Wartime flying ace and his pupil honored on centenary of fatal crash at RAF Digby

Flying instructor George Hayward, 29, and probationary pilot officer Charles Brealey, 27, were fatally injured when the Avro 504 biplane came down near RAF Digby, the training school airfield where they were based.

Now the airmen have been given a permanent memorial at RAF Digby, where their families gathered on the centenary of the ill-fated flight.

They were brought together after one of George’s grandsons, Nick Hayward, traced and contacted relatives of Charles using newspaper archives and electoral records.

Mr Hayward said: “We wanted to commemorate the centenary in some way so we got in touch with RAF Digby and they invited our family to the base. But we were aware there were two families bereaved as a result of this tragic accident, so it was an honour for us to meet Charles Brealey's family for the first time."

Specially framed photographs of the pair were presented to the RAF station by family members. The pictures will go on display among other historic exhibits in a Second World War operations room which now houses a museum about the history of RAF Digby.

The presentation followed an illustrated talk in the RAF Digby cinema about the officers' military service. The building, one of the last surviving parts of the original airfield, was used as an officers’ mess in the 1920s.

Lucille Baker, a great niece of Charles, who lives in Grantham, said: "We can all be proud that RAF Digby wanted to commemorate the 100th anniversary of this tragic event and remember George and Charles."

Engine failure was blamed for the accident at Metheringham Heath, about two miles from Digby, on August 15, 1924, details of which were reported by the Sleaford Standard a week later.

In a page 10 story headlined “Two Digby Airmen Killed”, it reported how one eyewitness told an inquest he had been watching the Avro 504 for some time and noticed “nothing irregular” in its flying. The retired RAF officer who was staying nearby said the plane was making slow progress against the wind when it stalled at about 150ft, dropped horizontally then disappeared behind a clump of trees.

He dashed to the scene and got the airmen out of the plane. Both men were alive although Charles was unconscious. George was able to speak and asked what had happened.

The coroner recorded an accidental verdict saying it was “one of those unavoidable accidents” and no blame could be attached to anyone.

Both officers left widows with small children. George, from Lewisham, south London, served as a second lieutenant in the Royal West Kent Regiment on the Western Front before becoming an observer and rear gunner in the Royal Flying Corps, forerunner to the RAF, in mid 1917.

He joined the RFC's 22 Squadron - nicknamed the Biff Boys because of their two seater Bristol Fighter biplanes - and was awarded the Military Cross for “conspicuous gallantry” in the skies over northern France. He was the third highest scoring observer of the war, shooting down 24 enemy aircraft between November 1917 and April 1918.

He remained with the air force after the war and qualified as a pilot and then as a flying instructor with the RAF's No 2 Training Flying School, which moved to Digby from RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire, just weeks before the accident.

Charles, from Tottenham, north London, saw action in the Royal Navy on board the battleship Monarch at the 1916 Battle of Jutland and ended the war as a leading signaller. He joined the Royal Navy at just 15 and transferred to the RAF in May 1918.

Avro 504s were fitted with dual controls and were used to train pilots across the world for more than two decades. But training accidents were common. The casualty rate during training in the mid 1920s was one in seven.

Flight Lieutenant Colin Dobinson, who heads the operations room museum at RAF Digby, co-ordinated the families' visit. He said: "It was very exciting for us that these two families were meeting at Digby for the first time. We are always very keen to welcome former personnel who have served at Digby or anyone who has connections with its history."