Second Lieutenant – 70208 Royal Flying Corps
Second Lieutenant David Kitto Billings, Royal Flying Corps was killed in a flying accident near Water Orton on 14th September 1917. He was described in newspaper reports as a Canadian attached to the Australian Flying Corps and he died as a result of one of the pins in his leather safety belt breaking, causing one end of the belt to fly open and him to fall out of the plane from a height of 1,500-2000 feet.
David was the eldest of the three children of British-born parents, Reverend Percy Billings and Lilla Adelaide Kitto, who had married in Portland, Maine, USA on 27th April 1891. Percy Billings appears to have emigrated in 1889, with his bride-to-be emigrating a year later. According to the fold3 index record David was born in Chicago Illinois in 1891. His sister, Mildred Kitto Billings (1897-1981) was born in Ohio, USA and his brother, Rollo Kitto Billings (1902-1982) was born in Australia. The family is also known to have been in Toronto, Canada and it appears that David may have remained in the city when his parents relocated to Chicago.
A report of his death in the Toronto Evening Telegram 21st September 1917, said that David had been a newspaperman with Toronto World, before leaving to engage in commercial pursuits shortly before joining the Royal Flying Corps in Canada and training at Camp Borden.
He was gazetted Temporary Second Lieutenant on probation with effect from 23rd July 1917, and then proceeded to Castle Bromwich aerodrome the following month. At the inquest into his death it was reported that he had passed through the school and obtained his pilot’s licence.
He had been due to depart Castle Bromwich on 15th September for a course of aerial gunnery at another station, but he decided to have a final fly round and, at about 6.40pm, took off alone in a two-seater Avro 504A A9803 . The aeroplane was seen looping the loop, and going up perpendicularly, before dropping sideways and then righting itself in a process technically known as “stalling”. An eye-witness recalled seeing the machine hang in the balance rather than righting itself as formerly, and then the pilot was seen falling to the ground. The plane crashed into a wood near Water Orton.
A search party was organised and the airman’s body was found at about 10am the following morning, about a mile away from where the aircraft had landed.
Second Lieutenant D. K. Billings is buried at St Mary & St Margaret’s Church, Castle Bromwich. He is also commemorated on the Canadian Virtual Memorial.
