Identification please? Crash Poelkapelle 5 may 1917?

[nilis11]

I spotted this postcard on the web. Can someone help identifying this airplane and crew. It says 5 V 1917 Poelkapelle.  

 Thanks

 

Nilis  

[pete-c]

37 minutes ago, nilis11 said:

I spotted this postcard on the web. Can someone help identifying this airplane and crew. It says 5 V 1917 Poelkapelle.  

 Thanks

 

Nilis  

 

Possibly an FE2?  The Sky Their Battlefield for May 5th 1917 shows two FE 2d's lost on this date.  A1942 and A5147 both of 20 Sqn.   Any chance of better shot of the serial Nilis?

[alex revell]

From that great work The Sky Their Battlefield by Trevor Henshaw, it Looks like an FE2d A1942 from 20 Sqdn. I wont give full details, as given by Trevor, to encourage people to buy this superb book. But thanks for posting the photo 

[Cnock]

same FE2 A1942

 

regards,

 

Cnock

[nilis11]

Great photograph. Is that a pilot on the right?

 

[Testerchild2]

Probably 20 Sqn's 'A1942' flown by 2/Lt Bacon with A/M Worthing shot down by Walter Gottsch of Jasta 18.  Bacon survived with an amputated arm, but Worthing was killed. My recent book 'Winged Sabres', a history of 20 Squadron in WW1, describes the fight in more detail. The second FE2 got back across the lines to safety despite catching fire.

Hope that helps.

Bob

[josquin]

More about the aircrew:  the pilot, 2nd Lieut. Leonard Guy Bacon, was a Staff Serjeant with the 4th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment prior

to his appointment as a Temporary 2nd Lieut in the R.F.C. on 8 August 1916.  Appointed a Flying Officer on 8 February 1917, he survived his

captivity and was repatriated.  He was born in 1890, at Camberwell, London, lived there in the prewar years, and died at Croydon, Surrey,

in 1965. The observer,  Air Mechanic-2nd Class Gerald Worthing was born in 1891, at Preston Wynne, Herefordshire.  His family relocated to Monmouthshire, Wales, where he was employed as a collier, and his residence in 1911 was Abersychan, Monmouthshire.  He enlisted in the Monmouthshire Regiment in 1914, as Private (#147), and subsequently joined the Royal Flying Corps as an Air Mechanic (#78285).

 

Josquin

 

Edited 11 November , 2018 by josquin

[robertb]

CWGC has the death of Gerald Worthing (78285) as 5 June 1917.  This must be a transcription error; the 'Concentration of Grave Burial Return' of 1921 has the 5 May 1917 as his date of death.  Presumably the correct one!

He was exhumed from Ehreneriedof German Military Cemetery, Staden (Map Ref. Sheet 20 S.E.  P.23.b.7.6.

Buried Tyne Cot Grave LXIII.D.2.

[helpjpl]

51 minutes ago, robertb said:

CWGC has the death of Gerald Worthing (78285) as 5 June 1917.  This must be a transcription error; the 'Concentration of Grave Burial Return' of 1921 has the 5 May 1917 as his date of death.  Presumably the correct one!

He was exhumed from Ehreneriedof German Military Cemetery, Staden (Map Ref. Sheet 20 S.E.  P.23.b.7.6.

Buried Tyne Cot Grave LXIII.D.2.

 

Died as POW 05 June 1917.

 

1.  Casualty Card:

http://www.rafmuseumstoryvault.org.uk/pages/raf_vault.php?&RAF-titel=Worthing&van=1

 

2.  airhistory:

http://www.airhistory.org.uk/rfc/files/names_combined_W.txt

 

3.  ICRC POW (with incorrect service number). See PA 12889; PA 13498; PA 14221:

https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/2846981/3/2/

 

JP

[robertb]

JP - Thank you so much for clarifying this.  The 'Concentration of Grave Burial Return'  is incorrect.  Understandable I suppose.  Would the IWGC have had access to the IRC records in 1921?

 

Rob

[helpjpl]

26 minutes ago, robertb said:

JP - Thank you so much for clarifying this.  The 'Concentration of Grave Burial Return'  is incorrect.  Understandable I suppose.  Would the IWGC have had access to the IRC records in 1921?

 

Rob

 

The CWGC Graves Registration Report (Tyne Cot) appears to show DOD changed from 5-5-17 to 5-6-17. (Note. CWGC originally had him with the same service number, 2534, as ICRC).

 

And, RFC Medal Roll, of 6 Oct 1922, records his DOD as 06-06-17 (!). This courtesy of ancestry:

 

 

 

JP

[robertb]

JP - Once again thank you.

 

Rob