During the afternoon of Monday, 10th September 1917 this No.46 Training Squadron, Royal Flying Corps aeroplane was being flown in the Catterick area when it stalled, spun and dived into the ground near Bolton on Swale at 15.25hrs. One of the airmen flying in the aeroplane was killed in the accident while another sustained injuries. The pilot's service gives the location of his death as being Bolton on Swale.
Pilot (instructor) - 2Lt Thomas Russell Jarvie RFC, aged 26. Buried Carluke (Wilton) Cemetery, Lanarkshire.
Pilot (pupil) - 2Lt Stephen Wilkins RFC. Injured.
Thomas Jarvie was born on 26th April 1891 had worked in London prior to enlisting into the Army in 1914. He served in France in 1915 as a despatch rider, twice being wounded. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in April 1917 and was granted a commission in May 1917. His younger brother Pte Robert Gibson Jarvie, Cameron Highlanders, died on 27th August 1917 in hospital in London, England having been wounded in France in April 1917. Thomas had attended the funeral and burial just two weeks before he was buried in the same grave. I credit "Find a Grave" with the photograph of him shown above.
Stephen Wilkins was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on 12th March 1889. His service file states that he had been a member of the Pathfinder Motorcycle Club and Rear Commodore of Alexander Yacht Club 9probably prior to enlisting into the 1st Canadian Division of the Army. He had served in Egypt, possibly transferring to the Royal Flying Corps while in Eygpt. He was granted a commission in the Royal Flying Corps in late-1916. The injuries he sustained in September 1917 appear to have affected his ability to carry on his regular flying duties and while he transferred to the RAF on it's formation in April 1918 he then relinquished his commission on the account of ill health on 11th December 1918.