LEST WE FORGET
Second Lieutenant Howard Richmond Henry BUTLER
Service No: 34051
Born: Toorak VIC, October 1896
Enlisted in the Army: 15 June 1916
Unit: Training Depot, Australian Flying Corps, attached to No. 1 School of Aerial Fighting and Gunnery RAF, Turnberry
Died: Aircraft Accident, Scotland, 2 June 1918, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Doune Cemetery, South Ayrshire, Scotland
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter Richmond Butler and Emelie Millicent Butler, of “Studley,” Toorok Rd., Toorok, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Place of Association: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 188, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 2 June 1918, Second Lieutenant Butler was killed in the crash of Sopwith Camel B.9262 at Turnberry, Scotland. An eyewitness reported that B.9262 was the first of four aircraft to take-off on a training exercise. The aircraft started to do a slow climbing turn to port followed by the second aircraft. The first aircraft then pulled nose up into a steep left hand zoom. The aircraft then executed a flat turn at the top, stalled and spun into the ground from about 200 feet. The Court of Enquiry determined that he met his death through “turning on the top of a zoom too close to the ground”.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record B2455, BUTLER H R H