Australia's Few. 11 September 1940

Back in Australia, Bill Millington’s family opened the 11 September 1940 edition of The Advertiser which had published a letter Bill had sent to his parents shortly after his first action: 

‘Something of the spirit of the RAF is shown in the letter Pilot-Officer Millington wrote to his parents before he had begun to establish his amazing record. It was written on July 8 from Australia House. “Things have improved a great deal recently as we are now fighting over our own territory or close to it,” he wrote. “This is a welcome change. In the last few days Jerry has been getting quite cheeky and sending aircraft over to our side of the Ditch. Slapping his ears back gives us the greatest of pleasure. It has now reached the stage when black crosses and swastikas make us see red and we welcome the opportunity to line a Hun plane up in the sight. Today the boys are absolutely fighting mad. Last night a Messerschmitt 109 shot down our squadron leader. Apart from being an ace pilot, he was a personal friend of each of the pilots and just one of the boys.”’

[This was Squadron Leader John Davies Clement Joslin, RAF 34158. He was found to have crashed at Chilberton Elms, Between Folkeston and Dover.]

The Advertiser then reported that ‘There is an interruption then in the letter, and it was continued at 5.30 pm just as though nothing had happened. “Called out just now, shortly after 3 pm—to be exact—to engage enemy aircraft near Dover. Results are still vague, but numbers of the enemy have been brought down in the sea and on land. Two of our aircraft are missing. One of the pilots landed in the ‘ditch’ by parachute and has been picked up. Unfortunately he was flying my machine, which is now in a watery grave. [This was Pilot Officer J.E.W. Wood] As I was supposed to be off for a few hours he took my plane. I happened to be close by, writing letters actually, dashed out, and took off in a spare which arrived a few days ago. Jerry is suffering colossal losses. We can’t expect to get away scot free, but when comrades go the will to win gets stronger, and we will go down fighting.”’

In the Scouting news of the same edition of The Advertiser, Scouter noted that, Bill a member of the Forestville Rover Crew, had had a 'share of excitement in England serving with the RAF.’ Scouter wrote that ‘all who knew him feel proud of his wonderful efforts, but regretted to learn that he is in hospital. We trust that he will soon be well again and back to his old form’.

And indeed he was. On 11 September, Bill rejoined 79 Squadron at Pembrey, South Wales and he was in for a much quieter time than recorded in that letter of 8 July. The squadron carried out various patrols over the next few days, but no action.

 

 

Australia's Few. 31 August 1940

31 August was another epic day for Bill Millington. He was in action twice that day. During his first encounter, ‘we engaged about twenty Me 109s and slapped quite a few down. I was again badly shot up and made a forced landing near Folkestone and returned to my station per police car’. He was credited with one Me 109 destroyed.

At 17.45 p.m., Bill and his section were tasked with aerodrome guard duties when fifteen Dornier Do 215s escorted by large numbers of Messerschmitt Me 109s and 110s were sighted. Bill attacked, setting alight the port engine of one of the Do 215s. Three Me 109s then attacked him. He damaged one and shook off the other two. He was on his own by that stage. He attacked the bombers again but was beset by two Me 109s. He shook off one and shot the other down. In doing so he was attacked by another Me109 and was wounded in the left thigh. His engine started to burn and flames licked his skin. As the flames caught hold, Bill had two choices but his decision was obvious. ‘I considered it unwise to bale out’, he later explained, ‘as my machine would probably have crashed into a small village’. Bill’s Hurricane crashed in flames at Conghurst Farm, Hawkhurst, completely missing the village of Tenterden and, ‘covered in blood and grease’ he ‘managed to scramble out before the machine exploded’.

He ‘eventually finished up in hospital for about ten days, where most of the shrapnel in my thigh was removed. The few pieces remaining will probably eventually work out causing no inconvenience. I can recommend hospital as a very noble institution. The nurses were terrific particularly my little Irish night nurse. Two other officers were with me, and we had quite a few gay evenings together.’

Bill recovered well but  would not return to 79 Squadron. On 19 September he would head to 249 Squadron at North Weald and on his chest would be a DFC ribbon. Attached to the DFC recommendation were some additional remarks by the Air Officer Commanding 11 Group, Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park: 

‘This young Australian officer has shot down six enemy aircraft. He showed great courage in landing his aircraft and so saved it crashing into a village with its engine on fire, despite the fact he was wounded. He has exhibited dash and courage in attacking superior numbers. I consider he is well worthy of reward and strongly recommend him for the Immediate Award of the Distinguished Flying Cross.’

 

 

Australia's Few. 30 August 1940

There was no operational flying for 79 Squadron on the 29th but 30 August 1940 saw the Luftwaffe return in force, with a total of 1345 sorties in a series of large scale attacks launched, for the first time, exclusively against south east targets. At about 10.30 a.m., a large formation was detected off France. As it moved closer to British waters it became apparent that Fighter Command would have to deal with three separate formations of Heinkel He 111s and their escorts. In addition to squadrons already patrolling the coastal airfields, nine more were despatched to airfields and key areas such as Dover and Maidstone. At 11.20 a.m. it was clear that Biggin Hill and Kenley were the main targets.

No. 253 Squadron was recalled from the Maidstone area and directed to Kenley and, at 11.30 a.m., eight aircraft from 79 Squadron were scrambled to patrol Biggin Hill. Green Section met thirty or more Heinkels and claimed a shared destroyed. Meanwhile, led by Teddy Morris, Blue Section faced eighteen He IIIs and thirty Me 110s and 109s. They attacked head on and ‘scattered [the] bomber formation’. Pilot Officer Paul Mayhew claimed one Heinkel destroyed. Pilot Officer Owen Tracey claimed one destroyed Heinkel; there was some suggestion that this Heinkel had been attacked by Spitfires but Tracey was confident of his victory. Teddy Morris chased the leader of the bomber formation then, ‘collided with a Heinkel III and both machines crashed but ... [he] baled out and reached home safely’. He was later credited with one ‘He 111 destroyed by collision’. Bill claimed a destroyed Heinkel and another probably destroyed by the more conventional method of turning his guns on them. While Teddy Morris slowly descended, unhurt, to land at Dorking, Bill flung himself into a hectic dogfight with a Messerschmitt Me 110. He damaged it and, ammunition exhausted, he retreated while under attack by 109s. He then executed a ‘hair-breadth escape’ and ‘limped back home with my machine badly shot up’. It had been ‘holed in 30 places’ and rendered unserviceable. Bill once again proved that he was a fighter pilot of high calibre. When he went on readiness that morning, he already had a personal bag of one destroyed Me 109 and three destroyed He 111s. He was almost an ace. By the time he limped back to Biggin Hill at about 12.15 p.m., he was an ace.

 

 

 

 

Australia's Few. 15 August 1940

On 15 August, the Luftwaffe launched a day-long series of attacks designed to saturate RAF defences. Almost all of Britain was within range of enemy bombers.
 

A heavy raid aimed at Edinburgh was identified. Just after midday, 72 Squadron were directed to intercept it. Their eleven Spitfires met a large formation of He111 bombers and their escort of Me110s. It was a mighty force, the largest Des Sheen ever encountered. All he saw was line upon line of bombers.
 

72 Squadron attacked. The enemy formation split up and Des eased himself into a defensive circle formed by the Me110s. He closed on one and opened fire. It exploded in a mass of debris.
 

He spotted another defensive circle. He aimed at a Messerschmitt but missed. He quickly lined up another and fired again. Success! Flame and smoke poured from its engine. The stricken fighter attempted to ram Des’s Spitfire but Des dived steeply and it disappeared, burning furiously. The sky then emptied; the battle had moved on. He was low on fuel so returned to base. Combat had lasted just five minutes.
 

Des noted in his log book his claims of two Me 110s and a ‘squadron bag’ of eleven. His personal total was now 3 1/3 destroyed. He recalled that the atmosphere at Acklington at the end of the day was ‘very elated ... because it was the first action for some of them and it was a successful day out.’
 

It was also a successful day for Australians. Bill Millington of 79 Squadron shot down three German bombers. In the South, John Pain of 32 Squadron, the youngest Australian in the Battle of Britain, probably destroyed a Me 109 and Pat Hughes of 234 Squadron, shot down one Me 110 and shared another destroyed.
 

Fighter Command more than held its own in what was for far the largest air battle in which it had engaged. 76 enemy aircraft had been shot down but at a cost. Fighter Command lost 34 aircraft destroyed and 17 killed, including 25-year-old Western Australian Pilot Officer Frank Cale of 266 Squadron, who had attended the same school as Dick Glyde and had received his RAF short term commission in May 1939. An Australian also joined the ranks of prisoners of war when Pilot Officer Vincent Parker of 234 Squadron, was picked up by a German launch after baling out near the Isle of Wight.
 

Despite Fighter Command’s the losses, Winston Churchill described 15 August 1940, the day that became known to the Luftwaffe as ‘Black Thursday’, as ‘one of the greatest days in history’. Fighter Command rightly claimed victory in the largest air battle in which it had engaged.

 

 

Australia's Few. 31 July 1940

At Acklington on 31 July 1940, Bill Millington lined up with his squadron to welcome Air Commodore Nicholas and Wing Commander Reas-Jones who were visiting. They officially passed out 79 Squadron operationally and the boys celebrated by carrying out attacks and formation flying. Before they knew it, they would be on readiness. But would they be in action?

 

 

Bill Millington

 

Des Sheen, also installed at Acklington with 72 Squadron, found that life up north was very quiet and he bemoaned the fact that ‘I’ve not had a scrap’ since December. ‘Other Fighter Command squadrons seem to have had all the luck.’

 

 

Des Sheen

 

Over the last weeks especially, when they had not been frustrated by poor weather, his confreres had just been on training flights and routine readiness with the usual sort of non productive convoy patrols. There was a least the memory of some funny moments to relieve the boredom. When he had first arrived at Acklington in March 1940 (before his stint in France) there were no runways and the ground was waterlogged and very soft, making take-offs difficult. On one memorable occasion, Squadron Leader Ronald Lees (now posted elsewhere) found just how soft, tipping his Spitfire on its nose when he landed. He climbed out and promptly declared that the airfield was unserviceable for Spitfires! Desmond recalled that Spitfire could only be taxi-ed with someone sitting on the tail. It ‘needed great care, with its narrow track undercarriage and small wheels—and the great weight of the Merlin engine’.

 

 Ronald Lees

Australia's Few. 23 July 1940

23 July 1940 was  a relatively quiet day for Fighter Command. No combat losses were recorded and only two German bombers were shot down. Eight Australians also had a quiet day.

 

Des Sheen was still waiting to hear about his hoped-for return to 72 Squadron, Ken Holland continued his training, Stuart Walch was off duty, Dick Glyde was still off the ops list, Pat Hughes spent the day on the ground and Bill Millington and 79 Squadron were grounded until 26 July. After waking up late after his stint as duty pilot, John Crossman took the squadron’s ‘Maggie’ to Kenley to have tea with a new friend he had met at the R/T course. It was an enjoyable afternoon, making up in some small measure for his disappointment in not being able to fly the 32 Squadron’s Master, which was unserviceable. It was ‘a nuisance’ and this would have been his next step towards his first go on a Hurricane. He was also cheered up at mail call, when he received a scarf from some family friends and the first letter for weeks. Another late night was in order as he was duty pilot again ‘and had to control night flying again as officer in charge didn’t turn up’.

 

 

(John Crossman had missed out on flying the Hurricane during his training and, even after being posted to an operational fighter squadron still hadn't had a chance to fly one. Bill Millington had gained plenty of Hurricane experience by this stage. Here he is standing in front of a Hurricane of 10 FTS Tern Hill.)

Australia's Few. 18 July 1940.

Newcastle on Tyne, birthplace of Bill Millington, was feeling the effects of enemy raiders. During a major air raid on Newcastle and Jarrow in the late afternoon of 2 July, 13 people were killed, 123 were injured and a factory was hit. On 18 July, high explosive bombs hit a secondary school, leaving considerable damage in their wake as well as many casualties and three deaths. Members of Bill’s family rushed to their nearest shelter when air raid sirens blared out their warnings, making themselves as comfortable as possible. ‘When we get into the air-raid shelter we feel quite safe’, wrote one of Bill’s relations to the Adelaide connection. ‘We have seats, the floor is boarded (Dad did that), rugs on the floor, candle light and oil stove in case it is very cold.’ As soon as 79 Squadron, based at nearby Acklington were operational, Bill would be part of his family’s and home town’s defence.

 

 

9 July 1940: Bill Millington's first victory

At 3.05 p.m. on 9 July 1940, 79 Squadron’s A Flight embarked on a patrol over Dover. Bill Millington was Red Two. Thirty minutes later, the Hurricanes spotted a formation of nine Messerschmitt Me 109s, heading towards Dover. As they climbed to intercept, Yellow Section and Red Three were lost in the clouds. When Bill and Red One reached 20,000 feet, they orbited to maintain height until they were within range. It wasn’t long before they were ‘milling around in a terrific dogfight’. Bill ‘climbed up behind two Me 109s who ventured from the base of thick cloud ... I carried out an astern attack on the rear enemy aircraft, opening fire at 300 yards and holding the burst for about three seconds’. He hit the Messerschmitt and a piece flew from it as his ‘tracer converged at his cockpit’. A plume of thick black smoke streamed from the engine as the 109 dived steeply, then crashed into the water a few miles from the French coast. Bill was modest about his first victory—‘I was fortunate to get on the tail of a Hun and he was soon diving for the sea in flames’.