On 21st December 1916 this RNAS Flying School aeroplane was taxying at Redcar aerodrome when it collided with Avro 504 3304 and Curtiss JN-4 3440. All three aeroplanes sustained damage.
Longhorn Pilot - Probationary F/O Cyril Randal Derington-Turner RNAS.
Cyril Derington-Turner was born in Marylebone, London on 30th May 1896. As a boy he attended the Westminster Abbey Choir School. His service with the RNAS begun on 17th September 1916 when he was granted the rank of Probationary Flight Officer. He was posted to RNAS Redcar on 28th October 1916. It was stated that in joining the RNAS he had found a way to avoid being conscripted into the Army but that he was not a wholly suitable candidate for a commission in the RNAS. The accident in which he was found to blame that occcured at Redcar on 21st December 1916 was thought to have been a deliberate act owing to him being seen laughing about it shortly afterwards. He was posted to Cranwell on 24th December 1916. Following an inquiry into the crash at Redcar on 21st December 1916 his commission was terminated on 5th January 1917. What happened to him for the final two years of the war is unclear.
Longhorn N5037 was built to contract 114826/16 by Brush E.E. Co. Ltd at Loughborough and was delivered to RNAS Redcar on 4th November 1916 where it was used by the Flying School. It was tested at
Redcar on 10th November 1916 and accepted by them. It suffered four accidents at Redcar and received repairs on site each time, the dates being 21st November 1916, 21st December 1916, 6th January 1917, and 22nd August 1917 from which the official records say it was not repaired. However, correspondance with a relation of an RNAS pilot, FSL Eric H P Bailey, Mr Jon Bailey gives much more information as Bailey's logbook is in the family and he flew N5037 twice on 18th October 1917 and once on 19th October 1917. It was possibly damaged again after this date because it was surveyed on 7th December 1917 and deleted for use as spares on 14th December 1917.
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