On 6th January 1917 this RNAS Flying School aeroplane's undercarriage collapsed on landing at Redcar aerodrome.
Pilot - Probabtionary F/O William John Coast RNAS.
William Coast was born on 25th December 1892. He enlisted for RNAS service and was granted a commission on 17th September 1916. He was posted to RNAS Redcar Flying School on 18th October 1916. On 14th January 1917 he received an assessment from his commanding officer that stated he "recommended to be discharged, as he will never make a pilot. Not recommended for either observer, armament officer or ground duties". His commission was terminated on 23rd January 1917 and that was that.
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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