Caudron G.III 3867 at Scarborough.
On 14th September 1915 this aeroplane hit the ground and over turned whilst landing at Scarborough aerodrome. The pilot was unhurt and the aeroplane was later repaired. The aeroplane was part of the RNAS Scarborough Home Defence Flight. The aerodrome site was on the old racecourse, between Scarborough and East Ayton.
Pilot - FSL Siegfried Rickards Watkins RNAS.
Siegfried Richards Watkins was born in Dresden on 17th May 1887. He was a British Subject and initially served in the 1st County of London Yeomanry before transferring to the RNAS after gaining his Royal Aero Club aviators certificate at the Grahame-White School, Hendon on 5th July 1915 (Cert.No.1390). In 1916 he was elected to become a committee member of the Royal Aero Club of the UK and awarded the Air Force Cross on 1st January 1919 as F/Lt. He was prmoted to S/Ldr on 1st January 1924 and to W/Co on 1st January 1932. His postings included one to RAF Gosport on 20th September 1926, to HMS Courageous on 21st February 1928. He was Commanding Officer of 500 Squadron at Manston from March to July 1931, in March 1932 he was posted to command 2 Armament Training Camp at North Coastes and from February 1933 to May 1935 he was Commanding Officer of RAF Andover. He was placed on the retired list on 17th May 1935. He was also a sculptor in his spare time. His son Christopher Darton-Watkins was educated at Ampleforth College in Yorkshire, he left a career in film production to become an abstract artist.
Caudron G.III 3867 was built by Aeroplanes Caudron at Lyon, France and was purchased as new by Britain. It was delivered to R.N.A.S. Redcar Home Defence Flight on 29th July 1915 but was then transferred to R.N.A.S. Scarborough Home Defence Flight on 4th August 1915. It was tested and accepted on 8th August 1915 and carried out an Anti Zeppelin Patrol (AZP) on 10th August with FSL Roche at the controls. It transferred to R.N.A.S. Atwick Home Defence Flight on 11th August 1915 then moved back to R.N.A.S. Scarborough Home Defence Flight on 10th September 1915. Here it suffered a landing accident on 14th September 1915 but no record of where it was repaired exists. It was back in service at R.N.A.S. Redcar on 21st October 1915 and later suffered a more serious accident on 7th September 1916 at Redcar that saw a Cat.W damage assessment and it was deleted on 19th September 1916.