In the Australian Flying Corps officers tended to die in violent deaths, either in combat or crashes. This was because they made up the large majority of the flying crews. Squadrons have high tail to tail ratios and many servicemen make up the support crews and services that enables a flight to get into the air each morning. Servicemen were more likely to die due to ill health and disease than violence.

The photo above shows Alan Runciman Brown on the far left. He is a bag of bones. His clothes are hanging off him. He is not healthy at all in that photo.

1 Sqn Australian Flying Corps [AFC] operated in the Middle East which brings its own issues in relation to health. Richard Williams relates the humorous story:

Some time before a scab, such as develops following a smallpox vaccination, appeared on my forehead. I consulted the RFC medical officer who said he did not know what it was but tried two or three medical treatments without result. He then suggested that I might have to move to a different climate to get rid of it.

I did not like the idea and took an opportunity which offered to consult one of our Australian medical officers with the Light Horse. He said, "Oh! yes, that's a fatty tumor, you will probably have that all your life". I asked him if there was any treatment and he said, "Iodoform".

Having obtained some iodoform and applied it I went over to the mess for lunch. Soon after Alan Murray Jones, who was a chemist, came in, took a sniff and said, "Who has syphilis - I can smell iodoform."

I admitted to the use of iodoform but not to the complaint he mentioned. That was the end of that treatment, good or bad.

Medical science was not what it is today either and pilots that would have been grounded today flew again in WWI. The idea the Manfred von Richthofen [the Red Baron] should not have been flying after his head wound constantly pops up.

Another example if Harry Taylor of No.2 Sqn AFC who suffered a severe head wound in a landing accident. His medical report said, "Should be dead." He rejoined the squadron later in the month after the accident, but was still suffering illness and other effects from the severe concussion he sustained. He later flew as an instructor in England.

In WWI illnesses such as Pneumonia and Flu could be killers at pandemic levels, something which does not happen today with modern medicine. Modern food and logistics are also much better meaning the sustained nutrition of those on deployment are better than they were in WWI as well.

More Reading on Health

• Health
• Harry Taylor
• Richard Williams
• Alan Brown
• Australian Flying Corps
• The Body Politic
• Health Expenditure as % GDP
• Productivity Commission's Health Workforce Report
• Health Market And Access To Services
• The Issue of Health in WWI and the Australian Flying Corps
• Price Transparency in the US Health Care System
• Affordable Care Act Provisions Year By Year