Operation: Delivery Flight
Date: 15th/16th June 1941 (Sunday/Monday)
Unit No: 15 Operational Training Unit (OTU), 6 Group, Bomber Command
Type: Wellington IC
Serial: R3293
Code: Not known
Base: RAF Harwell, Berkshire
Location: Mediterranean Sea
Pilot: Sgt. John Randolph Bolton 903615 RAFVR Age 29. Killed
2nd Pilot: Sgt. Evan Bruce Beattie 964587 RAFVR Age 21. Killed
Observer: Plt Off. Donald Cameron J3267 RCAF Age 22. Killed
WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Leslie Booker Butler 1051918 RAFVR Age 25. Killed (1)
WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Cyril Raymond Sanders 1251297 RAFVR Age 21. Killed
Air Gnr (Rear): Sgt. Francis Ernest Drake 1261133 RAF Age 20. Missing
Above: Sgt. Cyril R. Sanders (Courtesy of James Howard)
REASON FOR LOSS:
The Movements card (AM Form 78) for Wellington IC R3293 records that the aircraft was sent to No 4 Maintenance Unit (MU) on the 9th August 1940 from 38 Sqn.
According to the 38 Sqn Operational book (ORB) R3293 was on an operation to Hamburg the previous day and was damaged in a forced landing and remained at No. 4 MU until the 23rd March 1941.
It was then delivered to the Overseas Aircraft Delivery Flight (OADF) on the 20th May 1941 from No. 8 MU. On the 2nd June 1941 it was taken on charge of No. 15 Operational Training Unit (15 OTU) for delivery to the Middle East.
On the approach into RAF Luqa in Malta the aircraft stalled and crashed into the sea near Kalafrana at 02:15 hrs.
Despite searching for the body of Sgt. Drake no trace could be found, the remainder were buried on the Island. No cause of the accident has been found.
(1) Sgt. Butler’s brother Arthur served as a senior military chaplain 1939-1945 and received the MBE at the end of the war of Cherryfield Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin, Irish Republic.
No memorial service appears to have taken place as no mention of such a service is recorded in the preacher’s books of either St Philip’s Milltown or Sandford churches. However the family later presented a case and contents of embroidered liturgical colours which was used on the communion table, pulpit and reading desk in accordance with the changing liturgical calendar, to the parish church of St Philip Milltown in proud and happy memory of their fallen son which has been in the vestry room of that church since.
Images courtesy of the Representative Church Body (RCB) - used with permission
The staff of the RCB also chose to remember their lost colleague, and the following year in 1942, the Leslie Butler Trophy was presented ‘in proud and happy memory…by his colleagues on the staff of the Representative Church Body for annual competition’. The trophy is also poignantly inscribed with the key dates of Leslie’s life, and, as well as the names of all the winning golfers of the trophy in the seventy years since its presentation.
BURIAL DETAILS:
Sgt. John Randolph Bolton. Malta Naval Cemetery (Capuccini) Prot. Sec. (Men's). Plot F. Grave 41. Born on the 13th June 1913 in Plymouth, Devon. Son of George Pownoll Howe (deceased December 1942) and May (née McCarthy) Bolton of Plymouth, Devon. Husband of Norah Gertrude Bullen (née Rowe) Bolton of Devonport, Devonshire, England.
Sgt. Evan Bruce Beattie. Malta Naval Cemetery (Capuccini) Prot. Sec. (Men's). Plot F. Grave 44. Born on the 27th March in Singapore. Son of Robert Bruce and Vera Marian (nee Leggatt) Beattie of Nelson, New Zealand.
Plt Off. Donald Cameron. Malta Naval Cemetery (Capuccini), Prot. Sec. (Men's). Plot F. Grave 43. Born on the 6th November 1908 Forfarshire, Scotland. Son of Archibald Varviell and Harriett Emily (née Bell) Cameron of Dumbartonshire, Scotland. Husband of Frances Patricia (née Maitland) Cameron of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Above: Courtesy of The Province, dated 19th June 1941
Sgt. Leslie Booker Butler. Malta Naval Cemetery (Capuccini) Prot. Sec. (Men's). Plot F. Grave 45. Born on the 15th May 1916 in Dublin. Son of George Booker and Annie Maud (née Hamilton) Butler of Dublin, Irish Republic.
Sgt. Cyril Raymond Sanders. Malta Naval Cemetery (Capuccini) Prot. Sec. (Men's). Plot F. Grave 42. Born on the 27th June 1920 at Addiscombe, Surrey. Son of Frederick Collier and Lilian (née Ford) Sanders of Croydon, Surrey, England.
Sgt. Francis Ernest Drake. Runnymede Memorial, Panel 42. Born on the 14th May 1921 in Ramuera, Auckland. Son of Emanuel Oreti and I. Maud Drake of Orakei, Auckland, New Zealand.
Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to the research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Weekly News of New Zealand. We are indebted to Dr. Susan Hood Librarian and Archivist RCB Library for her valuable assistance with details on Sgt. Butler (Aug 2018). Updated with new information with thanks to James Howard, nephew of Sgt Sanders, for his photograph (Sep 2026).
Other sources listed below:
