LEST WE FORGET
Lieutenant Patrick George WALSH
Service No: 2213
Born: Cunnamulla QLD, June 1916
Enlisted in the Army: 5 October 1915
Unit: No. 8 (Training) Squadron, Australian Flying Corps
Died: Aircraft Accident, Leighterton, 30 September 1918, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Leighterton Church Cemetery, Leighterton, Gloucestershire, England
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Richard and Mary Walsh, of Toowoomba, Queensland
Place of Association: Toowoomba QLD
Remembered: Panel 188, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 30 September 1918, Lieutenant Walsh was killed in the crash of Sopwith Camel aircraft P.1948 at Leighterton Aerodrome. A witness reported that the aircraft went into a dive with the engine slightly throttled down and was pulled out of the dive, and immediately dived again and crashed to the ground. Lieutenant Walsh came out of the first dive with the left rudder on and got into an engine spin at about 500 feet and did not have the altitude to correct. The Court of Enquiry concluded that the accident was due to the machine getting into an engine spin after coming out of a steep dive on the target.
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, WALSH PATRICK GEORGE