On 8th December 1916 this RNAS Flying School aeroplane skidded on soft earth as it landed at Redcar aerodrome breaking the undercarriage and propeller.
Pilot - FSL John Amy Piquet RNAS.
John Piquet was born on 27th April 1893 at St.Helier, Jersey. By 1913 he was working in the Merchant Navy. He enlisted into the RNAS on 21st May 1916 but then left England (probably as he returned to his native Jersey). he then returned to England and his commission was post-dated to 9th July 1916. He trained at RNAS Redcar Flying School between 29th July 1916 and 9th December 1916. He was awarded a Royal Aero Club aviators' certificate (Cert.No.4124) at Redcar on 8th December 1916. Curtiss JN-3 8392 crashed on the same date at Redcar and it may have been damaged on his certification flight. He was posted to RNAS Cranwell on 9th December 1916 then to Dover on 16th April 1917 where he received good assessments. Exactly what occurred over the next few months is unclear from his service records but these good assessments became the complete opposite. While at RNAS Manston he crashed two Bristol Scouts and refused to undertake flying orders given by his commanding officer, then handed in his resignation. His commission was terminated on 1st December 1917 and while it was considered that he transfer to the Royal Naval Reserve, The Admiralty later stated that his services were no longer required. He appears to have joined the Merchant Navy and became a steamship master in November 1919. He died in the Battle area of Kent, England in 1966.
Curtiss JN-3 8392 was built by Curtiss in Toronto, Canada and was the dual control prototype of this type of aircraft which first flew at Long Branch, Toronto on 14th July 1915. It was dismantled, packed and shipped to the UK where it arrived at AAP at Hendon for erection on 20th October 1915. It was then transferred to RNAS Chingford on 3rd November 1915 where it served for a short period before being sent to Fairey's for repair and conversion to a JN-3 (Improved) variant on 20th March 1916. On 28th August 1916 it found itself back at Hendon before being transferred to RNAS Redcar on 11th November 1916. During the delivery flight it crashed at Sleaford, it was repaired on site and continued the flight the next day via RNAS Killingholme and arrived at RNAS Redcar where it began service with the Flying School. Following a crash on 8th December 1916 it was repaired and returned to service and was involved in another more serious accident on 7th September 1917, both at Redcar.
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