19 September 1940. Bill Millington

On 19 September 1940, Bill Millington was posted from 79 Squadron to 249 Squadron at North Weald. 249 had been very busy recently and Bill was one of two replacement pilots to arrive about this time. Three days earlier, the squadron had received a signals from the Air Ministry congratulating them on their ‘magnificent fighting’ of 15 September. They also received another from Air Marshal Cyril Newall, Chief of the Air Staff, who lauded their success as ‘an outstanding example of the hard fighting which is frustrating the enemy’s attack. Keep it up’.

Bill had arrived at a skilled and battle hardened squadron. But he had much to offer. Charles Pallisser, who had arrived at North Weald a few days before Bill, was aware of Bill’s DFC and his previous success at shooting down enemy aircraft. Charles thought Bill was a ‘damn nice lad’ and, although the two did not meet often, they got on well together. One of their main conversational topics was Australia and Charles learned a lot about Australia from Bill.

 

 

Tom Neil recalled that Bill was ‘a small, fair chap with a tiny moustache. An Australian, apparently, though he did not look or sound like one. Pretty experienced, too, with a DFC. Seemed very nice’. Tom also recalled that Bill was ‘keen on animals and I believe it was he who introduced Pipsqueak, the dog, and Wilfred, the duck, to the squadron. However, I can’t be sure of that, although photographs taken at the time rather suggest they could have been, as he was obviously very fond of animals’.