On Wednesday, 4th April 1917 this No.15 Reserve Squadron, Royal Flying Corps aeroplane took off from Doncaster aerodrome and climbed to 500 feet. Suddenly it spun and dived into the ground on the aerodrome. A fire immediately broke out and the pilot was killed.
Pilot - 2Lt Alfred Ernest Venables RFC, aged 39. Buried Putney Vale Cemetery, London.
Alfred Venables was born on 17th June 1877 in London and was educated at Haileybury College. He worked as a solictor, married in 1905 and had two children in Putney prior to enlisting into the Royal Flying Corps in 1916
He was double the age of many trainee pilots of the era. He had been posted to No.15 Reserve Squadron at Doncaster just days earlier possibly having served as a ferry pilot with the Southern Aeroplane Repair Depot, Farnborough.
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