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Botten Eric Douglas

Page history last edited by danmeng 11 years, 10 months ago

Background Information:

Eric Douglas Ralph Botten  born on September 2 1919 in Ottawa. He was 5 feet 6 inches and 142 pounds.He went to Glebe Collegiate  from 1932 to 1936 for four years then he went to Ottawa technical school for two years from 1936 to 1938 to learn about commerce and industry.He has English background.The sports he liked are hockey baseball swimming rugby and boxing.His hobby is wireless(radio).

He enlistedat the age of 20 on June 1939 joined RCAF fighter squadrons overseas. His enlisted on June 23,1939 before Canada declared war on Germany for the first time. I think he signed up before the war because he was excited and want to go.The advertisement and poster showed  the advantages to go to the army and it was being considered as " hero". He joined the air force maby because the airplanes are the new technology developed during war and he wants to try. He servedas a pilot in RCAF then  got married to Mary Grace Finn on 1941 two years after the enlistment. His address was 41 Spadina  avenue Ottawa changed to 87 Baswater avenue Ottawa with wife.  His religion is church of England and transferred to Roman Catholic.

 

 

Service Record:

He was trained by the British Common Wealth Air Training program. He start training from manning depot 2 at November 7,1940 in Brandon Manitoba.Then he went to Initial Training School in Regina for four weeks.and air observer School in 1941.bombing and gunnery school, air navigation school from July to August in Ontario, and finally to the oversea transit deport in August 21, and personnel reception center. the emergency equipment are paddle, life jacket and food kit. In April 1941, he was in the the squadron 203 , He helped to provide fighter cover for ships evacuating British and Allied troops from Greece, using bases on Crete. In May 1941 a number of the squadron's aircraft operated from the besieged British base at Habbaniya (Iraq), helping to defend the base against the aircraft fighting for Rashid Ali. The squadron also helped to defend the Transjordon branch of the I.P.C. fuel line bringing oil from Iraq. One of the squadron's aircraft based on the pipeline was responsible for the first sighting of German aircraft in Vichy Syria, and on 14 May for the first bombing raid against those aircraft.

His fighter command's role was to protect Britain. It was a series of radar stations built along the coast, and an extensive net work of observers and ground controllers provided early warning of approached aircraft. this allowed the RAF to detect enemy  bombers and fighters and direct fighter squadrons to intercept them, but it was very bad there was 12 aircraft at beginning and four aircraft  left after.

Eric Douglas Botten was on squadron 203 on April 4,1942. In April 1942 the squadron moved to bases in Egypt and Palestine, from where it took part in the invasion of Syria, then flew reconnaissance patrols over the Eastern Mediterranean. During the year the Blenheim were joined by Maryland in  and then Baltimore, before in November the squadron converted completely to the Baltimore. He died before 203 squadrons patrols oversea in November 1943. He is a Warrant officer class 1, He was very good during his 121 days of service and and achieved war medal 21617  

Mediterranean Theatre                                                                                   

This picture is a farm house in Italy. Eric Douglas was in Italy. 

 

Mediterranean map

File:Mediterranean Sea political map-en.svg

This is vikers wellington that Eric flew on.

 

 

After Italy declared war the squadron flew reconnaissance and fighter patrols over the Red Sea and Mediterranean from Basra, and in 1942 the squadron re-equipped with Martin Baltimore aircraft. In 1943 the squadron was posted to India and was re-equipped with vickers Wellingtons and anti shipping patrols to fly coastal patrols.

 

 

 

Death and Memorial 

Eric Douglas was killed in April 26,1943 in a plane accident .the location is overseas in Italy. He was found dead with multiple injuries He is buried peacefully in cemetery in Egypt of Suez War cemetery. Suez War Memorial Cemetery is situated on the western outskirts of Suez, about 7 kilometres from the center. It  was an important hospital center during the First World War with two Indian general hospitals, .Initially, burials took place in a special plot in the Protestant cemetery but the War Memorial Cemetery was established nearby in 1918 and these graves were transferred there, together with some from other burial grounds. . The Second World War burials were from the large garrison based in and around Suez.There are 513 Commonwealth casualties of the First World War and 377 from the Second World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery.  

Suez War memorial in Egypt

[IMAGE] Suez War Memorial Cemetery - Botten, Eric Douglas RalphGrave  

 

 

Connect to WW2 Themes:

second world war was the most destructive war in world history. It was the worst time for many people and many countries but not Canada . Canada later was involved in WW2 to help Britain. But Canadians also did the great sacrifice to the world. It seems as a small effort from each person but they together they became a strong force 14,500 Regular Force and 2,600 Primary Reserve airmen and airwomen, supported by 2,500 civilians to protect the peace of the world.the RCAF was significantly expanded to become the fourth largest allied air force. In 1930s, Canada suffered the great depression, but Canada still able to stand up and spend money on air force. During the war the RCAF was involved in operations in Great Britain, northwest Europe, the north Atlantic, EgyptItalySicilyMaltaCeylonIndia,Burma, and with home defense. In conclusion, Canada air force had a important role on world war two. 

 

 

 

 

Sources: MLA Format

 

"No. 203 Squadron (RAF) during the Second World War." Military History Encyclopedia on the Web. Peter D , n.d. Web. 4 May 2012. <http://www.historyofwar.org/air/un

Alan Pateman-Jones Director General,Colin Kerr Director of Finance, common war grave commission, www.cwgc.org

 

"Juno Beach Centre - RCAF Fighter Squadrons Overseas." Juno Beach Centre. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2012. <http://www.junobeach.org/e/4/can-tac-air-fig-e.htm#null>

 

"No. 203 Squadron RAF."Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 May. 2012. <en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No. Squadron
 Whit tam, Brent . "Suez War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt." World War One Cemeteries - A comprehensive guide to Military cemeteries and memorials around the world. Terry Heard , n.d. Web. 4 May 2012. <http://WWW.ww1cemeteries.com/

 

"WWII: Facts & Information - Canada at War." Canada at War. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2012. <http://www.canadaatwar.ca/content-7/world-war-ii/facts-and-information/>.

 

"Royal Canadian Air Force - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia."Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments (1)

Rachel Collishaw said

at 8:49 pm on May 6, 2012

Which squadron? Didn't name it before describing.
Use your own words please - don't just copy from Wikipedia (plagiarism)
It seems unlikely that he flew a Vickers Wellington since he died before the squadron moved to India and was re-equipped with them
Need to explain the Egypt/Italy connection - unclear
Don't need to include the full history of the cemetery - summarize and then discuss WWII as it relates to Botten
Same with history of WWII
Good works cited but you still need parenthetical citations.

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