Airco DH.9 D1218 near Dalton on Tees.
On 24th November 1918 the two men on board this aircraft were part of No.49 Training Depot Station. Little is known about the accident other than it crashed while flying in fog killing both crew. The location of the crash site is not yet known. Other accounts of this incident put the crash location as being at or near Catterick aerodrome but I believe this is not correct. The death registrations of the two young men were registered in the Darlington district, while mainly containing parishes withing Durham at that date it also included the following parishes withing the North Riding of Yorkshire; Barton, Cleasby, Cliffe, Croft, Dalton, Eryholme, Girsby, Mansfield, Newton Morrell, Over Dinsdale and Stapleton. I would suggest the aircraft crashed withing this area which is the area immediately south of the River Tees. Dalton on Tees has been suggested elsewhere as being the location and this certainly would fit.
Pilot (Instructor) - Lt Malcolm William Henry Mackay RAF, aged 19, of Motherwell. Buriel Dalziel (Airbles) Cemetery, Lanarkshire (B.1383).
Passenger - Lt William Henry Halfpenny RAF, aged 32. Buried Liverpool (Anfield) Cemetery (IX/C.E.150).
Malcolm Mackay was born 17th February 1898 and was the son of Lt. Murdoch and Edith Mackay, of Motherwell. As a young man he attended his local Dalzeil Parish Church Boys' Brigade. He joined the Army at sixteen years old and served in France for thirteen months. He transferred to the RFC in 1915.
William Henry Halfpenny was born on 18 September 1886 and was the son of William and Mary Ann Halfpenny. Prior to the First World War he worked for Parr's Bank at Ashton-under-Lyne. In October 1914 he joined the Lancashire Fusiliers and later transferred to the RAF. He was married to Sadie Halfpenny, of Wallasey.