1918 aircraft crash near Wynols Hill, - Joynes family (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Tuesday, November 10, 2015, 02:54 (3295 days ago) @ Daffodil

Hi again Daffodil, how great it is to read this thread again after my long break from this great forum, this was the last thread I worked on and a favourite subject of mine, old aeroplanes. I'm really pleased you've found out so much more information, how special to have a WW1 flier in your family tree !! Also nice to see I wasn't too far off the mark with my attempts to identify the origins of the mystery aircraft.

I suspect you may know of this public tree on Ancestry for Frank Joynes, which helpfully displays the photo of the crashed plane. What a crash it was !, Frank was lucky to escape with his life I think. Hopefully this link to the tree and photo will work for all users, not just Ancestry subscribers ?
http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/79014485/person/40393673151
http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/79014485/person/40393673151/media/15fd140a-70b2-4f35-b...

It's hard to see what's left of the plane after it clearly flipped onto it's back. I assume the photo was taken after the Ground crew "erks" had started recovering it for possible repair/salvage, judging by a complete lack of main wings and possibly engine too (or is it below the inverted undercarriage ? - more likely it was probably torn off during the crash and has already been removed. It's odd that the rear fuselage is uncovered, it should be fabric-covered, but if it caught fire surely the wooden framework would have gone-up too ?. Ah well, main thing is Frank survived to tell the tale, which may have been a tricky one to tell in front of his C.O. !
Perhaps hard to believe nowadays but in it's day the D.H.9 wasn't a "light" aircraft as the book suggests, but an advanced 2 seat bomber, typical of late WW1 design practice. The Nine initially struggled with it's poor engine, which might explain the crash on take-off, always a critical time especially on a rough field. It seems odd to think that such a poor type would be used for Instructing, but the RAF was cash-strapped after the war and had to make-do. Hopefully it was the squadron "hack", for experienced pilots only ?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/De_Havilland_Airco_DH9_REJS.jpg

Finally, altho you wern't involved at the time, I suspect you know that Frank Jaynes and Amos Brown are mentioned within this thread about Broadwell Memorial hall, they were Trustees.
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=43352

Thanks again for an interesting query,
atb J

PS Thanks Harry Brook for looking-up Frank's Service Records. Harry, do you recall if they give any clues as to where he had flown the aircraft from, such as naming the Squadron or Training Unit he was serving with at the time, please ?. Thanks.