S.E.5a E5880 near Tadcaster aerodrome.
During the morning of Saturday, 26th October 1918 this No.38 Training Depot Station aeroplane was flying in the Tadcaster area, probably close to Tadcaster aerodrome, when the pilot put it into a dive at 3,000 feet. The pilot pulled out of the dive but the forces exerted on the airframe overstrained the wings and the starboard top plane broke away. He lost control, it then dived into the ground in the Tadcaster area at 07.20hrs and he was killed. His death was registered in the Wetherby District, in which the aerodrome partly sat.
Pilot - 2Lt Charles Spurgeon Theobald RAF (237337), aged 26. Buried Tadcaster Cemetery, Yorkshire (B4.G.24).
Charles Theobald was born on 18th April 1892 in Chickney, Saskatchewan, Canada and was the son of Thomas Henry and Theobald. The family later moved to Toronto, Ontario though he still worked in farming. He enlisted for army service in March 1916 and appears to have left for England in July 1916 though with which regiment he was with is unclear. 123rd Battalion and later 3rd Battalion are mentioned in contempory documents but the regiment is not stated. He served in France for a time before being posted back to England. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps around March 1918 as a Flight Cadet and then transferred to the RAF on 1st April 1918 when it formed and the RFC folded. He was later posted to No.41 Training Squadron at Doncaster on 6th July 1918 and then to No.38 Training Depot Station on 24th July 1918. It appears that his rank of Flight Cadet was changed to being granted a temporary commission as Acting 2nd Lt after his death but back dated to 25th October 1918 (the day before his death). His brother Pte Joseph Theobald was killed during the First World War.
