Sharpe earned his pilot certificate at the Glenn Curtiss School in California in 1914, before the war. He was gazetted a Lieutenant in the RFC in the 3 RS. He died in a crash at Shoreham on 1915-02-04, when his Farman nose-dived to the ground off a climbing turn near the Sussex Pad Public House at Lancing. Sharpe was the first Canadian in the flying service casualty of WWI.
pg.77, Canadian Aeronautics -1915
Sharpe, William Frederick Nelson (Lieutenant)
Killed in Flying Accident 1915-February-04

Birth Date: 1892-December
Born: Prescott, Ontario
Parents: Frederick Charles Sharpe & Ida Bell Sharpe
Spouse: Alma K. Sharpe
Home: Prescott, Ontario
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: unkown date
Service
RFC
Unit
(RFC)
Base
Rank
Lieutenant
Position
pilot
Service Numbers
30124, RFC