Norman Charles "Tres" Trescowthick was born on the 18th of July in 1895 at Clifton Hill, Melbourne, Victoria. Before enlisting directly into the Australian Flying Corps, Trescowthick was a boot manufacturer. After training Trescowthick joined 4 Sqn AFC on the 21st of January 1918.

Upon arrival in France in February with the squadron, Trecowthick was posted to A Flight in 4 Squadron. The flight was led by Cobby who was to become the leading Australian Flying Corps ace and contained other pilots such as "Tabby" Pflaum, "Bo" King and "Taps" Taplin. Trescowthick soon became a solid pilot and later was to start scoring victories on his way to become ace.

The squadron as well as doing patrols for hostile aircraft also would search for ways to disrupt supply lines and German troops. On the 14th of July Trescowthick in the company of Cobby took off for an early morning special mission during which Trescowthick attacked and destroyed a German two seater aircraft. Trescowthick had engeged the two seater over the Estaires balloon line and as Trescowthick chased the two seater, the balloon line were pulling their balloons in. Cobby dove on a balloon and set it on fire. The victory over the AGO was Trescowthicks first victory.

August 6th Trescowthick again in the company of Cobby found an ammunition train unloading shells at the Vielle Chapelle dump. The pair dropped four bombs which found their mark and blew up the dump and set the rain on fire as well.

On the 7th of August, Trescowthick flew a special mission with Arthur Cobby to harrass the German supply lines and search for enemy aircraft. Cobby wrote of the patrol;

"We came into a clear sky at 3000 feet, and found ourselves behind five Pfalz scouts flying north a few hundred feet below us. I pointed them out to Tres who was alongside me, and whilst in the dive released my bombs and turned to come at them directly from behind. My opening burst was immeadiately successful, for the machine I was attacking burst into flames immediately. Tres's oppponent had died away as he saw my companion on his tail but had given him a comparatively easy shot from behind. This machine also caught fire."

The engagement was mentioned in the RAF Communique No.19 with the words; "..saw five Pfalz scouts on which they dived. Lt Trescowthick shot one of those down in flames, and the second he attacked broke up in the air." Trecowthick was credited with two Pfalz aircraft Destroyed, one in flames.

September 5th marked the day that of a flight of five, only one returned. Trescowthick was leading the flight when they were caught between two large German formations of Fokker DVII's from the JGIII Jasta's of 27 and 28. Escorting flights from two other Squadrons who were supposed to be covering the Camel flight were caught in an engagement of their own and were unable to join the dogfight between 4 Sqn AFC and JGIII. Trescowthick gave the signal to dive away and avoid the engagement but the remainder of the flight did nto see his signal or had were being dived on themselves. Trescowthick discovered he was the only Camel of the flight that had dived away to the west.

Of the four Camels that were lost only one pilot survived. Lieutenant Taplin, a veteran of 1 Sqn AFC that had transferred to the Western Front was taken Prisoner Of War only a few hundred yards short of the front lines. Taplin wrote of the initial merge; "Trescowthick dived away under the formation coming from the direction of our own lines, but theothers were cut off. No German attempted to follow Trescowthick, so evidently he was unobserved."

The other three pilots, Lieutenant M.H. Eddie, Lieutenant D.C. Carter and Lieutenant A.H. Lockley were all killed. The German pilots, Erich Classen and Christel Mesch of Jasta 27 claimed victories and Frommherz and Lux of Jasta 27 also claimed victories from the engagement. All the JGIII pilots who made claims in the engagement were aces, except for Lux. Frommherz claimed his 21st victory.

The pilots of the AFC squadrons would wait and listen for returning patrols, knowing their general time of return from a patrol. A patrol whih had not met any enemy activity might stunt above the aerodrome before landing. A patrol which had entered an engagement would generally do a circuit and land. Not wanting to risk that part ofthe aircraft structure had been hit by a bullet and would fail upon stunting. On that day Cobby wrote of Trescowthicks return;

"In Trescowthick's case he was early and flew in low, made half a circuit of the drome, then came straight in and landed. We were all immediately seized with a cold apprehension; our worst fears were justified."

Trescowthick was to gain one more victory in the month of October with the new Scout type the Sopwith Snipe. Destroying a Fokker DVII over Leuze. The victory was his last and brought Trescowthicks victory total to seven, including six destroyed and one out of control. Trescowthick finished his tour with 4 Sqn in November and departed for Home Establishment, eventually returning to Australia on the 6th of May 1919 as part of the Australian Flying Corps demobilization.