Lance was born on February 6th 1894 in Bolsover Ontario, the son Robert Andrew Nicholls and Hannah Marie Dunn. He was the 2nd of 5 children. The family was listed in the 1911 Canadian Census:
Bolsover was a small town and Lance appeared to have ambitions beyond life on the farm.
Lance had transferred to Montreal and enlisted there on August 22nd 1917 at the age of 23. His C.E.F. is much slimmer than some others that I have reviewed as he he quickly transferred to the Royal Flying Corps on November 6th 1917.
Like many young men at the time he developed an interest in the new field of aviation. Canada did not have their own air force so aspiring Canadian pilots joined the British service. Lance was quickly sent to Hicks Field in Texas for training. According to Wikipedia Hicks Field operated as a training school from October 1917 through April 2018 for American and Canadian pilots. It was turned over to the Americans in 2018 for their exclusive use.
His RAF file lists Lance's skills:
The Curtiss JN-4 was nicknamed the "Jenny". The Jenny was built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company and used to train pilots at Hicks Field. Here's what she looked like:
Lewis Machine guns were designed in the US and manufactured in the UK and used extensively by the British army in World War One. It was the first gun fired from an aeroplane. Here is a Lewis gun mounted at the front of a plane.
And a Vickers gun was a British machine gun that was also used from planes as in this picture.
Duly trained, Lance was dispatched to England where he was posted to the Central Flying School in Upavon, Wiltshire for advanced training. Upon arrival he and his fellow cadets were granted commission as a 2nd Lieutenant as noted in the June 14th 2018 London Gazette.
Lance was still posted at the Central Flying School when the war ended on November 11th 2018. Despite that, he was still considered to be on active duty. This clipping from the Toronto Star tells the sad story of what happened next:
Lance's family were no doubt excited and happy that he would be returning to them in 1919. What a sad truth for them. According to the death register cause of death was a fractured skull. His RAF file was also slim and gave no further details of the maneuver that led to his death. Many young men died at the Central Flying School before and after the Armistice - flying was a danger endeavour in those days.
Lance was buried in Upavon. His heartbroken family erected a memorial to him in the Bolsover Cemetery.
Lance is listed in the Canadian Book of Remembrance. Today is December 22nd and that is the day that his page is displayed for public viewing. He is one of 1,388 Canadians who died while serving in the British Flying Services, 100 years ago.
