Australia's Few. 29 October 1940

The Luftwaffe put on a show on 29 October 1940that resulted in what 249 squadron diarist considered ‘a lively day for North Weald. And indeed it was. Bill Millington was in the air four times. The first was an early morning solo patrol of North Weald. That was quiet, as was his second and third sorties. But, at about 16.40 p.m., when the squadron was ordered to patrol the base at 15,000 feet in company of 257 Squadron which had arrived at North Weald earlier that month, they encountered a nasty surprise.

As 249 were taking off, the aerodrome was dive-bombed by about twelve Me 109s which, at this stage of the war, had been adapted to carry bombs and act as ‘hit and run’ bombers. These twelve were under the protection of more 109s above. Red Section got off safely despite the falling bombs and Bill ‘took off as quickly as possible behind Red Section’.

As one 500 lb bomb landed in the middle of the aerodrome, Yellow Section ‘took right off over the exploding bomb’. Pilot Officer Lofts’s Hurricane was badly damaged but he was able to land safely. Sergeant Tich Palliser, who was already airborne, was hit by flying debris which knocked off part of his prop. To make matters worse, his engine was in bad shape so he circled the airfield and landed. And what a sight he saw.

The squadron diarist recorded that about 40 bombs were dropped in all. A hangar was destroyed, a lorry burst into flames and one bomb landing at the end of the station between the latrine and dining hall, resulting in a great deal of damage. One man, who was in the latrine at the time, was taken to hospital with shrapnel wounds and died the next day. 257’s casualties were much worse. Between the two squadrons, 19 were killed on the ground and 42 injured. Of those, according to Brian Cull, the squadron historian, six of the fatalities and 12 of the injured occurred on the airfield.

Meanwhile, in the air, Red Section gave chase to the departing raiders, which were heading west, with Bill following closely.

He was a little behind Red which were catching up to the Me 109s and so he ‘opened up to maximum speed’. By about 17.00 p.m. he had ‘gradually overhauled e/a which had climbed to 3000 feet’ above the coast west of Southminster. There he saw:

‘Four Me 109s in front with two He 113s [sic] weaving slightly behind. One Me 109 was lagging behind on the right and I formatted on him line astern and opened fire at about 100 yards.

E/a immediately dived for haze over the sea and I followed close behind, firing continuous burst. Large pieces flew off e/a and it disappeared, going vertically down into the haze at about 500 feet, emitting large quantities of black smoke.’

 

Bill estimated that the Me 109 crashed into the sea near Buxey Sands, but he did not see it and so, he was credited with a probable Me 109.