On 21st November 1916 this aircraft was involved in a taxying accident at Redcar aerodrome and it sustained damage to it's
top wing and propeller.
Pilot - F/Lt Louis Marcus Basil Weil RNAS, of St. John's Wood, London.
? - Flight Sub-Lt Harold L'Estrange Tyndale-Briscoe RNAS.
Harold Tyndale-Biscoe was born October 1892 in Srinager, India where his father, Canon Cecil Earle Tyndale-Biscoe was a British missionary at the time. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge gaining an MA and learnt to fly at the Grahame-White flying school at Hendon, London gaining his Aviator's Certificate on 15th October 1915 (Cert. No. 1881). He married in Redcar Church on 25th May 1918. Post-WW1 nothing is known about him but given his Indian connections it
is likely that he return to India. In April 1934 he was a flying instructor with the Madras Flying School and on 1st October 1934 he flew an Avro Commodore from Heston to Madras, India for use by the Rajah of Vizianagram. Flight Magazine of the day states that he was about to join the flying staff of Tata, India at that time. Two websites list him as living in Burma and working with the Forest Department there, and living in New York.
To date no record of his death has been located but it was probably not in the UK.
F/Lt Louis Weil was killed on 6th April 1917, he is listed as being in the RNAS but attached to the RFC. He is buried at Sauchy-Lestree Communal Cemetery, France and was just eighteen years old.
Louis Marcus Basil Weil was born in 1899 in Cape Colony, South Africa. His father Benjamin Weil became famous for being "The Man Who Fed Mafeking" during the Defence of Mafeking. He and his parents were in Mafeking just before the Boer's attacked, he and his mother escaped on the last train leaving his father and the remaining townsfolk to defend the town from the Boer's attack. For his actions in the attack Benjamin Weil was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with the Defence of Mafeking Clasp. Having been promoted to F/Lt, Louis Weil became attached to the RFC when he died on 6th April 1917 following combat over Northern France. He is buried in Sauchy-Lestree Communal Cemetery, France and was only eighteen years old. His parents had returned to the UK from South Africa and he was eductaed at Clifton. They were living at 30 Abercorn Place, in the St.John's Wood area of London at the time of his death.
Louis Weil's grave in Sauchy-Lestree Communal Cemetery.
Longhorn N5037 was built to contract 114826/16 by Brush E.E. Co. Ltd at Loughborough and delivered to RNAS Redcar on 4th November 1916. It was tested at Redcar on 10th November 1916 and accepted. Following the accident detailed above later that month it was repaired and suffered three more accidents, one on 21st December 1916, one on 6th January 1917 and finally one on 22nd August 1917 from which it was not repaired. It was surveyed on 7th December 1917 and deleted for use as spares on 14th December 1917.