Harry Butler (aviator)

{{Other people|Harry Butler}} {{EngvarB|date=December 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}} {{Infobox aviator |name= Henry John 'Harry' Butler |lived= |image=File:Harry Butler RFC.jpg |image_size= |alt= |caption=Captain Harry Butler AFC (ca.1918) |full_name= Henry John 'Harry' Butler |birth_date= {{Birth date|df=y|1889|11|09}} |birth_place= Yorketown, South Australia |death_date= {{Death date and age|df=y|1924|07|30|1889|11|09}} |death_place= Adelaide, South Australia |resting_place= North Road Cemetery, Nailsworth, South Australia |resting_place_co-ordinates=  |monuments= Minlaton, South Australia |spouse= Elsa Gibson |relatives= |known_for= |first_flight_aircraft= |first_flight_date= |famous_flights= |license_date= |license_place= |air_force= Royal Flying Corps |battles= |rank=Captain |awards=Air Force Cross |website=  }}

'''Henry John 'Harry' Butler''' AFC (9 November 1889 – 30 July 1924) was a pioneer Australian aviator, Captain and Chief Fight Instructor in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. When he flew an air mail run from Adelaide across Gulf St Vincent to Minlaton on 6 August 1919, it was the first over-water flight in the Southern Hemisphere carrying air mail and the first flight over a major body of water in the southern hemisphere.<ref name="ReferenceA">''Parsons, L & Battams, S. 2019'' The Red Devil: the story of South Australian aviation pioneer, Captain Harry Butler, AFC. Wakefield Press.</ref>

==Early years== Butler was born on 9 November 1889 at the main hospital of Yorketown on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula. The son of John James Butler and Sarah Ann Butler née Cook, he grew up on a small farm near Koolywurtie, attending the Koolywurtie Public School.<ref name=display/> From an early age he showed a strong desire to fly and an aptitude for mechanics; whilst at school he built model aircraft and studied the flying capabilities of his mother's chickens.<ref name=adb>Leith G. MacGillivray, [https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/butler-henry-john-5446 Butler, Henry John (1889–1924)], ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 7, Melbourne University Press, 1979, pp 504–505.</ref>

==World War I==

In 1915 he entered the Australian Flying School at Point Cook, Victoria as an engineer, but resigned 2 weeks later. He travelled to England to join the Royal Flying Corps in 1916 to have an opportunity of pilot training, and was commissioned three weeks later. He became Fighting Instructor (Turnberry, Scotland) and Chief Fighting Instructor in the RFC (at Marske Aerodrome in North Yorkshire) and trained over 2,700 pilots.<ref name="Parsons, L 2019">Parsons, L & Battams, S.2019. The Red Devil: The story of South Australian Aviation Pioneer, Captain Harry Butler, AFC. Wakefield Press.</ref> In 1918 he received the Air Force Cross, and when demobilised in 1919, he held the rank of captain.<ref>In the First World War, the Royal Flying Corps was part of the British Army.</ref>

==Post war== thumb|Hendon aerodrome plaque He returned to Australia with a Bristol M.1C monoplane and an Avro 504K biplane. The monoplane became known as "the Red Devil", and it was in this plane he made the 67-mile (108 km) water crossing from Adelaide to Minlaton in 60 minutes<ref name="Parsons, L 2019"/> and the return trip on 11 August 1919 in 27 minutes.<ref name=adb/>

Butler established the first airport and the first passenger flight business in South Australia. In partnership with Harry Kauper,<ref name=kauper>Jean P. Fielding, [https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kauper-henry-alexis-harry-6898 'Kauper, Henry Alexis (Harry) (1888–1942)'], Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, (MUP), 1983.</ref> he converted the Avro to seat two passengers, and operated as the Captain Harry J. Butler & Kauper Aviation Co. Ltd. initially out of an aerodrome at Northfield. Butler then bought {{convert|60|acre|ha|abbr=on}} of land in part of then-largely rural Albert Park in the Woodville district, and in October 1920 he moved his operations there, establishing the "Hendon" aerodrome, also known as "Captain Butler's Aerodrome".<ref name = "Marsden">Marsden, Susan (1977): ''A history of Woodville.'' Corporation of the City of Woodville. Pp. 169–176. {{ISBN|0 9599828 4 1}}</ref> Hendon was later sold to the commonwealth government as the first commonwealth government airport in Adelaide.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Butler was known as the 'Peace Loan flyer' and performed many acrobatic displays over Adelaide to raise money for the Peace Loan and repatriation causes following World War I. He dropped Peace Loan flyers from his plane to promote the loan. He also partook in the first aerial race over the City of Adelaide to raise money for the Peace Loan.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

On 21 July 1920 he married Elsa Birch Gibson (later Elsa Hay-Taylor) at St Paul's Anglican Church, Adelaide.<ref name=Healey>"S.A.'s greats : the men and women of the North Terrace plaques", edited by John Healey, Historical Society of South Australia, 2001. Reprinted 2002. Reprinted 2003. {{ISBN|0 9579430 0 8}}</ref>

In early 1921 he sold some of his land to Wilkinson, Sands and Wyles Limited, who laid out the new suburb of Hendon.<ref name=Manning>{{cite web |url=http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/manning/pn/h/h3.htm#hendon |title=Place Names of South Australia – Hendon |work= The Manning Index of South Australian History |publisher=State Library of South Australia |accessdate=29 January 2012}}</ref> The subdivision sale was successful; however with the novelty of aviation wearing off, the cost of joy flights (5 pounds for 10minutes, more than the average weekly salary for men and more than double that of women) and with some aerial mishaps, Butler was forced to close the company in September 1921.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> He had previously offered to sell the remainder of his land to the Commonwealth in December 1920. The Department of Defence initially prevaricated, but in July 1922 compulsorily acquired the site, which was used as the first "Adelaide Airport" until 1927, when aviation operations were shifted to Parafield.<ref name = "Marsden" />

On 11 January 1922 Butler was seriously injured when his Avro biplane crashed near Minlaton.<ref name=display>From display at Harry Butler memorial, Minlaton</ref> He died suddenly of an unexpected cerebral abscess on 30 July 1924, believed related to his earlier crash.<ref name=adb/><ref name=Healey/>

A 1925 portrait of Butler by George A. J. Webb, funded by subscription from the South Australian community, is on loan to (from the AGSA) and held by the Minlaton branch of the National Trust. Other memorials include the 150th jubilee plaque on North Terrace, Adelaide and at Hendon at the site of his former aerodrome, and the 1958 Red Devil memorial hangar housing his bristol M1C monoplane at Minlaton, as well as a 2015 bronze statue at Minlaton.

==References== {{Reflist}} *Captain Harry Butler's obituary is in ''The Advertiser'', 31 July 1924, page 13a, and ''The Observer'', 2 August 1924, page 28a. Photographs are in ''The Chronicle'', 9 August 1924, page 38.

==Further reading== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070822053803/http://www.yorke.sa.gov.au/tourism/harrystory.html The Harry Butler Story], www.yorke.sa.gov.au

Parsons, L & Battams, S. (2019). The Red Devil: The story of South Australian aviation pioneer, Captain Harry Butler, AFC. Wakefield Press. http://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product.php?productid=1534&cat=0&page=&featured=Y

McWilliams, B. (2019). ''Born to Fly.'' (T.Ide, Illus.). MidnightSun Publishing. ISBN 9780987380968

==Gallery== <gallery> File:J150W-Butler.jpg|Memorial plaque on Adelaide's Jubilee 150 Walkway File:'Red Devil' plane at Minlaton.jpg|Harry Butler's Red Devil on display in Minlaton File:MinlatonButlerMemorial.JPG|Harry Butler memorial, Minlaton </gallery>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Harry}} Category:1889 births Category:1922 deaths Category:Burials at North Road Cemetery Category:Australian flight instructors