A man thought to have been the last surviving fighter pilot of World War I lived into the centenary year of powered flight.

Henry Botterell, who died in Toronto, Canada, on January 3 at the age of 106, was the last surviving Royal Naval Air Service pilot from 1914-18.

His single outstanding performance – and sole ‘kill’ – was an attack on a balloon he shot down near Arras in France on August 29, 1918; although technically an RAF pilot at the time, he and his colleagues were seconded to the Royal Navy until the reorganisation which gave birth to the RAF was completed after the war

Shooting down a balloon was a much more impressive and courageous effort than it sounds, because they were usually heavily defended by anti-aircraft guns, which knew the exact height of the balloon and therefore could concentrate their fire accurately on an attacking plane.

Botterell, flying a Sopwith Camel, had seen the balloon, used for artillery spotting, on his way to bomb the railway station at Vitry. On his way back he discovered its ground crew hastily winching it down, but he managed to fire some 400 rounds from his Vickers machine-guns into it, setting it alight.

The observer in the balloon had time to parachute out of his basket, and on his way down to the ground he was given a reassuring wave from Botterell as he headed for home, nearly out of fuel.

Botterell, a Canadian, joined the RNAS shortly after his older brother was killed in the trenches of the Western Front.

On his second operational flight in a Sopwith Pup, he stalled just after take off at Dunkirk and crashed the aircraft, breaking his leg and gashing his head.

After six months in hospital he was invalided out of the RNAS – but managed to requalify at Manston and went back to France with 208 Sqn, RAF.

An intense period of operations saw him fly 91 sorties in 60 days, a total of 251 combat hours including seven dogfights, from each of which he returned with bullet holes or flack damage to his aircraft.

He crashed and overturned in a new Camel – a fine aircraft because of its manoeuvrability, but notoriously difficult to handle at low speed such as take-off and landing – but he was able to play rugby the following day.

During World War II he was Officer Commanding of an air cadet squadron at Lachine, Quebec.

In 1999 he was guest of honour at a dinner to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Henry Botterell’s wife Maud, whom he married in 1929, died in 1983. He is survived by a son and a daughter.

His sister Edith – who was a year older than him – died last September.

Meanwhile another celebrated Royal Navy pilot has also died.

Lt Cdr Charles ‘Pat’ Kingsmill, DSO, a Fairey Swordfish pilot who was one of only five survivors of the Channel Dash attack on the Scharnhorst on February 12, 1942, died on January 1 aged 82.

On February 12 1942 six Swordfish torpedo bombers, led by Lt Cdr Eugene Esmonde, headed out on a suicidal mission against the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the cruiser Prince Eugen and more than 30 destroyers, flak-ships and E-boats as they headed up the Channel from Brest in France under cover of bad weather.

None of the aircraft survived the pounding they received from the powerful German fleet, and all but five of the 18 men involved died. Esmonde was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.