Vickers FB.9 5288 near Catterick.

On Thursday, 1st March 1917 this No.6 Reserve Squadron, Royal Flying Corps aeroplane was flown by an instructor and a pupil in the Catterick area. The instructor allowed the pupil to take control of the aeroplane after taking off from Catterick but this appears to have been contrary to instructions. While flying at around a hundred feet above the ground the aeroplane lost flying speed and stalled. There was not enough to height to regain control vikersand it crashed in the Catterick area killing one and injuring the other.

Pilot (pupil) - 2Lt John Alfred Hare RFC, aged 21. Buried Wisbech (Mount Pleasant) Cemetery, Cambridgeshire.

Pilot (instructor) - Lt Walter Edward Birch RFC. Injured.

John Hare had been a Boy Scout then worked for a chemist in Wisbech prior to enlisting into the Army. He initially served in the Northamptonshire Yeomanry before being granted a commission in the Suffolk Regiment. He appears to have transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in August 1916.

Walter Birch was born on 3rd February 1890 and had earlier served in the South Lancashire Regiment. He appears to have transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in early 1916. He would relinquish his commission on account of ill health on 19th April 1919.

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