46 | FLIGHTPATHPhil Hosking explores the history behind Minlanton’s ‘Red Devil’,
one of several aircraft on display in various Australian towns.
A
relatively unknown piece of aviation
history is preserved within a memori-
al on the outer limits of the small
country town of Minlaton, a little over
two hours drive from the South Australian
capital Adelaide. The town’s Captain Harry
Butler Memorial is home to a unique Bristol
M-1C Monoplane, ‘The Red Devil’. Built in
1917, this monoplane is the only original
M-1C still in existence and has been immac-
ulately restored and preserved. It belonged
to the late Captain Harry Butler, a renowned
South Australian aviator, decorated W.W.I
flyer and entrepreneur. Today the ‘Red Dev-
il’ is a proud possession of the town.
Harry Butler, son of John James Butler,
and his wife Sarah Ann, was born 9 Novem-
ber 1889, at Yorketown, on the Yorke Penin-
sula, South Australia. He grew up on a farm
just out of Minlaton and it seems his passion
for flight was already developed - even
whilst working the farm and weighing
chickens, he’d measure the wingspans be-fore releasing them, as well as the more nor-
mal activity of building model aircraft. He
had limited schooling at Koolywurtie, a
nearby district, where there was one teach-
er for the twenty students. Developing a tal-
ent for mechanics, he built his own motorcy-
cle with an engine imported from England.
In his early twenties, Harry would ride his
motorcycle 120 miles (200 km) in two hours
to Smithfield, north of Adelaide. Here he
spent time with Carl William ‘Bill’ Wittber
constructing a monoplane. Wittber con-
structed the entire aircraft himself includ-
ing the engine. Once the aircraft was com-
pleted both Butler and Wittber taxied the
aircraft around the paddocks and on occa-
sion would make short hops.
Harry’s passion saw him, farming by day
and devoting the nights to aviation research
and study, eventually leading him to joining
the newly established Australian Flying
Corps (AFC) at Point Cook in February 1915
as an aero mechanic, the only successful ap-plicant in his intake. The AFC, although
formed in 1912, only began flying in 1914,
and although Butler scored highly in his ex-
aminations, he didn’t stay in the service for
long being frustrated by the slow progress in
his pursuit of becoming a pilot with the AFC.
With W.W.I in Europe escalating, Harry used
all of his savings, plus a loan, and headed to
England to join the Royal Flying Corps.
He was enlisted again as an aero mechan-
ic but after being promoted to Second Lieu-
tenant, he then became a flying instructor
at Turnberry, Scotland, in 1917. He was
thrilled to be flying and was more than
willing to share knowledge with fellow pi-
lots-in-training.
During the war, Harry made the opportu-
nity to fly missions in France with active
fighter squadrons. He would spend several
weeks at a time studying the German’s tac-
tics and working out how to counter them.
He would then return to the flying school
and pass on his first-hand experiences toMinlaton
Monoplane
Marvel
The Bristol M.1C Monoplane at the memorial just out
of Minlaton, South Australia. [Phil Hosking]