In April 1917 this brand new aeroplane was due to be flown from the factory at Coventry to be delivered to the Royal Flying Corps' Aircraft Acceptance Park and Depot at Ripon (on the Racecourse). The pilot collected it from the factory and following these orders set out on the morning of Wednesday, 11th April 1917. Navigation in that era was pretty limited and would have been as basic as having a map on his knee to follow obvious landmarks such as roads and railway lines. On the flight north he flew into a snowstorm and ended up following the wrong railway line. While trying to work out where he was one of the aeroplane's bracing wires broke so he had to land. It then transpired he was at Preston. He wrote a letter to his family on Saturday, 14th April 1917 while at the Bull and Royal Hotel which remarkably still exists and this gives far more information about the events prior to the eventual accident that would otherwise be known. He must have posted the letter soon after writing it and clearly before he set out the next day. He stated that he initially had to wait for a part to be delivered to repair the wire. His letter suggests that the part arrived and it was repaired by Saturday but the weather was then too bad to take off so he was waiting until Sunday to take off. In his letter he spoke the bordom waiting at Preston and he must have then posted the letter soon after completing it. It would appear that the weather was less than prefect when he took off from Preston on Sunday, 15th April 1917 and headed east towards Ripon. Having reached Knaresborough he again appears to have got lost. He was seen to circle the area for some time before landing in a field at Crag Top to check where he was. With the help of local children he then turned the aeroplane around and then attempted to take off, unfortunately the aeroplane's wheels clipped a hedge, it flew low across the next field but then struck a tree on top of the crag, the pilot lost control and went over the cliff and down into the River Nidd below, in the region of "Chappie Dam". While the water level was reasonably low the impact threw out the pilot and when help arrived he could not be found. Over the coming days various searches were carried out to attempt to locate the pilot's body. His widow travelled from Scotland to Knaresborough and stayed locally to help with the search. Police and locals dragged the water but nothing was found. His wife stayed in the area and continued to search the river. It took until 5th May 1917 when she then found his body in the river near Birkham Wood, a quarter of mile from where the aeroplane crashed.
Pilot - Lt David Stevens Gibson-Turnbull RFC, aged 26. Buried Edinburgh (Dean or Western) Cemetery, Edinburgh.
David Gibson-Turnbull was born on 7th September 1890 in Edinburgh and was the son of solictor. He married in early 1914 then emigrated to Australia but when war was declared he returned to Scotland and enlisted into and was granted a commission in the Black Watch. In March 1916 transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, he served in France with No.3 Squadron but soon returned to England to train as a pilot. He then returned to France and flew operationally with No.10 Squadron. He then returned to England and took a role as a ferry pilot with the Directorate of Aircraft Equipment for the Air Ministry. While buried in Edinburgh, he is also commemorated by a memorial in St John the Baptist Church, Knaresborough. I credit ""greenhowards.org.uk" with the photograph of him shown here which is also where the letter he wrote has been published to.