LEST WE FORGET
Lieutenant Arthur Ernest Percival MOTT
Service No: 309
Born: Skene’s Creek VIC, November 1895
Enlisted in the Army: 28 January 1916
Unit: Training Depot, Australian Flying Corps, attached to No. 6 Training School, Montrose
Died: Drowned at Sea, Scotland, 24 December 1917, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Sleepyhillock Cemetery, Montrose, Scotland
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Rokes Mott and Elizabeth Mott, of 73, Salisbury St., Moonee Ponds, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Born at Skene’s Creek, Apollo Bay, Victoria
Place of Association: Moonee Ponds VIC
Remembered: Panel 188, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lieutenant Mott saw active service with No. 1 Squadron AFC.
Lieutenant Mott drowned at sea off the coast of Scotland near Montrose as the result of the loss of Sopwith Camel aircraft B/5614. Witness reports record that the aircraft dived into the sea from an altitude of about 1,000 feet. Immediately prior, the machine had been test flown by Captain St Cyprian Churchill Taylor (also shown as Tayler) RFC (Killed on Air Operations: 17 March 1918) who reported no problems. Lieutenant Mott then took the aircraft on aerobatics practice. He was practicing inverted glides and, during a normal upright flying phase, the port wing went down and the aircraft went into a vertical nosedive. The Court of Enquiry found that Lieutenant Mott had lost consciousness during the inverted flying phase.
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, MOTT ARTHUR ERNEST PERCIVAL
National Archives UK RAF Casualty Card 280788, 203882