On 18th May 1918 this No.2 School of Aerial Fighting and Gunnery aeroplane was put into a left hand turn but it was not fast and it stalled. It was also not flying high engine for the pilot to regain control and it spun into the ground near Marske seriously injuring him. The aeroplane was built by Ruston, Proctor & Co. Ltd at Lincoln and was not repaired after this accident.
Pilot - 2Lt Charles McIntyre French RAF. Injured.
Charles French was born on 12th February 1897 in British Columbia, Canada and was the son of Ben and Jenette French. His father worked for the Hudson Bay Company, Victoria, British Columbia. As a young man Charles studied dental surgery at Chicago College from 1915 to 1917. He appears to have enlisted for RFC service in Canada and undertaken some training there before sailing to England. He was awarded a commission on 21st January 1918 to the rank of 2Lt and transferred to the RAF when it formed on 1st April 1918. He was posted to No.4 (Auxillary) School of Aerial Gunnery on 1st May 1918 when then became No.2 School of Aerial Fighting and Gunnery on 6th May 1918. The injuries he sustained on 18th May 1918 seem to have taken him off flying duties and he later returned to Canada, relinquishing his commission on 22nd January 1919. He later resumed his education and qualified as a Doctor. He died in January 1974 at Vernon, British Columbia and is buried at Armstrong Cemetery, British Columbia.
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