Joyce Green, Dartford, Kent. Aircraft disintegrated at 300 feet, and Henry Simpson died on injuries sustained.
Henry Simpson was born an American citizen (born New York 28.1.1896, and educated at Harvard University) but took up British citizenship from 21.11.1914. According to s contemporary report in "Flight" magazine (December 28, 1916 page 1142):
"Another Fatal Accident.
AN inquest was also held on Dec. 22nd on Lieut. H. R. Deighton Simpson, R.F.C., who was killed on Dec. 20th. A witness stated that Lieut. Simpson was an expert pilot, and had been on active service. Immediately before the accident he had looped the loop a dozen times, and flew upside down for some distance. Afterwards he rose as if to loop again, when apparently the right plane gave way as the machine was perpendicular. The pilot regained control of the machine, which started to vol-plane down, but from a height of 500 ft. it fell like a stone. A verdict of "Death from Misadventure" was returned."
According to his biography on the "Bexley Archives" facebook page (see link #4):
"Henry Richard Deighton-Simpson – Eton, Harvard, Crayford
Died 20th December 1916
100 years ago to the day, a remarkable young man with a remarkable life-story - Lieutenant/Pilot Henry Richard Deighton Simpson of the Royal Flying Corps - died in a flying accident on Crayford Marshes, while trying to land at Joyce Green Airfield
Henry was buried in the graveyard at St Paulinus Church in Crayford – (his memorial cross can be found just to the north of the church door)
He was just 20 years old, but had already lived an extraordinary life – a poet, the gifted son of an immensely wealthy New York lawyer, he’d studied first at Eton and then Harvard: in the USA, he left university in mysterious circumstances, without telling his parents, and returned to England to join the armed forces. He apparently took a Cunard liner back to England, working as a crewman to pay his fare. He only wrote to his distraught mother once the ship was at sea.
Like many `dashing` young men, he sought adventure in the new-fangled craze for flying – for which he proved to have a remarkable aptitude! He fought in the skies above the Western Front
After some months' active service at the front, during which he flew almost every day, with the exception of a few weeks spent in a hospital at Boulogne, recovering from injuries received in stopping the runaway horse of a comrade, he was recalled back home by his superiors to England to conduct a series of experiments on newer, faster, fighter planes
Here, though, his luck ran out: “Before he had reached the height of three hundred feet the plane collapsed and fell to the ground. He was mortally injured but was conscious for four hours before he took his final flight, from which there was no return. His last words showed the same fine consideration for others that he had shown throughout his life, when he said to those tending him,‘Don't bother about me. I am all right’."
Sources:
1. http://wilfredsalmon.crayfordhistory.co.uk/library/pdf/Pilot-Casualties-at-Joyce-Green.pdf
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Joyce_Green#Accidents_and_incidents
3. Flight magazine (December 28 1916 page 1142): https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1916/1916%20-%201170.html?search=Henry%20Richard%20Deighton%20Simpson
4. https://www.facebook.com/BexleyArchives/posts/henry-richard-deighton-simpson-eton-harvard-crayford20th-december-1916100-years-/1144561732253976/
5. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35264311/henry-richard_deighton-simpson
6. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1917/1/13/h-r-d-simpson-18-killed/
7. https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/41515
8. https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/lifestory/4045194
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_F.B.16#Design_and_development
Media:
Vickers FB.16A at Joyce Green, Kent in 1916Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 26-Aug-2018 08:02 | harro | Added |
| 28-Nov-2018 19:08 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 28-Nov-2018 19:12 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Time, Source, Embed code] |
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