Botterill, Harold Wallace
Personal Information
Rank | F/S |
Forename(s) | Harold Wallace |
Surname | Botterill |
Gender | M |
Age | 21 |
Decorations | |
Date of Death | 01-11-1944 |
Next of Kin | Son of George Frederick and Sarah Helen Botterill, of Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. |
Aircraft Information
Aircraft | Handley Page Halifax III |
Serial Number | MZ376 |
Markings | QB-K |
Memorial Information
Burial/Memorial Country | Netherlands |
Burial/Memorial Place | Nederweert War Cemetery |
Grave Reference | Coll. grave IV. D. 11-13. |
Epitaph |
IBCC Memorial Information
Phase | 2 |
Panel Number | 133 |
Enlistment Information
Service Number | R/196196 |
Service | Royal Canadian Air Force |
Group | 6 |
Squadron | 424 (Tiger) |
Trade | Air Gunner |
Country of Origin | United States of America |
Other Memorials
Location | Botterill Lake, Manitoba; 5km west of Nelson River and 40km east of Thompson, Manitoba |
Country | Canada |
Memorial Type | Lake |
Memorial Text |
Location | Village Green, Skipton on Swale, North Yorkshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Memorial Stone, inscribed Metal Plaque & Maple Tree |
Memorial Text | A memorial to the Canadian personnel who served at RAF Skipton on Swale during WW2, including 424 Sqn RCAF |
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The National Archives
Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1835/20 |
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1835/19 |
Fellow Servicemen
Last Operation Information
Start Date | 01-11-1944 |
End Date | 02-11-1944 |
Takeoff Station | Skipton on Swale |
Day/Night Raid | Night (97% moon) |
Operation | Oberhausen. 288 aircraft, 4 losses (1.4%). The target was cloud-covered and bombing was scattered. Little damage to the target |
Reason for Loss | Attacked by Lt. Martin Tschiersch of 5./NJG2 at 20.32. NP709 was observed circling over Haan on fire, presumably to allow crew to parachute out, and crashed on Steinstrasse, Haan at 2100, causing the death of one female resident. Two crew members failed to parachute out successfully, two or possibly three bodies were found with the aircraft. Local eyewitnesses shortly after the crash saw two airmen heading towards the crash site, and later in the custody of local SS. One is known to have escaped the SS temporarily. Six bodies, of which two were unidentified, were buried by the local pastor on 3rd or 4th November. These were later reinterred in Rheinberg War Cemetery. The two airmen who parachuted out and (contrary to their escape training and for their mates' sakes) headed towards the crash site are thought to have been John McLea and Leslie Griffith, the Mid-Upper from Detroit, Michigan. Had they gone in a different direction, they would have been captured not by the SS but by the local air defence corps, and the outcome might have been different. |