Unidentified B.E.2c? aeroplane near Catterick.
On 17th January 1916 this No.6 Reserve Squadron aeroplane was flown by a pilot undertaking his first solo flight. On take off from Catterick aerodrome the aeroplane rose to 250 feet, at this height the pilot lost control and allowed the nose to drop. It then dived into the ground and was destroyed by fire in the Catterick area killing the pilot.
Pilot - 2Lt Alastair Ross RFC, aged 27. Buried Aberdeen (Allenvale) Cemetery, Aberdeenshire.
Alastair Ross was the eldest son of R R Rose, Aberdeen. He attended Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen then served an apprenticeship at the Ferryhill Foundry, Aberdeen. He then went to work for a company in Glasgow manufacturing sugar manufacturing machinery. He later spent time at Honolulu, Manila and Cuba where he became chief engineer on sugar plantations. He later moved to Canada and was elected as a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He had recently arrived in England to serve in the Royal Flying Corps. He held no Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate but would presumably have eventually qualified at Catterick had he not been killed.