Studio portrait of 2nd Lieutenant Jack Diamond Sumner Potts, No 67 Squadron, AFC, probably taken ...

Studio portrait of 2nd Lieutenant Jack Diamond Sumner Potts, No 67 Squadron, AFC, probably taken in Egypt. A jackeroo from Longueville, NSW, prior to enlistment, 1203 Private (Pte) Jack Sumner Potts embarked with his brother 1181 Pte Leonard Malcolm Sumner Potts, from Sydney with the 8th Reinforcements, 7th Light Horse Regiment on HMAT Suffolk on 28 July 1915. The brothers transferred to the Australian Flying Corps. After qualifying as a pilot Jack Sumner Potts was promoted to Lieutenant (Lt) and posted to No. 67 (Australian) Squadron, RFC (previously No. 1 Squadron, AFC). Lt Sumner Potts died when on 4 January 1918 when his RE8 aircraft B5854 collided with another RE8 of No. 113 Squadron RFC. Lt Sumner Potts, Captain Harald Hewett, RFC, and 2nd Lieutenant A Butt, RFC, were buried with full military honours by German airmen. 2nd Lt Vincent John Parkinson, AFC, was the wireless operator and observer who survived the crash with a fractured skull and was taken prisoner of war (POW). The proceedings of a court on inquiry found that; 'On January 4th 1918, Lieut J D S Potts, Pilot and 2/Lieut V J Parkinson, Observer, were flying an R E S, on a bomb raid on the enemy aerodrome at Jenin. They failed to return...On January 10th, a message was dropped by Hostile aircraft which stated that our machine had been forced to land and that Lieut Potts had been buried and that 2/Lieut V J Parkinson was slightly wounded and was the a Prisoner of War. It also stated that Lieut Potts had been buried at Jenin, and enclosed a photograph of his grave.' Following the Armistice, Lt Sumner Potts remains were re-interred in the Jerusalem War Cemetery, Israel. (See also photographs P11163.001, P07016.004, B02137, B02165, B02225, and B02903.)