Last Living WWI Canadian Pilot-Botterell

Toronto, Jan. 14, 2003. 01:00 AM
LAST LIVING WWI CANADIAN FIGHTER PILOT -
HENRY BOTTERELL

with permission from FRANK CALLEJA, Star Staff Reporter

WWI PILOT REMEMBERED AS GALLANT MAN
Veterans honour one of their own

FLIER BELIEVED TO BE THE LAST OF HIS KIND

Yesterday, January 13, 2003, family, friends and fellow veterans
bid a heartfelt cheerio to Henry Botterell, the last of a
special breed Canadian airmen.

Believed to be the last living Canadian fighter pilot to serve in
World War I, flying a Sopwith Camel against the best enemy
pilots and braving machine-gun fire in the skies over France,
Botterell died Jan. 3 in the veterans' wing at Sunnybrook hospital.
He was 106 years old.

"Henry was a true role model for every Canadian," veteran
Arthur Plumb told about 250 people who gathered at the hospital
for a memorial service in honour of their fallen comrade and
friend.

"We're not grieving his passing, we're not celebrating his
longevity, but what he did between his birth and his death," said
Plumb, 84, who served as infantry platoon commander with the
Lincoln and Welland Regiment in the Netherlands and Germany
during World War II.

And he did plenty, said veteran Lloyd Queen, 86, a tank
commander with the Fort Garry Horse and winner of the Military
Cross for bravery in World War II.

Born in Ottawa in 1896, Botterell became a banker but
responded to the call of king and country by joining Britain's
Royal Naval Air Service at 20.

* **************************************************

After recovering from serious injuries suffered when his engine
failed on takeoff in Britain, he was sent to France.

There he flew as many as three sorties a day in a Sopwith
Camel, logging some 250 hours of combat during a German
offensive in 1918.

He was engaged in seven dogfights, often returning to base with
a bullet-riddled and pock-marked aircraft but ready to fly again.

Botterell's son, Edward, recalled his father's love of music and
hymns in particular, and his gallant touch with the ladies. Never
did he miss an opportunity to greet a lady with a chivalrous kiss
to the back of her hand, he said.

On behalf of family, Botterell thanked Sunnybrook for the care
they extended his father and the nearly 550 other veterans who
call the hospital home.

The hour-long service of hymns, readings and eulogies was
officiated by the Rev. John C. Hurd of the Anglican Church of
St. Clement and the Rev. Canon Ebert Hobbs of St. Paul's
Anglican Church, and was held in the Warriors Hall in the
hospital's K Wing.

*

The Sopwith F.1 Camel.

In the hands of an experienced pilot the Camel could out
maneuver any contemporary airplane, with the possible
exception of the Fokker Triplane. From July 1917, when
it reached the Front, until the Armistice, the Camel accounted
for no less than 1,294 enemy machines.

It was the first British type to carry twin Vickers guns; their
breeches were enclosed in a 'hump', giving the Camel its name.
(Canadian Forces Photograph)

[ehrenpries]

Goodbye Sir
With every respect from the forum.