Last Surviving WWI Pilot dies....

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-01-13 11:29pm

Henry Botterell, who died on Friday in Toronto, aged 106, was believed to be the last surviving fighter pilot of the First World War.

Although he had no claims to be an ace, Botterell achieved one "kill" as a Royal Naval Air Service officer when he shot down a balloon on August 29 1918. Flying from Tramecourt, northern France, he was carrying four 25 lb bombs to attack the railway station at Vitry, 50 miles into enemy occupied territory, when he saw a German balloon, used for artillery spotting, near Arras.

After dropping his bombs, he flew back over Arras to find ground crew frantically winching the balloon down. Balloon installations were heavily defended by anti-aircraft guns, but Botterell put his Camel into a dive, and fired some 400 rounds from his two Vickers machine- guns to set the balloon on fire.

As the "sausage" began to crumple at about 1,000 ft, a tangle of ropes, wires and maps spilled to the ground. The German observer leapt from the basket with his parachute. As Botterell banked to avoid him, he could see the fear in his face; but in the best traditions of gallantry, which still prevailed even at that late stage of the war, he gave the defenceless man a wave. Then, near the end of his fuel, he headed for home.

Shooting down balloons counted as "kills" in the same way as planes because anti-aircraft batteries and machine-gunners knew their exact height and could put up a hail of fire against approaching pilots.

The son of a civil servant, Henry John Lawrence Botterell, known as "Nap" because his friends thought he looked like Napoleon, was born at Ottawa on November 7 1896. He went to Lisgar Collegiate, Ottawa, then joined the Bank of North America.

On the advice of his sister Edith, who worked for Admiral Sir Charles Kingsmill, director of the Marine Service of Canada, he travelled to Britain as a civilian then joined the RNAS, not long after his older brother was killed in action in France serving in the Toronto 48th Highlanders.

Botterell was commissioned as a Probationary Flight Officer on May 16 1917, and started training at Chingford, Essex; he received his wings at HMS Daedalus as Cranwell, then a Royal Naval Air Service station, was known. After only seven hours dual flying with an instructor, Botterell earned Royal Aero Club certificate number 5093. He was then sent to join No 8 (Naval) Squadron which was reinforcing the Royal Flying Corps on the Western Front.

His superior in "Naval 8", as the squadron was known, was the Canadian ace Flight Commander James White, DSC, and Botterell found himself with a large number of his fellow countrymen as well as at least one American.

He flew a variety of aircraft, including a Grahame-White, a Maurice Farman, a Sopwith Snipe, an RE8 and an SE5. On his second operational flight in a Sopwith Pup, he stalled at Dunkirk just after take-off, spun and hit the ground, breaking his leg, losing some teeth and gashing his head.

He spent six months in hospital, then was invalided out of the service. He was due to be repatriated to Canada when he met some "Naval 8" chums, who were on a run ashore in London. They arranged, instead, for him to be sent to Manston, Kent, to re-qualify as a pilot.

Botterell made a 10-minute dual hop, then flew 22 minutes in an Avro.

"Did not feel strange," he recorded in his logbook on April 7 1918. "Took control in air. Lt Gray climbed out and said OK for solo. Kept engine running and had no difficulty."

After 10 hours' refresher training, he was signed off as fully operational and sent to Serny in France, where he rejoined Naval 8, which was now 208 Squadron RAF.

This unit had returned to France just before the German offensive of 1918, when 16 of its aircraft were destroyed to prevent them being captured by the advancing German army. Botterell was involved in patrols and artillery spotting, operations that were so intense in June, July and August, that he flew 91 sorties in 60 days.

On several occasions he flew three combat missions a day. In all, he notched up 251 combat hours in his Camel, taking part in seven dogfights, from which he returned every time with bullet holes or flak damage to his machine.

On July 10, his logbook recorded: "Saw EA [enemy aircraft] and hid in the clouds. Dived straight down at EA and fired short burst from 50 yards. Guns jammed. Pulled away about 20 ft from Hun. Over Estaires at 4,000 to 5,000 ft, so returned to lines. Enemy observer believed killed".

July 31: "Engine trouble. Had to leave formation, who had scrap with 10 EA".

August 26: "Low bombing. Dropped four bombs on lorries on Douai road near Brebieres. Fired 150 rounds into trench on outskirts of Brebieres. Bullet hit pressure tank and air pipe."

On September 19, two years and a day after his first accident, Botterell overturned in a new Camel; but he was lucky. His logbook records that the next day he played rugby.

It was while flying a Snipe to visit a friend after the Armistice, on March 1 1919, that Botterell pulled out a map to see where he was, and was thrusting it back into his boot when he failed to notice that the land was rising. As a result he hit a fence with his lower leftwing and carried away a piece which had become embedded back to base.

No 208 Squadron returned to Britain after a year to be temporarily disbanded, and Flight Lieutenant Botterell, RAF, went back to Canada.

One of his most treasured memories was of smuggling home, in three parts, the 9 ft long propeller of his Snipe and also the piece of fence, which he later gave to the Canadian War Museum at Ottawa.

After the war Botterell returned to work for the Bank of Montreal, which had been absorbed into the Bank of North America, first in rural Quebec and later in Montreal. During the Second World War he served as an OC of an air cadet squadron at Lachine, Quebec.

He played the violin in amateur orchestras, sang as a tenor, and enjoyed listening to the Toronto Symphony. Although no lover of competitive sport, Botterell was a keen on lone sailing, skiing and bicycling. He continued to swim at the Montreal Athletic Club until he slipped on its icy steps at the age of 98.

In 1999 Botterell was guest of honour at a dinner to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force. In 2001 he received a visit at the Sunnybrook Veterans' Hospital in Toronto from 208 Squadron which today is based at RAF Valley on Anglesey.

Henry Botterell married, in 1929, Maud Goater, who died in 1983. He is survived by a son and a daughter; his sister Edith, who was a year older, died last September.[/i]

jaeger115 · Post by **jaeger115** » 2003-01-13 11:40pm

Coming up next: the last WWII ace to die...

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2003-01-14 12:45am

Well, we're one nearer that score, with the recent death of Marine Corps ace Joe Foss a week or two ago, at age 87; the first American pilot of World War II to match Eddie Rickenbacker's World War I total of 26 kills.

jaeger115 · Post by **jaeger115** » 2003-01-14 12:55am

Well, we're one nearer that score, with the recent death of Marine Corps ace Joe Foss a week or two ago, at age 87; the first American pilot of World War II to match Eddie Rickenbacker's World War I total of 26 kills.

Foss? I read a book by him, cowritten with a Vietnam ace. Which book was that?

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-01-14 03:08am

Patrick Degan wrote:Well, we're one nearer that score, with the recent death of Marine Corps ace Joe Foss a week or two ago, at age 87; the first American pilot of World War II to match Eddie Rickenbacker's World War I total of 26 kills.

And also the guy who got hassled by the TSA airport screeners...those
MORONS wanted to CONFISCATE Foss' Medal of Honor because it
looked like a throwing star......

Fuckin' morons...

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2003-01-14 04:06am

That put a damper on my evening, to say the least.

My mom remembers when the last Civil War veteran died........

kheegster · Post by **kheegster** » 2003-01-14 06:31am

MKSheppard wrote:
Patrick Degan wrote:Well, we're one nearer that score, with the recent death of Marine Corps ace Joe Foss a week or two ago, at age 87; the first American pilot of World War II to match Eddie Rickenbacker's World War I total of 26 kills.
And also the guy who got hassled by the TSA airport screeners...those
MORONS wanted to CONFISCATE Foss' Medal of Honor because it
looked like a throwing star......

Fuckin' morons...

Whoa that's FUCKING stupid...do those pieces of shit still recognise the heroes who made lives possible any more?

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2003-01-14 05:14pm

MKSheppard wrote:
Patrick Degan wrote:Well, we're one nearer that score, with the recent death of Marine Corps ace Joe Foss a week or two ago, at age 87; the first American pilot of World War II to match Eddie Rickenbacker's World War I total of 26 kills.
And also the guy who got hassled by the TSA airport screeners...those
MORONS wanted to CONFISCATE Foss' Medal of Honor because it
looked like a throwing star......

Fuckin' morons...

Meanwhile, Arab guys with three aliases and a fuse coming out of their shoe manages to get past...

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-01-14 05:31pm

This is one step closer to the events of the first World War being lost in time. *sad sigh*

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2003-01-14 05:42pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:This is one step closer to the events of the first World War being lost in time. *sad sigh*

Why people have such disregard for WWI is beyond me. The world we live in today is a product of it, and it's not even taught in high schools, beyond dates and such. I mean, how would the Russian revolution turned out if the Germans hadn't shipped Lenin from Switzerland? "Why that has no bearing on the modern world" That kind of presumption makes me physically ill.

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2003-01-14 06:30pm

The last Civil War Veteran. Imagine how impressed he was to see in his time how war changed from trench warfare to nuclear bombs being dropped. What year did he die? I think I remember but I'm not sure.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-01-14 06:36pm

jaeger115 wrote:Coming up next: the last WWII ace to die...

Next up would be the last USMC pilots from one of the countless 20's banana republic campaigns, or one of the Bolivian pilots from the Cacho War, or someone from the Spanish Civil war.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-01-14 06:39pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:This is one step closer to the events of the first World War being lost in time. *sad sigh*

A lot of people here are going to live to see VJ day, a hundred years later..

Almost all of us will see the end of WW1 a hundred years on, that's only 15 years away...

Luke Starkiller · Post by **Luke Starkiller** » 2003-01-14 08:15pm

Only 15 years? I know the dates, but I never thought about it that way before. Wow.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-01-14 08:18pm

I think it is interesting to realize that the folks my age will live to see that last of the Vietnam Veterans die.

The younger folks on the board will like to see the last of the Gulf War veterans pass away.

Their children will live to see the last of the War on Terrorism veterans pass way.

jaeger115 · Post by **jaeger115** » 2003-01-14 09:07pm

Their children will live to see the last of the War on Terrorism veterans pass way.

Depends on how long the war on terrorism lasts.