ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 221088
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| Date: | Sunday 18 March 1917 |
| Time: | 17:00 LT |
| Type: | Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b |
| Owner/operator: | 28 Sqn RFC |
| Registration: | 4912 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | RFC Fort Grange, Gosport, Hampshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RFC Fort Grange, Gosport, Hampshire |
| RFC Fort Grange, Gosport, Hampshire | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
18.3.17: Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b No. 4912, 28 Squadron, RFC Gosport. Written off (destroyed) when Stalled and crashed, at RFC Fort Grange, Gosport, Hampshire. Both crew - 2nd Lt John James Elmslie Gray (aged 41, on attachment from the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry) and 2nd Lt Walter Scott Morrison (pilot, aged 22) - were killed.
According to the aircraft accident record card for F.E.2b No. 4912 (see links #4 & #5):
"Court of Inquiry 87/7954
30/3/17
Flying accident. In stalling, lost control, with insufficient time to recover. Machine in good order before flight"
Lieutenant, WALTER SCOTT MORRISON, R.F.C.
2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps.
Age 22
Died 18.3.1917
Lieutenant WALTER SCOTT MORRISON, Royal Flying Corps, was the son of James Smith Morrison and Annie Booth Morrison. Along with Lt. John James Elmslie Gray serving with No. 28 Squadron R.F.C. They took off from RFC Fort Grange aerodrome in the early afternoon of the 18th of March 1917 in a F.E.2b, service No. 4912. He was practising taking off and landing. This continued, until just after 5.00pm.
When upon getting airborne and achieving an altitude of some 400 feet, the aeroplane was seen by those on the ground, to make strange movements. It then turned over onto its back, the pilot managed to partly correct this, but then inexplicably, the aircraft nose-dived towards the ground, throwing Lt. Gray out of the machine. The fall broke his spinal column, killing him instantly.
Lt. Morrison, firmly strapped in came down with the plane, which crashed with tremendous force, he was alive when taken from the wreckage of the aeroplane, but sadly died shortly afterwards from a fractured skull. As a pitiful footnote, Lt. Morrison arrived at the aerodrome having just transferred to the Royal Flying Corps on the day he was killed; it is possible the fatal flight could have been one of his first flights.
Lieutenant WALTER SCOTT MORRISON, RFC, was buried on Wednesday 21st March, he is laid to rest, Plot 53 Space 58, and is commemorated by a CWG headstone
Sources:
1. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1917.htm
2. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2758834/gray,-/
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/3055471/morrison,-walter-scott/
4. http://www.rafmuseumstoryvault.org.uk/archive/gray-j.j.e.-john-james-enslie
5. http://www.rafmuseumstoryvault.org.uk/archive/morrison-w.s.-walter-scott
6. https://gosport.info/gosport-history/anns-hill-cemetery-war-graves/war-graves-page-10-o/
Images:
Photo taken in Freshwater (All Saints) Cemetery, Isle of Wight on 24 December 2019 by Kenneth Harper
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 24-Jan-2019 18:41 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 26-Jan-2019 16:40 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator] |
| 26-Jan-2019 20:05 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 04-Jan-2020 20:13 | Hugh Bomford | Updated [Photo] |
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