On the 15th of April 1917 a Maurice Farman Longhorn took off from Redcar, it was to be the
pilots
first solo cross country flight. The pilot became disorientated in some snow clouds whilst
flying over the Moors. He crashed upside down at 12.05hrs near Egton, on what is known locally
as Castle Hill. The pilot was carried by locals on a farm gate to nearby High Burrows
Farm where he died soon after. He was buried in London two days later with full military honours. The aircraft, although
probably badly damaged by todays standards, was in the main recovered and rebuilt. It was then returned to Redcar's flying
school where it served until July 1917 when it was again involved in another mishap. Although not with fatal results, the aircraft
was written off on the 18th of September 1917 in a crash at Redcar.
The pilot of this aircraft which crashed near Egton was:
Pilot - Probationary F/O Francis Holt Yates Titcomb RNAS, aged 19, buried Brompton Road Cemetery, London.
He was born in March 1898 at St. Ives, Cornwall, the only son of Mr and Mrs W H Y Titcomb, of Clifton, Bristol.
His parents were both artists. They all moved to Dusseldorf, Germany in 1905 but returned to
England in 1909
where the young Francis Yates Titcomb attended college until 1916. He was a talented violinist but his main interest was in aeronautics.
He won a Science Scholarship at Caius
College, Cambridge but joined the Royal Naval Air Squadron as a Probationary Flying Officer.
After five weeks of instruction at Crystal Palace he went to the Royal Naval Air Service
Flying Training airfield at Redcar for flying instruction where he did very well. It was during his first solo that he lost his life.
A painting of him, done by his father before his death, hangs in Clifton College Chapel, Bristol, named "Conservet Corpus Tuum Et
Animan Tuam" or "The Soldiers Communion". His grandfather was the late Bishop Titcomb, the first Bishop of Rangoon, Burmah.
In 1929 Mr John Kenneth Foster J.P. of Egton Manor arranged for a cross to be erected at the site.
Although not visible in my photograph it is inscribed "KF 1929". It was built from local Egton stone by Mr R Harrison of Ashley House,
Glaisdale
and the cross itself was sculpted by Mr J W Hill of Whitby. Swinsty Cross, as it is known, stands close to the spot where the Longhorn
crashed.
The crash site was excavated in 1980 by a Mr G. Terry, who recovered a spar which was stamped ""BEE Co."". The present location of
this spar is unknown.
I would welcome more any info on this crash that anyone may have.