Tuesday 25 September 2012

26 September 1940: John Crossman and Bill Millington

Australians in the Battle of Britain. 26 September 1940

Since arriving at 46 Squadron, John Crossman had been living in almost squalid (in his eyes at least) conditions and he hadn’t been impressed:

‘This is an awful place here and if it weren’t that the fellows in the squadron are so decent life would be very lousy. Five of us live in the one room with nothing on the floors, nothing to put our clothes in or hang them from, no bathroom and no hot water laid on. Every five days I drive six miles into Epping of Epping Forest fame to have a bath at a hotel there. As you can guess this place isn’t exactly a bed of roses and you should hear the chaps moaning.’

Happily, the boys had now been billeted at Thrift Hall in much more pleasant conditions. John was sharing with Billy Pattullo in a ‘very comfortable room. Quite a change from the aerodrome’.
(Blast from the past One: John Crossman in uniform before he received his wings.)
After a good night’s sleep in his comfortable new accommodation, John awoke to find that there was no flying on the 26th. With 24 hour leave pass in hand, he borrowed a Maggie, flew to North Weald, filled her up and headed off to Leamington Spa to visit friends he had met via the Lady Frances Ryder and Miss Macdonald of the Isles Hospitality Scheme.

Perhaps it was just as well John had a day off. As a perfectionist he had high standards for both himself and others; he did not tolerate his own weaknesses, nor those of others. Indeed, he could be overly critical of others’ faults, real or perceived. Flying wing patrols with 249 Squadron was a frustrating business for him. Despite carrying out number of patrols over the last few days, including one on the 25th where they had ‘chased round the sky, saw no Jerries and came home’, he had had no further chance at combat. Rather than accept that that was just the way it was, he uncharitably blamed his wing partners:

We are generally led by 249 Squadron from North Weald and they always seem to lead us away from any fights that there are. Our chaps think they must be yellow.’

This was clearly an unwarranted accusation as 249 Squadron was manned by extremely skilled and courageous pilots. Coincidentally, John’s fellow Australian, Bill Millington DFC, who had also participated in those abortive wing patrols, was on this very day receiving some much warranted publicity, though he would have been too modest to acknowledge it.
 
 
(Blast from the past Two: Bill Millington on his last day in civvies.)
Bill’s parents back in Adelaide had woken up to two articles about their son in the local paper: one told the readers how he had been awarded his DFC and the other was an interview with the Millingtons who, when informed of the DFC, told the reporter that:

‘Their son had always been interested in aviation and had insisted on learning flying as a career. “After serving in the Naval Reserve here Will left South Australia in May last year for England where he joined the RAF...He was always keen on becoming a member of the Air Force and his letters to us after he enlisted as a pilot officer of the RAF have arrived regularly until recently. He does not, however, refer to his exploits to any great extent.”’

John Crossman and Bill Millington were both courageous young men. They simply expressed their courage in different ways.

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