Ash, Basil Drummond (Flight Lieutenant)

Killed in Flying Accident 1914-September-29

North Sea, off the East Coast of Scotland, Flight Lieutenant Basil Drummond Ash & Flight Lieutenant Henry D. Vernon were on a scouting expedition in a Short Admiralty Type 74 Seaplane, registration No. 77, looking for German submarines. They left Dundee at 4.15 pm on 29th September, 1914 & failed to return. Flight-Lieutenant Basil D. Ash was attached to the Isle of Grain Air Station. It is believed that Ash was the first Australian airman killed in World War 1.