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 Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...

run from

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

across

Gulf St Vincent Gulf St Vincent, sometimes referred to as St Vincent Gulf, St Vincent's Gulf or Gulf of St Vincent, is the eastern of two large inlets of water on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, the other being the larger Sp ...

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.''Parsons, L & Battams, S. 2019'' The Red Devil: the story of South Australian aviation pioneer, Captain Harry Butler, AFC. Wakefield Press.

Early years

Butler was born on 9 November 1889 at the main hospital of Yorketown on

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Yorke Peninsula The Yorke Peninsula is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula is separated from Kangaroo Island to the south by Investigator Strai ...

. 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. From an early age he showed a strong desire to fly and an aptitude for mechanics; whilst at school he built

model aircraft A model aircraft is a small unmanned aircraft. Many are replicas of real aircraft. Model aircraft are divided into two basic groups: flying and non-flying. Non-flying models are also termed static, display, or shelf models. Aircraft manufactur ...

and studied the flying capabilities of his mother's chickens.Leith G. MacGillivray
Butler, Henry John (1889–1924)
''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

'', Volume 7, Melbourne University Press, 1979, pp 504–505.

World War I

In 1915 he entered the Australian Flying School at

Point Cook, Victoria Point Cook is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Point Cook recorded a population of 66,781 at the 2021 census. Point Cook ...

as an engineer, but resigned 2 weeks later. He travelled to England to join the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

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 Marske Aerodrome was a First World War-era airfield used by the Royal Flying Corps, and later by the Royal Air Force, between 1917 and 1920. The aerodrome was just to the west of the village of Marske-by-the-Sea in Yorkshire (North Yorkshire), ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

) and trained over 2,700 pilots.Parsons, L & Battams, S.2019. The Red Devil: The story of South Australian Aviation Pioneer, Captain Harry Butler, AFC. Wakefield Press. In 1918 he received the Air Force Cross, and when demobilised in 1919, he held the rank of captain.In the First World War, the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

was part of the British Army.

Post war

He returned to Australia with a Bristol M.1C monoplane and an

Avro 504K The Avro 504 was a First World War biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the war totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind tha ...

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 and the return trip on 11 August 1919 in 27 minutes. Butler established the first airport and the first passenger flight business in South Australia. In partnership with Harry Kauper,Jean P. Fielding
'Kauper, Henry Alexis (Harry) (1888–1942)'

, Volume 9, (MUP), 1983. 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 Northfield may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Northfield, Aberdeen, Scotland * Northfield, Edinburgh, Scotland * Northfield, Birmingham, England * Northfield (Kettering BC Ward), Northamptonshire, England United States * Northfield, Connec ...

. Butler then bought 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".Marsden, Susan (1977): ''A history of Woodville.'' Corporation of the City of Woodville. Pp. 169–176. Hendon was later sold to the commonwealth government as the first commonwealth government airport in Adelaide. 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. On 21 July 1920 he married Elsa Birch Gibson (later Elsa Hay-Taylor) at St Paul's Anglican Church, Adelaide."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. In early 1921 he sold some of his land to Wilkinson, Sands and Wyles Limited, who laid out the new suburb of

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

. 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. 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. On 11 January 1922 Butler was seriously injured when his Avro biplane crashed near Minlaton.From display at Harry Butler memorial, Minlaton He died suddenly of an unexpected cerebral abscess on 30 July 1924, believed related to his earlier crash. A 1925 portrait of Butler by

George A. J. Webb George Alfred John Webb (1861 – 16 August 1949) was an English painter who had a considerable career in Australia painting portraits of South Australian and Victorian public figures. In correspondence, he signed his name "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

*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.

Gallery

File:J150W-Butler.jpg, Memorial plaque on Adelaide's

Jubilee 150 Walkway The Jubilee 150 Walkway, also variously known as the Jubilee 150 Commemorative Walk, the Jubilee 150 Walk, Jubilee 150 Plaques, the Jubilee Walk, or simply J150, is a series of (initially) 150 bronze plaques set into the pavement of Nort ...

File:'Red Devil' plane at Minlaton.jpg, Harry Butler's Red Devil on display in Minlaton File:MinlatonButlerMemorial.JPG, Harry Butler memorial, Minlaton {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Harry 1889 births 1922 deaths Burials at North Road Cemetery Australian flight instructors

Early years

World War I

Post war

References

Further reading

Gallery