On 16th December 1936 this No.9 Flying Training School aircraft stalled on landing at Thornaby airfield, the lower wing hit the ground and the aircraft tipped up onto the nose.

Pilot - Acting P/O George Evelyn Thompson RAF (39215).

George Evelyn Thompson was born in Manchester. He received a short service commission on 19th October 1936 to the rank of Acting P/O on probation and was posted to 9 FTS at Thornaby on 31st October 1936. After this date the assumption is made that he rose to F/O before WW2 and later rose F/Lt on 3rd September 1940. He was promoted to S/Ldr (temp) on 1st December 1941. On 11th January 1944 (with effect of 24th August 1940) he transferred to the Reserve under the conditions of his Commission. He sadly died on active service on 12th March 1944 when Oxford MP458 in which he was flying caught fire in the air, one other airman in the aircraft managed to bail out and survived. S/Ldr Thompson did not get out of the aircraft before it crashed in the area between Fulwell and Westbury, Northamptonshire. He was probably instructing at either 20 (P)AFU or 1538 BAT Flight at the time. He is buried in Botley Cemetery, Oxford and was twenty nine years old. I thank his daughter Mrs Sandra Thompson Sebastian for contacting me in May 2012 and for the additional information she was kind enough to provide this account.