Airco DH.9 C1237 near Catterick.
On 13th August 1918 this No.49 Training Depot Station aeroplane was being flown on an early morning flight, which was presumably a training flight in the area around Catterick, where the pilot was based. At 04.30hrs the pilot made a flat turn at low height, the flying speed decreased causing it to stall and it dived into the ground. The aeroplane was damaged and the pilot was slightly injured. Where this occurred is not known, presumably in the Catterick area.
Pilot - Flt Cdt Norman Silverwood Ion RAF. Injured.
Norman Ion was born on 3rd April 1899 and his family were from Kendal, then Westmorland. He worked as a solicitor's clerk in Kendal from January 1915 to June 1916 but what he did then is unclear though he probably enlisted for Army service. He the appears to have enlisted for Royal Flying Corps service in November 1917. The date he was posted to No.49 T.D.S. or its earlier incarnation of a training squadron. He appears to have been out of any hospital by the end of August 1918 and was back with No.49 T.D.S. on 5th October 1918. He later received a commission on 13th February 1919. When he left the RAF is not known. He returned to Kendal and married there in 1924. He died in 1966 in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.