Career
He is most notable for his 100-minute flight on 22 April 1912, from Goodwick in Pembrokeshire to Crane near Enniscorthy in county Wexford – from the island of Great Britain to the island of Ireland. The journey time was 1 hour 40 minutes. This was the first complete flight between Britain and Ireland.
An earlier flight had been made by actor-aviator Robert Loraine on 11 September 1910.
Loraine flew from Wales (part of Great Britain) but landed 300 to 400 yards short of the Irish coast at Dublin, Ireland. Corbett-Wilson meanwhile was forced to land near Hereford and booked into the Mitre Hotel.
Rather than wait for his mechanic to arrive, he decided to purchase petrol and oil locally. The oil (castor oil was used at the time) however turned out to be the wrong grade and on resuming his flight the following morning he was once again forced down because of engine trouble.
This time he landed in Colva, Radnorshire where he wisely waited for his mechanic to arrive.
lieutenant was on 21 April he took off and decided to head west instead of north for Chester and Holyhead as the original plan. He arrived at a field near Harbour Village, Goodwick around mid-morning. The historic flight to Ireland began at 5.47am on the 22nd.
A Lieutenant serving in the Third Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, on 10 May 1915 Corbett-Wilson and his observer were on a reconnaissance mission in a Morane Parasol when their aircraft was struck by an enemy shell.
Both were reported to have been killed instantly. He is buried in the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, France.