Background
Thomas Mottershead was born on 17 January 1892, one of a family of 10.
Thomas Mottershead was born on 17 January 1892, one of a family of 10.
He enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps on 10 August 1914 as a mechanic, Mottershead had studied engineering and had been apprenticed as a fitter working in Widnes.
Mottershead married Lilian Bree on 10 February 1914, and was working as a garage mechanic when World War I began. He was posted to the Central Flying school at Upavon and was promoted to Sergeant on 1 April 1916. In May 1916 he began pilot training and in June of that year he obtained his Flying Certificate.
He was posted to Number.25 Squadron at Street Omer, flying the FE 2, on 6 July 1916 and saw action in the Battle of the Somme.
One of his first operations was low-level bombing raid on a German anti-aircraft battery which he successfully destroyed. On 22 September, with 2/Lieutenant C. Street as observer he bombed the railway station at Samain, destroying one ammunition train and strafing another.
While climbing away from the target, their aircraft was attacked by a Fokker scout. Accounts of the engagement indicate that it was Mottershead"s skillful manoeuvring which enabled Street to shoot the enemy aircraft down.
Undocumented accounts state that Mottershead and another Number.
25 Squadron pilot landed on a German airfield, allowing their gunners to shoot up the hangars before taking off and escaping. The reputed date and location seem to remain unknown, but he was then transferred to Number.20 Squadron at Clairmarais. On 7 January 1917 near Ploegsteert Wood, Belgium, Sergeant Mottershead was on patrol in FE-2d (serial number A39) with observer Lieutenant
West East Gower when he was engaged in combat by two Albatros Doctorate.III of Jasta 8.
Lieutenant Gower managed to hit one and put it out of the action, the second Albatros however, flown by German "ace" Leutnant Walter Göttsch (20 victories), hit Mottershead"s aircraft, with the petrol tank pierced and the machine was set on fire. Enveloped in flames which his observer was unable to subdue with a handheld fire extinguisher, the Sergeant was badly burned but nevertheless managed to take his aircraft back to the Allied lines and made a successful forced landing.
The undercarriage collapsed on touching the ground however, throwing the observer clear but pinning Thomas in his cockpit. He was subsequently rescued but died of his burns five days later.