Two men died when their plane crashed at Port Meadow aerodrome in Oxford just 10 days before the end of the First World War.

Captain Lenox Arbuthnot, a 22-year-old experienced pilot, and his passenger, Second Lieutenant Albert Scholes, 21, were killed instantly when their powerful two-seater Bristol fighter hit the ground on November 1, 1918.

Research by Oxford historian Peter Smith shows that Captain Arbuthnot was carrying out a dangerous, unauthorised low-flying manoeuvre when tragedy struck.

He writes: “Witnesses reported that the pilot was taking risks he should not have done by flying low, sometimes very low.

“The undercarriage struck the ground hard coming out of a dive, breaking off a wheel and causing the aircraft to veer towards and hit a building, ripping off about 3ft of the right wing before climbing to 100ft and then diving into the ground. Both airmen were killed instantly.

“Such flying was acknowledged as dangerous, disruptive to local residents and was prohibited by the Air Ministry and local aerodrome standing orders.”

Captain Geoffrey Hughes, who was in charge of flying instruction at the airfield at the time, wrote in his diary of seeing two Bristol aircraft “stunting wildly” round the hangars.

He added: “Then for 10 minutes saw the worst and most nerve-wracking bit of flying I’ve ever seen as one Bristol dived at people on the aerodrome. Finally an awful crash ended the career of the pilot and passenger.”

A verdict of death by misadventure was recorded at the inquest, and the official Court of Inquiry ruled that the crash was caused by “an error of judgement on the part of the pilot”.

Mr Smith adds: “Both men had been through so much, only to perish needlessly so close to the Armistice, although they would not have known the Armistice was coming.”

The flight had been arranged so that Second Lieutenant Scholes, a telephony expert, could test wireless equipment, a relatively new technology enabling more effective communication between the ground and air crews flying over the frontline.

Lenox Stanley Arbuthnot was born in 1896 and joined the Royal Fusiliers as a private aged 19.

He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1916 and after being awarded his flying certificate, served with six different squadrons, including one in France. He later qualified as a flying instructor. When he joined the 21st Wing Wireless Telephony Flight at Port Meadow in October 1918, he had had more than 500 hours’ flying experience.

Albert Vincent Scholes, who joined the Royal Flying Corps aged 17 in 1915, served as a wireless operator in France.

He was awarded the Military Medal in 1916 for “efficiency in keeping in communication with an aeroplane while under heavy shellfire” during the last stages of the Battle of the Somme and its aftermath.

He was wounded in the chest in 1917 during the Battle of Arras when a shrapnel ball struck the bar of his medal and glanced off, entering his chest an inch above his heart. After hospital treatment he returned to France before being posted to Port Meadow in August 1918.

Captain Arbuthnot is buried in Wolvercote cemetery and Second Lieutenant Scholes in his home town of Huddersfield.

Port Meadow, an airfield since 1911, became a training aerodrome for the Royal Flying Corps in 1916, to meet the huge demands for new pilots.

Ten aircraft crashed on or near the site, with the loss of 14 lives. Eight of the dead are buried in Wolvercote cemetery.

Memorial for Port Meadow’s 14 casualties

Oxford Mail:  

Plans are afoot to create a memorial to the 14 airmen who died on or near Port Meadow airfield.

Local residents, landowners and historians have formed an action group to promote the project.

The idea is to have the memorial in place near the airfield site by 2018.

The group will meet over the coming months to consider the design of the memorial, planning issues and fundraising.

The airmen who died include three already featured in Memory Lane - Captain George Thomson, above, who died when his Sopwith fighter plane crashed in May 1918, and Captain Edward Norris and Air Mechanic Rhys Humphreys, whose Bristol fighter plunged to the ground after a catastrophic failure at 3,000ft in March 1918. 

Peter Smith, a member of the project group, of Arthur Street, Osney, who is researching First World War flying casualties at Port Meadow, would be pleased to hear from anyone with information about the airfield.

Call him on 01865 728883.