LEST WE FORGET
Second Lieutenant Thomas William BARTLE
Service No: 1111
Born: Castlemaine VIC, October 1895
Enlisted in the Army: 14 March 1916
Unit: No. 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps
Died: Aircraft Accident, Lincolnshire, 16 June 1917, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Lumb-in-Rossendale (Providence) Baptist Chapelyard, Lancashire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Susan Ann Elizabeth Bartle, of Britton Street, Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia, and the late Thomas William Bartle
Place of Association: Castlemaine VIC
Remembered: Panel 188, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
The accident on the 16th involved a B.E.2e aircraft (90 h.p. R.A.F. engine) (1) piloted by Second Lieutenant T. W. Bartle, Australian Flying Corps, with which an Armstrong-Whitworth aircraft (90 h.p. R.A.F. engine), from the nearby aerodrome at Scampton, collided at an altitude of 5,000 feet. The tail-skid of the: Armstrong-Whitworth aircraft tore the centre section from Second Lieutenant Bartle’s aircraft, with the result that the wings were torn off and the aircraft crashed. Second Lieutenant Bartle was killed, but the Armstrong-Whitworth landed safely, and its pilot (2) was uninjured.
(1) BE2e aircraft A1368
(2) Second Lieutenant Humphrey Hamilton Wilson RFC, flying Armstrong Whitworth aircraft A1508; Killed on Air Operations: 19 February 1918
Extract from Wrigley, H.N. (Henry Neilsen) (6) The Battle Below: Being the history of No. 3 Squadron AFC, Errol G. Knox Sydney NSW, 1935 – Page 25
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record B2455, BARTLE T W
National Archives UK RAF Casualty Card 264724, 15255
Bibliography:
Muller, P. (Peter) and Hutchinson, J. (John) Secrets Revealed: a brief history of No. 3 Squadron RAAF, Lutheran Publishing House Adelaide SA 5000, 1991
Wrigley, H.N. (Henry Neilsen) (6) The Battle Below: Being the history of No. 3 Squadron AFC, Errol G. Knox Sydney NSW, 1935