Source: File: 2nd Lt Thomas
Mann. Wyrleyblog, Local History for Great Wyrley and Surrounding Areas. 'Run':
The Ryecroft Plane Crash, 1917. Available at: <https://wyrleyblog.wordpress.com/walsall/tales-from-the-walsall-coroner/run-the-ryecroft-plane-crash-1917/>
[Accessed 15 April 2017]
In the county of Shropshire,
2nd Lieutenant Thomas Mann
Stationed at Ternhill
airfield,
Finished a hearty breakfast.
The morning fine, as into
air
Mann climbed and headed
Into the flight for Solihull.
Time 10.15 a.m.; his precise
Destination was to be west
Midlands, Castle Bromwich.
Likely as all pilots enjoyed,
Mann settled into the ride
Above English countryside -
A world away from the war.
Mann, a member of the 43rd
Royal Flying Corps Squadron,
Lifted Avro 504 to 4000 feet
For some time, until thick
Mist of clouds enforced him
To lower altitude - steering
To 500 feet above a town.
Daughter and mother sat
In their home of Brewer
Street Cottages, Ryecroft -
In the Walsall area - they
Chatted over tea to amuse
The granddaughter Edna.
Frances Ann North smiled.
Known as Fanny aged 60,
Was proud of her daughter
Louisa, whose only child
Edna was ten months old -
The girl's father Arthur
Vass
Was away fighting in war.
Over Walsall the day began.
People about on business
heard the sounds of aircraft
From the skies. This was
Common enough, but not
So much as to not attract
Attention from the people on
The ground, who looked up.
Residents of Mill Street
Like Kate Beebee at 115,
And the Royal exchange
Licensee stepped outside.
Morning progressed onto
11 a.m. with the sound
Of a biplane over head.
Less that a mile away at No.
5 Brewer Street Cottages,
Louisa Vass and her mother
Frances also heard sounds
Of the aeroplane - not usual
To hear them passing, but
This one remained stationery.
Leaving Edna playing, the
Two women went outside
There was indeed a plane.
From the garden they saw
The craft circling, for some
Five minutes - Louisa went
Inside to check on her baby.
It was still a novelty to see
Aircraft. In her youth
Frances
Had never conceived how
Wood and engine might carry
A man into the sky - Louisa
Reappeared holding Edna
And pointed up to the sky.
'Look Edna, that is a plane.
Can you see?' Back on Mill
Street others also watched -
Licensee Thomas Deakin
Began to think the pilot
Was in some kind of trouble;
The engine made a stutter.
Kate Beebee had paused
Watching sky, believing
How the pilot was looking
To land - she traced out
His circling, which was
Coming closer - pilot Mann,
In the avro, was worrying.
The engine had lost power
-
Mann had tried to see open
Country, but he was above
Walsall town - the avro, then
At 100 feet, fell like a
stone
And he could not avoid the
Descent to lose all control.
Kate Beebee gasped with
Disbelief, hand on mouth,
As the biplane came towards
Her - she saw the pilot in
the
Seat. He just skimmed the top
Of her house - in seconds
Mann waved frantically.
Shouting 'get out of the
way!'
On the ground at Brewer
Street someone shouted, 'run!'
The two women and baby
Watching had no time -
Lousia
Could not even scream as
Nose of the plane jabbed her.
With Edna thrown from her
Arms, Louisa fell instantly.
The craft was lodged at the
Gardens edge in a smoking,
Broken heap - Louisa came
Out of the stunned moment
And stood - Edna lay away
From the plane on the path.
Standing, holding her
injured
Left arm, Louisa looked from
The slumped pilot to where
Her mother lay, under the belly
Of the machine - the scream
From Louisa's calls for help
Were quickly answered.
Walsall and District
Hospital
Tuesday 10 April, called an
Inquest over these events -
The statement of Louisa
Vass told how, after being
Thrown down, she stood
And screamed out for help.
Her mother and daughter
Were both killed outright -
A crowd gathered, mainly
Railway workers - amid
Them Kate Beebee along
With Thoma Deaken had
Followed the craft's descent.
The coroner Mr Addison
Heard how Deakin helped
Remove Mann from the
Tangled Avro wreckage -
with only a few superficial
with only a few superficial
Injuries - although guilt
Of that day would stay.
Captain White was present
To provide military evidence.
The outcome of the inquest
Advised the deaths
resulted
By a tragic accident. The
pilot,
2nd Lieutenant Thomas Mann
Exonerated from any blame.
With the Royal Garrison Artillery,
Arthur Vass Stationed in France,
received a telegram to tell him
Arthur Vass Stationed in France,
received a telegram to tell him
Of his daughter Edna's death,
Hit by a military aircraft while
Home. A concerned community
Supported his wife, Louisa
Vass,
To pay cost of funerals; £11.10/-.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1917.
Strange Aviation Accident. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 9 April 1917. P.5. Col.4. Available at:
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214440/Daily-Telegraph-April-9-1917.html>
[Accessed: 17 April 2017].
Source: File: Wyrleyblog,
Local History for Great Wyrley and Surrounding Areas. 'Run': The Ryecroft Plane
Crash, 1917. Available at: <https://wyrleyblog.wordpress.com/walsall/tales-from-the-walsall-coroner/run-the-ryecroft-plane-crash-1917/>
[Accessed 17 April 2017]
Mann, J., 2016. 100
years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 17 April
2017).
#WW1
#WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone
#worldwaroneremembered #WW1Walsall
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