ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 219789
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| Date: | Thursday 20 July 1916 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Bristol Scout Type C |
| Owner/operator: | 3 Wg RNAS Manston |
| Registration: | 1245 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | RNAS Manston, Thanet, Kent, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RNAS Manston, Thanet, Kent |
| RNAS Manston, Kent | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
20.7.16: Bristol Scout Type C No. 1245, 3 Wing, RNAS Manston. Written off (destroyed) when lost control in a loop at 1,500 feet, side-slipped and spun in near RNAS Manston, Thanet, Kent. Pilot - Flt Sub-Lt Douglas Whittier (Canadian, aged 24) - was killed. According to a contemporary newspaper report (Thanet Advertiser - Saturday 22 July 1916):
"AIRMAN KILLED.
THE CORKSCREW DIVE.
THANET FATALITY.
A shocking fatality to an airman occurred on Thursday during a flight over a cornfield in Thanet. The airman, a young Canadian named Flight-Sub.-Lieut. Douglas Whittier, aged about twenty four years, was performing some evolutions high in the sky when his machine, a one-seater Bristol scout, was seen suddenly to take a corkscrew dive. While the pilot appeared to be attempting to loop the loop the machine side-slipped after banking and fell some hundreds of feet before it suddenly commenced to describe a close spiral, head downwards. In this manner it crashed to the earth with the pilot underneath. When picked up he was dead, crushed by the weight of the engine.
In a sparsely populated neighbourhood it was some little time before help could reach the wreckage, but it is thought that nothing could have been done for the poor young fellow, even if assistance had been immediately forthcoming.
Flight Sub.-Lieutenant Whittier came to this country from Canada some months ago but had only recently joined the air service as an officer. He gained his wings comparatively early and was regarded as a safe pilot. So far as is known he has no relatives in this country. The machine he was using was almost a new one, but he had flown in it on previous occasions.
Soon after the tragedy occurred, the police were informed and the remains were conveyed to a mortuary, there to await the inquest.
Tragedy of a "Beautiful Sight"
A spectator, who was in a motor-car, said that in the bright sunshine of a perfect day the circling of the aeroplane looked beautiful as he and a companion watched it. For a time they lost sight of the machine in the glare of the sun, and when they next saw it the aeroplane, still at great height, was coming down in somersaults. For a moment the spectators thought the pilot was performing daring looping evolutions, but though - possibly owing to the great height - the descent did not seem to be unusually rapid - it became clear that something had gone wrong. As the distance from the ground decreased the machine fell at an alarming rate, and began to take the fatal spiral dive, with nose sharply down. In ever-increasing circles it dived to earth, and parts of the wings were seen a moment later sticking amongst the ripening corn. The onlookers could not say if the engine was going during the dive.
The Inquest.
The inquest took place yesterday afternoon. The jury returned a verdict of "Death by Misadventure."
Lost Resistance.
A contributor writes: Few who have viewed the graceful banking of an airplane appreciate the ever-present danger of side-slipping. Once a machine commences to side slip the pilot's life hangs by the most slender of threads, for his control of the machine has disappeared in a moment - the air-resistance of the wings has gone. By a miracle, he may encounter a gust which can restore stability, and he must be prepared for the moment that means life or death with nerve and skill. The greater the altitude the greater are the chances of meeting this life-saving gust, but if this should fail the descent is all the more rapid and its results the more terrible."
Sources:
1. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1916.htm
2. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/365921/whittier,-douglas/
3. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=5785.0;wap2
4. Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald - Saturday 29 July 1916
5. Flight magazine (July 27 1916 page 622): https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1916/1916%20-%200624.PDF
6. https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/oak-bay-remembers
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 20-Dec-2018 23:31 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 20-Dec-2018 23:32 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 27-Jan-2019 08:08 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator] |
| 13-Jun-2023 20:45 | Nepa | Updated [[Operator]] |
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