ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 221370
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| Date: | Tuesday 24 April 1917 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Maurice Farman S.11 Shorthorn |
| Owner/operator: | 2 (Reserve) Sqn RFC |
| Registration: | 7363 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | RFC Northolt, West Ruislip, Middlesex -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RFC Northolt, West Ruislip, Middlesex |
| RFC Northolt, West Ruislip, Middlesex | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
24.4.17: Maurice Farman S.11 Shorthorn No.7363, 2 (Reserve) Squadron, RFC Northolt. Written off (destroyed) due to side slip & nose dive on approach, RFC Northolt, West Ruislip, Middlesex. Pilot - 2nd Lt Thomas Henry Norman Powell (Australian, aged 22) - was killed.
According to the aircraft accident record card for Maurice Farman S.11 Shorthorn No.7363 (see link #3):
"Court of Inquiry 87/7954
3/5/17
Flying accident. Side slip and nose dive. It was the opinion of the Court of Inquiry that the accident was attributed to the pilot losing control of the machine"
According to an excerpt from a published source from one of the pilot descendants (see link #6):
"Norman then decided he would like to become a pilot so in November 1916 he joined the Royal Flying Corps Officer Cadet Battalion in England. After his discharge from the Australian Army he was paid the sum of £17 and later an additional sum of £10, all this being deferred pay. He had served for 2 years and 175 days in the army and his discharge document gives his military character as “Very Good”.
He trained at the No. 3 School of Military Aeronautics at Exeter College of Oxford University. He was commissioned in the rank of 2nd Lieutenant (on probation) on 17 March, as notified in the London Gazette of 10 April 1917. He had made his will in his pay book on 5 February.
He was posted to Northolt Airfield at South Ruislip near Harrow, which is now the oldest RAF Base in UK. It is 6 miles north of Heathrow and was opened on 3 May 1915 as a base for the Royal Flying Corps. Norman was in the No. 2 (Reserve) Aeroplane Squadron.
Unfortunately his service in the RFC was not to last long, because he lost his life on the day before Anzac Day in 1917. He was involved in an aircraft accident at Northolt on 24 April 1917. An inquest was held the next day and the verdict was that his death was due to “accidental death from fracture of the skull caused by falling from an aeroplane”. He was aged 22.
His funeral was held 3 days after his death, on 27 April 1917 when he was buried at the Brookwood Cemetery"
Sources:
1. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1917.htm
2. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/399169/powell,-thomas-henry-norman/
3. http://www.rafmuseumstoryvault.org.uk/ID/?7000291854
4. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1428822/
5. http://fightingthekaiser.blogspot.com/2013/09/australian-flying-corps.html
6. https://www.genealogy.org.nz/data/media/documents/Branches/Riccarton/2016-06-Riccarton.pdf
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 31-Jan-2019 18:04 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 02-Feb-2019 12:10 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator] |
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