Australians in the Battle of Britain. 14 October 1940

Australians in the Battle of Britain. 14 October 1940

Mid-October was cursed with bad weather and 249 Squadron carried out less patrols than usual. On 14 October, for instance, it only launched one two-man patrol over Essex, above cloud and with no action

On the ground, however, there was some action in the pilots’ quarters, and not all of it welcome.

249 Squadron’s amiable Aussie, Bill Millington, was behind it, or at least his new best friend was, and it is quite possible that, as a result, Bill might have been in the pooh with his 249 Squadron friends. And if not Bill, Flight Lieutenant ‘Butch’ Barton definitely was. According to George Barclay, it was all to do with Bill’s pup Pipsqueak who had ‘selected Butch’s bed as his private lavatory. Much to Butch’s fury’!

No word on who had to clean up the mess!

With little flying in the bad weather, Bill found another friend to add to the squadron menagerie which, by that stage, included Pipsqueak and two kittens. Not sure from whence he came, but Bill introduced Wilfred the white duck to his friends, and he (the duck that is) soon acquired the role of section mascot.

According to Brian Cull, the squadron’s historian, Wilfred quickly made friends with Pipsqueak and would accompany the off-duty pilots on their trips to the pubs around North Weald and Epping. It seems Wilfred had a penchant for ‘the odd half pint of best bitter before promptly depositing his calling card’. I hope he was kept well away from Butch’s bed because, according to George Barclay, ‘Bill got him to satisfy Butch’s craving for duck!’

With his love of beer, and his willingness to deposit his calling card, Wilfred soon proved ‘a great character—comparatively tame—he spends most of his time “up the creek” i.e. in the ditch round the aerodrome.

Photo is of Bill Millington with Wilfred the duck and Tom ‘Ginger’ Neil with Pipsqueak the pup. According to Tom Neil, Pipsqueak was ‘a little black and white terrier of indeterminate ancestry’. Interestingly, one Australian news article (and only one; I haven’t found any others) dubbed Bill ‘Pilot Officer W. H “Terrier” Millington DFC’ who ‘had a reputation for being always game enough to take on at least 20 German planes single-handed’.