Avro 504 D6319 in the Driffield area.
During the morning of Tuesday, 3rd September 1918 a number of No.21 Training Depot Station aeroplanes were flown in the Driffield area where they undertook an air fighting training exercise. Unfortunately a collision occurred in the air between two aeroplanes and this resulted in the pilot of D6319 being killed when his aeroplane crashed into a cornfield near Driffield and catching fire. The exact events are not fully recorded but it appears that Avro 504 D6319 piloted by Flight Cadet Denton and second crewed by Capt Jens Fredrick Larson (with a pupil) were flying together undertaking the air fighting exercise when an unidentified third aeroplane made a dummy attack on these two and came too close to them. The pilot of D6319 and Capt Larson attempted to take evasive action to avoid a collision with the third but in doing so they collided with each other. The identity of Captain Larson's aeroplane is not known. Exactly where D6319 crashed is not known though newspaper reports that recount the pilot's inquest state it was near the aerodrome at Driffield; called Eastburn at that time and that his death was registered in the Driffield district. Capt Larson probably made a safe landing back at Eastburn aerodrome.
Pilot - Flt Cadet Joseph Edward Denton RAF, aged 18. Buried Pudsey Cemetery, Yorkshire (F.C.21).
Joseph Denton was born on 11th December 1899 in Prescot but later moved to Pudsey, Leeds, Yorkshire with his family. As a young man he worked as a reporter for the Yorkshire Evening Post for three years from August 1914 to August 1917. He then enlisted into the Royal Flying Corps and begun pilot training. He transferred to the RAF when it formed on 1st April 1918, he was then posted to 27 Training Squadron on 1st June 1918 and then to No.21 Training Depot Station on 27th July 1918.
