Times Obit - Robert 'Butch' Barton Canadian Fighter Ace

[Jedburgh22]

Wing Commander Robert ‘Butch’ Barton





1 minute ago

A Canadian who applied to join the RAF at a Vancouver recruiting office when he was 19, Robert Barton came to the UK in 1936 and was granted a short service commission. As a result he had considerable flying experience by the time war broke out, and when 249 Squadron was formed in May 1940 he was appointed a flight commander.
At that time the squadron was based at Leconfield in Yorkshire, but in August it moved south to Boscombe Down and from then on he was in the thick of the Battle of Britain, and had been credited with seven combat victories before the end of the year. Subsequently appointed CO of the squadron, he led it to Malta in May 1941, and over the next six months was involved in the fierce fighting for the defence of the island fortress.
By the time he was rested from operations that December, he had been credited with a dozen combat victories, and at least five more kills shared, and had several other “probables” to his credit. This most unassuming officer (notwithstanding his RAF nickname, “Butch”), whose leadership in Malta was described as being “a tonic to his flight commanders and fellow pilots”, had also won two DFCs and had been mentioned in dispatches, and he was to be appointed OBE (military) before the end of the war.
Robert Alexander Barton was born in Kamloops, in the British Columbian Mountains, in 1916. He grew up at Penticton at the southern end of the Okanagan Lake from where he made the weekly 70-mile boat journey to school at Vernon, at the other end of the lake.
After pilot training in Britain he was posted to 41 Squadron in October 1936, flying Hawker Fury biplane fighters. It was to be one of the first fighter squadrons to receive the Spitfire in 1938. By the time he joined 249 Squadron in 1940 it was operating the Hurricane II, and in one of these he shot down his first Messerschmitt 109 over Middle Wallop on August 15. The following day a pilot of his flight, James Nicolson, was to make history by winning the only Victoria Cross awarded to an RAF fighter pilot during the Second World War: he had remained in his burning fighter and shot down a Messerschmitt 110 after his aircraft had been hit by cannon shells, only baling out — by then badly burnt — when he saw his adversary going down, trailing smoke.
Throughout the rest of August and September Barton was in the thick of the fighting, and by September 27, a day on which his squadron destroyed 20 enemy aircraft in battles over Essex and the Thames Estuary, he had himself become an “ace” (five combat victories). His first DFC, gazetted the following month, praised his outstanding leadership that day.
In December Barton was given command of the squadron and on May 21, 1941 led it to Malta, flying off the carrier Ark Royal from a point east of Gibraltar, and arriving to add to the air defences of that beleaguered island. Another period of intense air fighting ensued with Barton often acting in a night fighter role which sometimes involved him in being on duty over a 24-hour period.
After a Luftwaffe strafing attack soon after its arrival which destroyed a number of its aircraft on the ground, much of the squadron’s dealings were with Italian fighters, principally the Macchi MC200 and 202, of which Barton was credited with four overall, with a number of probables. He also shot down a Fiat BR20 bomber in a night sortie over Malta. On August 1 his engine failed as he was taking off and he crash-landed from 300ft, surviving in spite of suffering second-degree burns. He was back in action by early September, taking further toll of the enemy on September 4 in dogfights with MC200s over Capo Passero in Sicily. On October 7-8 he led a night fighter bomber attack on Comiso airfield. The Bar to his DFC was gazetted in October.
In December he returned to the UK to become wing commander flying at an operational training unit. After a period on the staff of 9 Group he had two station commands, Skeabrae in the Orkneys and North Weald.
In August 1945 he was posted to India and offered a permanent commission. During his two years in India, then on the verge of independence and partition, he helped in the creation of a Pakistan Air Force.

He served in the RAF until 1959, retiring after a staff appointment in the Air Ministry. In 1965 he returned to Canada where he enjoyed fishing in the rivers and lakes of British Columbia.
His wife Gwen, whom he married in 1939, died in 1988. He is survived by their son.
Wing Commander Robert “Butch” Barton, OBE, DFC and Bar, wartime fighter ace, was born on June 7, 1916. He died on September 2, 2010, aged 94

[17thDYRCH]

Jedburgh,

Thank you for the post.

Wing Commander, Robert Barton DFC w/Bar , RIP

[Smudger Jnr]

Jedburgh,

In December Barton was given command of the squadron and on May 21, 1941 led it to Malta, flying off the carrier Ark Royal from a point east of Gibraltar, and arriving to add to the air defences of that beleaguered island.

A friend of mine was on the Ark Royal at this time according to his record, attached to the Fleet Air Arm with 801 Squadron.

He transferred of with 801 on the 24th May 1940 to HMS Furious and later on the Eagle when it was torpedoed.

I will have to ask him if he can recollect this piece of history.

Wing Commander Robert “Butch” Barton, OBE, DFC and Bar.

R.I.P.

Regards
Tom