Avro 504 D6223 at Whitley Bridge.
On 5th August 1918 the pilot of this No.38 Training Depot Station aeroplane was making his third solo flight with orders to fly for an hour. He climbed to around 4,000 feet but entered cloud and when he descended he became lost. The aeroplane later crashed near Whitley Bridge a hour and fifty minutes after taking off from Tadcaster. It was undetermined how the crash had occurred. The pilot was rescued and taken to Doncaster Infirmary but died on 8th August 1918. The pilot may have been attempting a forced landing at the time of the crash; many of these First World War era crashes occurred when aeroplanes stalled while making low level turns at slow speed.
Pilot - Flt Cadet David Gibbs RAF, aged 20. Died 8th August 1918. Buried Rugby (Clifton Road) Cemetery, Warwickshire.
David Gibbs was born on 23rd March 1898 at Sparkbrook, Birmingham and as a young man worked as a bank clerk in Coventry until June 1916. He initially served in The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps as a Cadet in November 1917. He transferred to the newly formed RAF on 1st April 1918 and was posted to No.68 Training Squadron on 20th April 1918. No.68 Training Squadron later disbanded and merged with No.14 Training Squadron to become No.38 Training Depot Station.