Sopwith Camel B7457 near Tadcaster / Bramham Moor aerodrome.

On 7th December 1918 this aircraft was being flown from No.34 Training Depot Station at Scampton to Tadcaster aerodrome to deliver the aircraft to Tadcaster. The aircraft left Scampton at 11.55hrs though much of the flight was flown in misty conditions the pilot reached within a mile of Tadcaster aerodrome. He was then seen to circle the area a number of times in the fog, presumably trying to either locate the aerodrome or a place to force land having found himself lost. The aircraft then made a turn which became steeper and the right wing dropped, the aircraft then dived for a short distance before the pilot partly regained control but it then dived again and struck the ground. He was sadly killed. His casualty card held by the RAF Museum states that he was a pupil pilot. In a newspaper report to a crash involving Sopwith Camel E7149 on 10th December 1918 it makes reference to this earlier one and says it both aircraft crashed within a mile of each other. E7149 crashed nearer Towton suggesting that B7457 crashed on the Towton side of Tadcaster.

Pilot - 2nd Lt David Ewan McConnell RAF, aged 20, of Steyning, Sussex. Buried Steep Churchyard, Hampshire.