On Saturday, 17th August 1918 this No.2 Fighting School aeroplane was being flown on a training flight around the area of Marske aerodrome and at 10.45hrs as it was coming into land the pilot made a turn but allowed the speed to decrease. It stalled, and being at a low height it spun into the ground where-upon the wreckage caught fire. Sadly both the crew died of their injuries; one shortly after the crash and the other in hospital the following day.
Pilot - Sgt Thomas Sprowell Robinson RAF (26390), aged 19. Died 18th August 1918. Buried Poulton-le-Fylde Cemetery, Lancashire.
Pilot / Passenger (Pupil) - Flt Cadet Henry Warburton Williams RAF. Buried Great Crosby (St.Luke) Churchyard, Lancashire.
Thomas Robinson was born on 20th March 1899. His service record is very limited and may not be correct. He served in the army with the Lancashire Fusiliers before transferring to the RFC and it listed him posted to No.2 Fighting School days before his death but does not list is death. It does give a posting in January 1919 when he had been dead for months.
Henry Williams was born on 31st October 1899 in Liverpool. He worked as a bank clerk from March 1916 to December 1917, then enlisted into the Royal Flying Corps. He became an RFC Cadet in December 1917. In March 1918 he was granted a commission to the rank of of Second Lieut but this was subsequently cancelled. In April 1918 he transferred to the RAF on it's formation. His service file does not state when he was posted to Marske and his last posting is dated 29th June 1918 when he was posted to 204 TDS.
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