On this day in 1918 Cadet Carl August Bender was killed in a flying accident near Deseronto. The Royal Air Force casualty card records the following details:
…Date of Casualty: 10.6.18
Where occurred: Canada East of Camp Rathbun Aero
Type of Machine: Curtiss JN4 C1004
Nature and Cause of Accident: Failure to come out of spin
Result of Accident: Killed
Bender, a bank clerk, enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in Winnipeg on November 17th, 1917 with a regimental number of 153630. He was five feet seven inches tall, with a medium complexion, light brown hair and blue eyes. He was officially appointed to the Corps in Toronto on December 14th.
Bender was born in Montmagny, Quebec on May 28th, 1894, the son of Eugene Bender and Kate (née Forrest). By 1911 the family had moved to Winnipeg. At the time of his death Carl was in training with 81 Canadian Training Squadron, part of the Deseronto Wing at Camp Rathbun.
At the Court of Inquiry convened on June 11th to investigate the accident, 2nd Lieutenant E. P. Cavanagh reported that:
Detail of file Attorney General 1918 file RG4-32/1334 at the Archives of Ontario
About 4 p.m. on 12-6-18 I sent No.154630 Cadet Bender C.A. up in machine C-1004 to spin. I gave him instructions to go to 4000 feet before spinning. This Cadet had been taken up by myself in the morning and had been spun twice by me, and then had spun the machine twice with the instructor in it and came out of it by himself, thereby satisfying me that he was quite able to spin. Before sending this Cadet up I examined the machine and found all in good order.
Carl was buried in the Roman Catholic section of the Deseronto Cemetery.
Deseronto Archives 
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