Name: Cedric Ernest "Spike" Howell Country: Australia Rank: Captain Service: Royal Flying Corps Units: 45 Victories: 19 Date Of Birth: June 17, 1896 Place of Birth: Killed In Flying Accident: December 10, 1919 Place of Death: Near Corfu After serving as a sniper on the Western Front, Howell transferred to the Royal Flying Corps from 46 Battalion of the ANZAC. In 1917, he was assigned to 45 Squadron in France and served with this squadron in Northern Italy in 1918, scoring 19 victories as a Sopwith Camel pilot. Enroute back to Australia on December 10, 1919, Howell was killed when the aircraft he was flying crashed into the sea near Corfu.
Captain Cedric E. Howell and Lieutenant George Fraser left London in a Martynside A1 aircraft on 5 December. They crashed near Corfu December 9th. Lieutenant Fraser was not found. Long article here .. www.awm.gov.au/blog/2008/08/19/captain-cedric-howell/
From an article I’ve submitted to the Journal of the Australian Society of WWI Aero Historians about the participants in the 1919 and 1920 England-Australia Flights. Martinsyde A Mk 1 G-EAMR Martinsyde Ltd entered G-EAMR, their rather prosaically named A Mk 1 biplane – basically an enlarged edition of the firm’s F.4 Buzzard - with a 275 hp Rolls Royce Falcon engine, and supposedly the fastest aeroplane in the contest. There were elaborate plans for the Martinsyde to be converted from a landplane to a floatplane at Calcutta, and to operate from water in the later stages of the flight . The A was designed for ease of construction and maintenance, as well as for pilot and passenger comfort; this machine was adapted to include an enlarged fuel tank to give an endurance of about ten hours, while carrying about 450 kg of spare parts, including a propeller. Capt Cedric ‘Spike’ Howell DSO MC DFC, from Melbourne, was nominated as pilot and Sgt George Fraser from Bendigo, Victoria, was the navigator and mechanic. Howell had flown Sopwith Camels with No 45 Sqn RAF in Italy, where he was credited with 19 victories, while Fraser who, at age 40, was the oldest participant in the Race, had served with the AFC in England and at the RAF’s No 1 School of Navigation and Bomb Dropping. The Martinsyde Company was well prepared for the contest, and arranged for fuel supplies and spare parts to be located at aerodromes along the route, and floats were sent to India. Capt Howell left Hounslow on 4 December, in the inevitable bad weather that it seems was a normal part of these pioneering England-Australia flights. The plan to fly to Lyons on the first day was thwarted by a defective fuel pump, so Dijon became the first stop - where the tailskid snapped on landing. The next halt was Pisa, but strong headwinds forced a diversion to Toulon on the way. Pisa aerodrome was sodden and, to add to their difficulties, the airmen found that a spare tailskid wasn’t among the spare parts waiting for them. Presumably whoever arranged for the stores of spare parts calculated that the tailskid wouldn’t need replacing. Nevertheless, after some on the spot improvisation and carpentry, the Martinsyde left for Taranto next day, but the weather prevented the aeroplane getting any further than Salerno. On 9 December, the aircraft left Salerno for Athens, a journey that should have taken about four hours. However, nothing was seen of the machine until it appeared near Corfu some eight hours after take-off. The direct flight to Corfu would have taken only about 90 minutes, and the route of the Martinsyde after Salerno remains unknown; there may have been a landing somewhere to attend to a problem, or for some other reason. The airmen may have become lost over the Sea, and headed for Corfu as the nearest land after working out their position. In all probability we shall never know. The Martinsyde came down in the sea near St Georges Bay, and it seems that at least one of the crew survived the ditching, as cries were heard by people on the land. Unfortunately, conditions were too rough to permit a boat to be launched until the seas abated. The wreck was eventually found, but it broke up during salvage efforts . Capt Howell’s body was washed ashore, but Sgt Fraser’s body was never found. Some mystery still surrounds his death of the airmen. There was a short item in Flight magazine of 1 January 1920 which states that Capt Howell’s father was conversing with a naval officer in Melbourne in the evening of 10 December, when a disused clock in the room suddenly ticked in Morse code and then fell silent. “Mr Howell was alarmed and immediately took associated this as a premonition of some fateful happening to his son. Unfortunately, this proved only too real.” The Howell family claimed that he had managed to land the aircraft somewhere on Corfu and had then been murdered before the Martinsyde and the crew’s bodies were pushed into the water. It was noted that the pilot wasn’t wearing his Sidcot flying suit and boots, and that none of the money and credit notes that he was known to be carrying were found on his body. Further, there was sand in the airman’s pockets, which suggested that they hadn’t been properly searched when found, even though some personal items had been recovered. Howell’s father kept calling for a further enquiry, but to no avail. The mystery remains. In April 1920 Capt Howell was given a military funeral in Melbourne, where one of his pallbearers was Capt Harry Alexander Rigby MC, who had once intended to enter the contest. Gareth
That is some story isn't it Gareth ? ..... I wondered when I was reading the Australian blog why " a local innkeeper " didn't sound the alarm ... he could hear them crying out in the water ... but all he did was take a lantern for light !! .... very strange ... Your article gives much more detail and the idea that the clock ticked in morse code is amazing ... I wonder what it said ...... ! Murder sounds awful .... but I wonder what else was done to investigate that probability ? Just a very sad story ..... !!
