[Maurice Taylor]

A long way from Port Said but I found a reference to a W.R.Crocker (Lt) Here:

The History and Development of Aircraft Instruments-1909 to 1919
John Kirkham Bradley
Dept of Science and Technloogy
Imperial College London
1994.
https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/bitstream/10044/1/8266/1/John_Kirkham_Bradley-1994-PhD-Thesis.pdf

Chapter 4
Aircraft Compass Development – Part 1
11. PRO/DSIR 23/321/f and DSIR 23/366 W.R.Crocker (Lt), Various reports, undated.

Which refers to this:

Chapter 4.
The Aircraft Compass – Part 1
Development from 1909 to 1916
4.3. Wartime Compasses development by Keith Lucas at Farnborough.
As service flying increased, it became obvious the aircraft compass still had problems as
increased engine power had increased vibration and acceleration forces since the first
compasses had been designed. Even before the war, reports said that Clift compasses were
unsatisfactory and that although the Pattern 200 from Kelvin and White was preferred to
the older Chetwynd type, it ought to be mounted in gimbals as it jammed in bumpy
weather. I 0 There were reports of compasses sticking in turns and of errors caused by the
electrical field from not twisting the wires of the compass lamp. There were also reports of
compass deviation in cloud and of balloon ascents to measure whether the magnetic angle
of dip varied with height, that might explain the deviation. 1 I

National Archives shows these:

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research: Aeronautical Research Council: Reports and Papers.
Deviations of compass during flight: request for opinion about possibility of such deviations being caused by
clouds.
Other references: T 321
Held by: The National Archives, Kew – Department of Scientific and Industrial
Research
Date: 1913
Reference: DSIR 23/321

Magnetic effects in upper atmosphere: preliminary experiments.
Other references: T 366
Held by: The National Archives, Kew – Department of Scientific and Industrial
Research
Date: 1914
Reference: DSIR 23/366

Not digitised.

[Ian Burns]

Thanks Maurice.

I had stumbled across that reference. Sad that an apparently scientifically inclined office should do something so stupid as to crawl under a railway truck.

From WO95/4401

[Ian Burns]

I’m looking for details of service of Flt Commander William Reginald Crocker.
He was killed by a railway train at Port Said on 6 March 1916.
He was apparently a qualified airship, aeroplane and free balloon pilot and served at Eastchurch, and was one of the original aooficers in the RNAS when it split from the RFC.
Crocker was appointed to the East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron, possibly in command but records and memoirs are unclear on this.

Any details would be most welcome.

[Author]

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