Deseronto Archives

On this day in 1918 Arthur Brace Spooner was killed in a flying accident while in training as a cadet at the Royal Air Force’s 42nd Wing at Deseronto. He had joined the Royal Flying Corps on January 10th, 1918 in Winnipeg and was appointed to the Corps in Toronto on January 14th with the regimental number 154175. He was five feet six inches tall and had previously been working as a telegrapher.His accident happened on the morning of August 28th. Spooner had been sent up to practise spinning in aircraft C-1044. He tried to come out of a nose dive over a farm belonging to the McAlpine family of Tyendinaga (they owned property on Lot 28, Concession 1 in 1911). Mr Michael McAlpine described the accident at a Court of Inquiry held the same day:

2nd Witness Mr. M. McAlpin, Civilian, states:-

I saw the machine coming down in a nose dive. It then flattened out and the pilot put on his engine and flew over the barns at about 100 feet, his right wing struck an apple tree, the fuselage going on. I rushed over to the accident and had to undo the pilots belt in order to extricate him. He was already dead.

Spooner was born on May 28th, 1892, the son of William and Mary Spooner of Moosomin, Saskatchewan. He was buried in Moosomin’s South Side Cemetery.

 

James McMillan Hacker died in a crash at Camp Rathbun near Deseronto on this day in 1918. He had joined the Royal Flying Corps in Toronto on September 10th, 1917 with the regimental number 74813. There was an interruption in his service in January 1918 when he was thought to have deserted, but he returned at the end of the month and was reinstated. He was in training as a cadet with 90 Canadian Training Squadron.

Hacker was born in Prince Edward Island on November 4th, 1885, the son of Thomas Henry Hacker and Sarah (née McMillan). His parents had both died by the time he enlisted: he gave his sister, Louise, as his next of kin. She was living in Summerside, PEI. Hacker was five feet five and three quarter inches tall. He had been a student at Macdonald Agricultural College at McGill University in Montreal between 1912 and 1916.

The Court of Inquiry into Hacker’s crash, held the next day, found that he had fallen out of aircraft C-1324 while practising spins. Here is the evidence from Second Lieutenant F.R. Winter:

2nd. Witness. 2/Lieut. F.R. Winter, 90 C.T.S. R.A.F.

States:- I watched Cadet Hacker do one turn of a spin, in machine C-1324, he came out and dove for about 500 ft. straight down and went past the vertical and went on his back and fell out of the machine from a height of approximately 2500 feet. The machine then glided down and landed upside down.

[signed] F.R. Winter Lieut

The Court found that Hacker had died because his seat belt had somehow become unfastened. It recommended that a new type of belt be used in future.

James was buried in the Summerside People’s Cemetery in Prince Edward Island.

On this day in 1918 Frank (Francis) Russell Cook died in a fall from an aircraft near Napanee, while in training with 81 C.T.S. at Camp Rathbun. The RAF report notes that the aircraft was a Curtiss JN-4, number C189. The Court of Inquiry took evidence from an eyewitness, R. H. McCreer of Napanee:

1st Witness

R.H.McCreer, Farmer, R.R.No. 5 Napanee, states:-

I saw an aeroplane manoeuvering over my farm about 7.20 a.m. today. I saw a man fall out of the machine and the machine then flew level for about a mile with the engine stopped and then crashed.

The Court of Inquiry found that Cook’s seatbelt had become unfastened during the flight, causing him to fall while manoeuvering at a height of between 3,000 and 4,000 feet.

Cook was born on September 17th, 1898 in Clanwilliam, Manitoba, the son of Andrew Cook and Elizabeth (née Rowat). He had been working as a drug store clerk in Minnedosa, Manitoba when he joined the Royal Flying Corps in Winnipeg on January 3rd, 1918. Four days later he was officially appointed to the Corps in Toronto with the regimental number 153929. He was described as five feet eight and a half inches tall, with a fair complexion, light brown hair and blue eyes.

Frank was buried in Clanwilliam United Church Cemetery.

Harry Frank Allardice died in Deseronto at 9pm on this day in 1918 as a result of the same accident which killed Lieutenant Edward Lionel Morley. Allardice had suffered a fractured skull in the crash and died 34 hours later, according to his death registration.

The Intelligencer, Belleville’s newspaper, reported the crash on the day that Allardice died:

Fatal Aeroplane Accident at Deseronto

DESERONTO, July 26.- Second Lieut. E. L. Morley was killed and Cadet H. F. Allardince was seriously injured in a flying accident at 11.30 a.m. to-day near Camp Rathbun. Second Lieut. Morley was a son of Edward Morley, 169 Ridout street south, London, Ont. Cadet Allardice was married, and his wife lives at 52 Gloucester street, Toronto.

Allardice was born in Fulham, London, England on May 24th, 1888, the son of Joseph Allardice and Emily (née Foster). He came to Canada on the SS Lake Champlain on June 30th, 1907, heading for Wadena, Saskatchewan. He worked as a superintendent for the Barnett McQueen Company in Fort William (Thunder Bay) from 1908 to 1912. He married Hilda Powell Chipman in Port Arthur on December 30th, 1912 and the couple then moved to Ottawa, where Allardice worked as manager of the Silicate Brick Company. They had two sons, Francis Joseph who died at the age of two in 1916 of a fractured skull and Donald Clair, who was born on May 3rd, 1917.

Harry signed up on January 3rd, 1918 in Toronto, with the regimental number 153797. He was five feet eight and a half inches tall. He gave his home address as 216 Waverly Street, Ottawa. The accident which killed him was his first flight with 82 Canadian Training Squadron.

Allardice was buried in Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa, in the same plot as his son.