LEST WE FORGET

Second Lieutenant George Viner WICKS 

Service No: Not Assigned
Born: Marrickville NSW, October 1892
Enlisted in the Army: 5 November 1917
Unit: No. 7 (Training) Squadron, Australian Flying Corps
Died: Aircraft Accident, England, 13 October 1918, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Reading Cemetery, Reading, Berkshire, England, United Kingdom
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Henry and Alice Mary Wicks, of 3 Anderton Street, Marrickville, New South Wales
Place of Association: Marrickville NSW
Remembered: Panel 188, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Marrickville War Memorial, Marrickville NSW

On 13 October 1918, Second Lieutenant Wicks was killed in the crash of RE8 aircraft C/2628 at Leighterton, Gloucestershire.  He was on his first solo flight in an RE8 and there were no witnesses to the crash.  The aircraft was found on its side, having evidently fallen on its nose and right wing.  The rudder controls were intact.  The Court of Enquiry determined that the cause of the accident was the pilot putting on full left rudder and allowing the machine to get into a flat spin to the left.

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, WICKS GEORGE VINER
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line

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