Simon Glancey has submitted the following:
Lt Thornton was killed when Airco DH.4 A7940 of 57 Squadron crashed into a hill at La Reid, Belgium, killing him and Lt. Percy Samuel Burnay. Lt. Thornton’s D.F.C. was gazetted on June 3rd 1919 as a part of the King’s Birthday Honours. He had shot down 6 aircraft during WW1, thus qualifying as an ‘ace.'
Frederick Oswell Thornton is remembered in Byker on B95.08