Naval Squadron 7A before it became 14 Naval Squadron
On 27/28 October 1917 nine HPs left to bomb rail junctions at Cortemarck and Lichtervelde, and airfields at Engel and St Denis Westrem. Over this last objective a 7A HP, 3122, crewed by FSL G. Andrews, LM G A Kent and 2/Lt W W Hutton RFC, was shot down.
Source : Jock Whitehouse and David Hearn (Great nephew of Lt Reginald Binckes)
Date record last updated : 13 August 2023
O/400 C9646
O/400 C9646
C9646 crashed St Inglevert on take off on 17 July 1918. Reginald Binckes and D.R. Tullis were catapulted 30 feet from the cockpit. Reginal Binckes broke his back and died later and Tullis walked away without a scratch.
Source : Jock Whitehouse and David Hearn (Great nephew of Lt Reginald Binckes)
Date record last updated : 7 November 2022
0/400 D4591
O/400 D4591 (09-Jul-1919)
O/400 D4591 (09-Jul-1919)
All 4 crew members were killed when Handley Page O/400 D4591 crashed in the South of France on the 9th July 1919. The aircraft was en-route from France to Egypt. The crash and subsequent fire killed all four crew members.
The four crew were buried at Mazargues Cemetery in Marseilles.
David Hearn writes :
Pilot Sergeant Leslie Dell was also flying out to Egypt and recorded the accident in his log book. ‘At Marseilles we learnt that one of our m/c H.P. 4591, had been forced to land in the mountains through engine trouble. M/c crashed and fired. All crew killed. Pilots Lt. Sumner and Lt. Hall. Engineer Corporal Flintoff. Rigger Corporal Jaffe.’
According to Sturtivant and Page, D4591, crashed at 08:00 on the morning of the 9th July at a place called Trets near Draguignan between Toulon and Marseilles.
The loss of D4591 with the deaths of all four crew was part of the Blazing Trails Scandal, when three Handley Page Squadrons were ordered to fly from France to Egypt with minimal preparation or forward planning. Twelve aircraft from 214 Squadron left France, but four never made it to Egypt. A third of the squadron’s aircraft were destroyed en-route. The other squadrons had even worse losses. In total, 18 aircraft were lost, almost two complete squadron’s worth of planes. More important than the material losses, was the loss of air crew. At least eleven pilots were killed.
Date of loss : 9 July 1919
Crew of O/400 D4591 (09-Jul-1919) consisted of :
Cpl Elton Humpherus Flintoft, 44937, Engineer, Royal Air Force, Nationality : United Kingdom, KIA 9 July 1919, Aged 19
Lt Clifford Hall, Pilot, Royal Air Force, Nationality : United Kingdom, KIA 9 July 1919, Aged 20
Cpl Louis Hyman Jaffe, 29637, Rigger, Royal Air Force, Nationality : United Kingdom, KIA 9 July 1919, Aged 30
Lt Francis Cyril Sumner, Pilot, Royal Air Force, Nationality : United Kingdom, KIA 9 July 1919, Aged 19
Source : David Hearn (Great nephew of Lt Reginald Binckes) and Jock Whitehouse
Date record last updated : 19 June 2026
O/400 D5401
O/400 D5401 (11-Jun-1918)
Mission to Bruges Docks
See D5401 (15-Jun-1918) for more details of this mission.
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O/100 3122
