Australians in the Battle of Britain. 11 October 1940. Bill Millington

Australians in the Battle of Britain. 11 October 1940

249 Squadron carried out three patrols on 11 October, and fronted up for one that was cancelled after 10 minutes. Bill flew only two patrols, including the cancelled one.

With little happening in the air, at least Bill was enjoying himself in the evenings. Two nights early, George Barclay recorded that:

‘Bill Millington and I went out to dinner at Epping Place in the evening with Captain Jones. The colonel and Adjutant of the 13^th/18^th Hussars were there as well. Their revelations about the incompetence of the French Army in France were incredible...We spent a very pleasant evening.’

Given little is going on in Bill’s flying life at the moment, I thought I might tell you about Bill’s voyage to Australia in 1926.

On 1 July 1926, 8-year-old Bill Millington, his four sisters and mother, arrived at the Port of London. Up until recently, they had been living in a two-story terrace house at 16 Belsey Place, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, but within hours they would leave England for a new life in South Australia with William Senior, who had left England in February. Third class tickets in hand, they boarded the SS Balranald.

The six week voyage was far from boring for an active boy, on the verge of his 9th birthday. There were crowds of children on board and, if the Barnardo and Dreadnought boys kept to themselves, there were other youngsters in third class for Bill to play with.

Games were punctuated with the tragedy and joy of real life. On 24 July, when the Balranald was just a short distance from Cape Town, a young man, only recently married, committed suicide by throwing himself overboard. A witness raised the alarm and a lifeboat was lowered without delay but there was no trace of him. Three children died from pneumonia and their tiny bodies were committed to the waters. A son was born to Mrs Robert McLean, who was migrating to New South Wales with her husband and two other young sons. There were exciting sights, sounds and smells in the ports they visited. All too soon, the voyage was over. At 11 a.m. on 11 August, the Balranald gracefully reached Adelaide’s Outer Harbour. Bill leaned over the deck rail and breathed in the Australian air. It was his 9th birthday.

The Millingtons initially lived in Woodville, Adelaide then in Millswood/Black Forest. Bill’s father saved hard and in March 1927 he purchased 7 Stanton Street, Edwardstown. Bill originally enrolled in Westbourne Park Primary School but in January 1928 transferred to Edwardstown Primary School, which still remembers him.

In front of the new house in Stanton Street, Edwardstown, Adelaide.

Bill and his father, taking a break from working in the garden at the Stanton Street house in 1927.