NORTH COTES / COATES - LINCOLNSHIRE
St. Nicholas Churchyard
Sergeant Ernest HANDLEY 23897
Royal Flying Corps Died 20-8-1917 (aircraft accident) Honoured Australlian War Memorial Commemmorative Roll
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The Times of Thursday Aug 23, 1917 covered the Coroner's inquest:
The West Surrey Coroner held an inquest at Addlestone yesterday on the bodies of Lieutenant Hugh Stewart Latimer Jordan, R.F.C., and Sergeant E. Handley, R.F.C., who were killed on Monday morning in the fall of an Army biplane in a meadow near Woodham Grange, Addlestone, Describing the Accident, John Hoare, a gardener at Woodham Grange , said that about 10 o'clock on Monday morning he saw two machines in the air one above the other. Suddenly there were two explosions, and the lower machine came straight down for some distance, when it straightened out and the right wing folded back on to the body of the machine. It next took a horizontal course for some distance with one plane, which also suddenly folded back. The machine then pitched over some trees into a field. The witness ran across and found Lieutenant Jordan and Sergeant Handley under the engine dead. Evidence was given that the machine was in perfect order when it went up from Brooklands Aerodrome.
The West Surrey Coroner held an inquest at Addlestone yesterday on the bodies of Lieutenant Hugh Stewart Latimer Jordan, R.F.C., and Sergeant E. Handley, R.F.C., who were killed on Monday morning in the fall of an Army biplane in a meadow near Woodham Grange, Addlestone, Describing the Accident, John Hoare, a gardener at Woodham Grange , said that about 10 o'clock on Monday morning he saw two machines in the air one above the other. Suddenly there were two explosions, and the lower machine came straight down for some distance, when it straightened out and the right wing folded back on to the body of the machine. It next took a horizontal course for some distance with one plane, which also suddenly folded back. The machine then pitched over some trees into a field. The witness ran across and found Lieutenant Jordan and Sergeant Handley under the engine dead. Evidence was given that the machine was in perfect order when it went up from Brooklands Aerodrome.