Jump to content
Free downloads from TNA ×
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

RE8 plane crash 5th April 1918


gladysemmanuel

Recommended Posts

Guest Bubbles1

Hi there

7 years after the last post on this chain I have come across it while researching Matthew Charles Morton for a book I am writing.

Matthew was awarded his DCM for the action at Turco Farm, near Boesinghe on 19th December 1915, when the 1/5th Battalion west Yorkshire Regiment was gassed with phosgene.

I am happy to provide further details to family members and I am very interested in finding out more about men of the 1/5th Battalion West Yorkshires.

My book is due to be published in January 2017, and is called:

Harrogate Terriers

From Strawberrydale to Passchendaele

A History of the 1/5th Territorial Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment on the Great War

Best wishes

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Hello John! I have just ordered your book. I thought you'd like to hear of the further exploits of my great uncle, Matthew Charles Morton, DCM. I was helped by someone writing to me to fill me in on several details - his name was Trevor Henshaw. I wrote the first part and following that (different font) you can see what I received from him:

 

 

His lungs having presumably recovered enough from this experience, he then

went on to join the Royal Flying Corps as a Second Lieutenant. He was at the

Artillery Co-operation School in the south of England, presumably learning

to fly, or perhaps teaching others, when on 5th April 1918 he failed to pull

his R.E.8 out of a spinning nose dive and crashed. The plane burst into

flames on impact. It's worth noting that the RFC had changed its name to the

RAF only days before this, on the 1st April 1918.

Yes this record would have referred to 2Lt Morton's particular crash. Having looked at the casualty record in the air in 1914-18 in a fair amount of detail it was indeed the lot of men learning to fly or subsequently honing their skills at military flying schools to in particular be more likely to crash and suffer serious injury and death. On the other hand it is also completely remarkable just how many air crashes were survived in those days with little or no injury to the airmen. Many (I'm even inclined to say the majority) simply walked away - even from a pile of shattered wood, canvas and cables - given the relatively low speeds at which these accidents happened. But of course many did not.

Morton was flying a two seater aircraft - though by implication of the Casualty Card record he was alone. He probably carried ballast in the rear cockpit (or should have...).

That brief description of spinning nose dive and crash or wrecked is almost commonplace on those cards - you just find yourself writing "snd cr wr" again and again. For example, what was often happening was that a pilot was taking off and at that most prone time if any engine problem or failure asserted itself the inclination was to turn back. This was quite literally fatal, but one can imagine human nature at these times. Making a turn with insufficient speed or disadvantageous incline could lead to still less flying speed, then a stall or a side slip which could soon enter a spin or a dive - and being low this was a critical and often fatal mistake to have made. I can't believe it was not drummed into the pilots not to "turn back" for all the reasons above, but it seems to have happened wholesale. And some very experienced pilots died doing the same thing as well. The RE8 had intially had a bit of a reputation as a dangerous aircraft, but by mid 1918 changes had long been made to it to make it a safer machine and people knew how to fly it. The RE8 was an important and plentiful aircraft for the RAF by this time, being the default machine for artillery co-operation work, close reconnaissance etc.

The fire aspect was not as common as one might suppose, in my opinion. It would come about from tanks full of petrol and fuel lines full of highly flammable material suddenly being rent apart, and the escaping fuel being ignited by the heat of the engine or the electrics and so on. It is also possible (but impossible to confirm) that Lt Morton's aircraft caught fire in the air, but I suspect not - usually that is indicated in the wording of the report. It sounds more like a fire on the ground. However you look at it, it was an awful way to meet your end, though, as you say.

 

I hope you find this useful and interesting! Best wishes, Davena

Edited by Davena
remembered name
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...