Lieutenant Desmond Arthur (1884–1913) was an Irish aviator in No. 2 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. Following his death in Scotland's first fatal aircraft accident; a government inquiry was launched to investigate the circumstances surrounding the crash. The first inquiry found him responsible, but a later investigation exonerated Arthur. Arthur's ghost is claimed to haunt the RAF Montrose airfield in Montrose, Angus, Scotland, and paranormal enthusiasts consider it to be one of the most well-known ghost stories of the First World War. Desmond Arthur was the first Irishman to be killed in an aircraft accident.
Early life
Lieutenant Desmond Lucius Studdert P. P. Arthur was born on 31 March 1884 at O'Brien's Bridge in County Clare, Ireland. The son of Thomas F. Arthur and Helen Studdert, he came from a prominent Clare family and had a sister, and a brother: Captain Charles William Augustus Arthur. Arthur was educated at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen. He was an enthusiastic sportsman and won a number of prizes in motoring speed trials, before becoming Lieutenant in the Army Motor Reserve in 1908. Arthur attended the first Irish Aviation Meeting at Leopardstown Racecourse on 29 August 1910. It was there that he was introduced to Cecil Grace, which reinforced his desire to become a pilot. Arthur joined the 5th Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers (Special Reserve) and was promoted to Lieutenant on 27 May 1911. He was known for his adventurous nature, as well as his "unassuming manner and unfailing good spirit".
Flying career
On 18 June 1912 Arthur gained his Royal Aero Club certificate No.233 after completing his trials flying a Bristol Prier monoplane at Brooklands. He joined No. 2 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps on 17 April 1913, based at Montrose. In 1913, Montrose Airfield was built as an operational base for the training of pilots for the Royal Flying Corps, the first of its kind in Britain. The flying training school, like many others, experienced frequent crashes as it built up a force of skilled pilots through the First and Second World Wars. At around 7:30am on Tuesday 27 May 1913 Arthur's B.E.2 biplane No.205 collapsed without warning while flying over Montrose during a routine training flight from Upper Dysart to Lunan Bay. Arthur had begun to descend when, at , the right wing of the aircraft snapped off and it plunged to the ground. Arthur was thrown from the aircraft and died instantly. He was found away from his machine. Arthur's death in an accident was one of the first to occur in the Royal Flying Corps, and the first at Montrose. He was buried in Sleepyhillock Cemetery, Montrose.
Contemporaries were surprised by the crash of an experienced pilot. A report issued by the Accidents and Investigation Committee of the Royal Aero Club on 21 June 1913 found that the accident had occurred because of the incompetent repair of a broken spar by an unknown mechanic. It was believed that the damage to the aircraft had been accidental, and shoddily repaired to prevent detection prior to the aircraft being transferred from Farnborough to Montrose. A government inquiry opened on 11 July 1913. In 1914 M.P. William Joynson-Hicks complained of a "whitewash" and that the Secretary of State for War Colonel Seely would not admit to the faulty repair. In the spring of 1916 Noel Pemberton Billing called for a judicial enquiry into the military and naval air service, as "certain officers had been murdered rather than killed by the carelessness, incompetence or ignorance of their senior officers or of the technical side of those two services". An official investigation by a government committee set up on 3 August 1916 concluded that the pilot was at fault, and the crash a result of dangerous flying.