On 8th May 1916 the pilot of this aircraft made a crash landing at or near Redcar aerodrome and the aircraft was badly damaged.
Pilot - Flight Sub-Lt John Francis Roche RNAS. Slightly injured.
John Roche gained his Royal Aero Club, Aviator's Certificate (Cert.No.1234) at the Beatty School, Hendon on 12th May 1915. In August 1919 he was granted a permanent commission as Captain in the RAF. By 1923 he was working in RAF Intelligence and received a posting to 70 Squadron in Iraq in Summer 1923. Nothing more is known about him.
Avro 504 1470 was made by Brush EE Co Ltd of Loughborough and delivered to RNAS Redcar on 10th December 1915 for testing. It was accepted there on 16th December 1915 but suffered two accidents in two days in April 1916 (both detailed on this website), the first was an engine failure near Yarm and the second a crash at Redcar on landing from the transit flight. It was repaired following the landing accident and returned to service only to sustain the accident in May 1916 as detailed above. The aircraft was not repaired, it was written off and deleted from stock on 19th May 1916.