On 10th May 1918 this No.2 School of Aerial Fighting and Gunnery aeroplane hit telegraph wires while on the approach to land at Marske aerodrome and crashed injuring the pilot and destroying the aeroplane.
Pilot - Lt Charles Kingsley Crocker RAF. Injured.
Charles Crocker was born on 13th November 1893 in Nova Scotia and as a young man attended the Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia between 1911 and 1914. When he enlisted for military service he was married and living at Port Maitland, Nova Scotia. Whether he undertook army service prior to enlisting into the Royal Flying Corps is unclear but he enlisted into the RFC as a Canadian Cadet in January 1918. He undertook training at No.3 Training Depot Station from February 1918 and transferred to the newly created RAF on 1st April 1918. On 12th April 1918 he was posted to Marske to No.4 (Auxillary) School of Aerial Fighting and Gunnery on 26th April 1918. Injuries sustained on 10th May 1918 saw him off duty until 11th September 1918 but apparently with drawn from flying duties as he was then posted to the School of Technical Training. He must have sustained injuries in this accident in May 1918 from which he did not fully recover as he relinquished his commission on the grounds of ill health on 8th January 1919. He returned to Nova Scotia and died on 24th December 1947. His date of birth on his service file is recorded as being 13th November 1893 where as the entry on "Find A Grave" states his date of birth to have been 13th November 1893. To attend university in 1911 I would learn toward 1893 being his year of birth being correct.
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