In correction of previous
Accounts, is the report
Of a Sub–Lieutenant,
Of the Royal Naval Reserve;
Mr Petchell Burt Murray -
From Worsley Manchester,
And his unfortunate death.
In September having joined,
The Flying Corps Naval wing,
Sub - Lieutenant Murray,
Became a pupil at the Upavon
Central Flying School.
In training he had been
Seen to have remarkable
Proficiency, by limited experience.
On 5 November, this officer
Was sent up by his Instructor,
Making an early morning flight.
The weather was at first clear.
But while flying, a dense fog
Formed - making for anxieties.
Such poor conditions would
Create a dangerous descent.
On Carlton Down, a shepherd,
Looking after his flock of sheep,
Stood within the shroud of fog.
Came the noise of an aircraft,
Within the stillness of that mist,
The eerie drone of that machine,
Surrounded the watching shepherd.
Looking about, he saw a break
In the grounded cloud - with
The swift movement of the plane -
Possibly the pilot was confused,
Lost as where to land - the noise
Moved on. The shepherd seeing
To his flock, soon after heard,
The noise of a deathly crash.
It was some time before the mist
Dispersed revealing craft and pilot.
Lieutenant Murray was found, quite still
Strapped in the body, of the craft,
His neck had been neatly broken.
The aircraft nose was embedded,
At a depth in the ground,
leading
To the probability that he had
Been unable to regulate a descent.
The ground being hidden by fog
Upon his fall of 100 mph rate.
The verdict was accidental death.
In a tribute, the coroner valued
Such services of British Aviators.
Lieutenant Murray, in this war,
Had given his life for his country -
As if he had died in the trenches;
The Lieutenant was 20 years old.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1914. Naval Airman Killed
- Flight in a Fog. The Daily Telegraph. [online] 6 Nov. p.5.
Col.5. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11208699/Daily-Telegraph-November-6-1914.html
[Accessed: 6 November 2014].
Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 6 November 2014).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered
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