The Red Devil and Captain Harry Butler
Wed, 18 Dec
|Adelaide Planetarium
Her about the pioneer aviator who introduced aviation to SA through the first passenger flights!


Time & Location
18 Dec 2019, 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Adelaide Planetarium, Building P, Mawson Lakes SA 5095, Australia
About the event
The Red Devil: The Story of South Australian Aviation Pioneer Captain Harry Butler. In this presentation Dr Samantha Battams will recount the story of pioneer aviator Captain Harry Butler, AFC. Butler was a national hero in the early 1920s. Hailed as a top aviator, his legacy continues to this day, yet he has been largely forgotten. Harry Butler returned from war with two aircraft and dreams of starting an industry. With his little crimson monoplane, Red Devil, Captain Butler inspired many thousands as he performed aerial shows in support of Peace Loan efforts. He made the first airmail crossing over a significant body of water in the Southern Hemisphere; established, with the famous engineer Harry Kauper, the first passenger flight business in South Australia; took the first aerial photographs; and set up what became the first Commonwealth Government airport in Adelaide.
From Butler's childhood in the tiny farming community of…