Hawk 2001 - 2003 (5)

…... shooting down a German observation balloon. I brought the print to the Squadron, who were unaware of its existence and, through the outstanding research efforts of Keith Hildred, we discovered that Henry was still alive and living in a nursing home in Toronto. Of course, we had to pay Henry a visit (13), so Keith, I and Simon Batt (our youngest pilot and, at 24, some 80 years younger

than Henry) flew out to Toronto to meet this remarkable man.

Henry Botterell never described himself as a Fighter Ace, just a bank clerk. He reminded the trio that visited him in Canada that the average life-span of a pilot on the Western Front in those days was just twelve days. Yet Henry Botterell managed to hang on for 105 years by 2001. Flight Lieutenant Henry Botterell last flew with 208 Squadron in 1918, which made him the oldest surviving fighter pilot in the world. He flew a Sopwith Camel and on August 29th of that year he shot down a German balloon. “Balloon busting” was reckoned to be quite a skilful activity and a number of Great War pilots specialised in it. Richard Munday was a Naval Eight Ace who made a name for himself as a “balloon buster” but Botterell’s exploit (14) was an opportunist attack as he himself acknowledged and is notable as being one of the last balloons to be “busted” by 208 Squadron.

This visit itself would require a whole lecture to describe and, perhaps in this centenary commemoration of WWI, I ought to do so, but unfortunately we have not got time this evening. However, here (15) is Henry on the Squadron at the time, on the left in his Naval uniform and, as a small memento of the visit, I have left on the tables a copy of a recording we made at the time of Henry reading a citation (the original of which is held on the Squadron), which mentions his part in a Squadron (16) engagement with the enemy. It is the first time that I have committed the recording to disc, so please enjoy this moment of history (Listen to Henry’s recording using the media player on the next page).