MILLS, Henry James
| Service Number: | 405922 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 22 June 1941, Enlisted at No. 3 Recruitment Centre, Brisbane, aged 23 years. Next of Kin (Wife) Dorothy Mills, Brisbane, Queensland. |
| Last Rank: | Flight Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | No. 460 Squadron (RAAF) |
| Born: | Thursday Island, Queensland, Australia, 24 December 1917 |
| Home Town: | Thursday Island, Queensland |
| Schooling: | All Souls School (Charters Towers), Brisbane Grammar School, Queensland, Australia |
| Occupation: | Tutor, Clerk, Station Hand, Driver, Shop Assistant |
| Died: | Parkinson's disease, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, 1989 |
| Cemetery: |
Thursday Island Cemetery Laid to rest with his mum and brother |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 22 Jun 1941: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Aircraftman 2 (WW2), 405922, RAAF Recruit Centres, Enlisted at No. 3 Recruitment Centre, Brisbane, aged 23 years. Next of Kin (Wife) Dorothy Mills, Brisbane, Queensland. | |
|---|---|---|
| 13 Sep 1941: | Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman, No. 2 Elementary Flying Training School Archerfield (QLD), Auth 2EFTS 112/41 | |
| 28 May 1942: | Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, 405922, Awarded Pilot Wings (Airman Pilot Badge) | |
| 25 Jun 1942: | Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Sergeant, No. 6 Service Flying Training School Mallala, Promoted in rank and mustered to Airman Pilot on the same day. Auth 6SFTS 91/43 | |
| 25 Dec 1942: | Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Sergeant, 11 Advanced Flying Unit (RAF), Promoted to Temporary Flight Sergeant while posted to No. 11 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit, RAF Shawbury. Auth POR AU.5-3/41 11(P)AFU | |
| 6 Dec 1943: | Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Pilot Officer, First promotion within Royal Air Force commission, undertaken while serving as an RAAF officer attached to the RAF under the Empire Air Training Scheme. Auth 93/44 | |
| 6 Jun 1944: | Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, Promoted to FO while posted to No. 11 Base, RAF Lindholme (BC). | |
| 13 Jun 1944: | Transferred Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, No. 460 Squadron (RAAF), Posted to 460 SQN (RAAF) at RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire, an Australian heavy‑bomber unit operating within RAF Bomber Command. | |
| 13 Jun 1944: | Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 405922, No. 460 Squadron (RAAF), Air War NW Europe 1939-45, On 13 June 1944, when FO Harry Mills joined 460 SQN, the unit was heavily engaged in the opening phase of the North‑West Europe Campaign, flying nightly operations in support of the Normandy landings and the wider Allied advance into France. | |
| 6 Dec 1945: | Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Lieutenant | |
| 25 Feb 1946: | Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Lieutenant, 405922, No. 460 Squadron (RAAF), F/Lieut Mills, Bomber Command Pilot, was discharged on demobilization. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, 1939-45 Star, France and Germany Star and Defence Medal. |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Cassie Horsley
R.A.A.F. Release No. 682 July 20, 1944
DUKE HEARS HOW DAMAGED LANCASTER BOMBED NAZI OIL PLANT
Two of the Australian bomber men the Duke of Gloucester (Governor General Designate of Australia) met when he shook hands with nearly 250 of them at an English airfield this afternoon were former schoolboy friends from Thursday Island who today fly together in Lancaster "A for Aussie".
The Duke heard how they brought "A for Aussie" back from the attack on the Scholven-Buer synthetic oil plant in the small hours yesterday morning with two holes in two of the elevators big enough to crawl through and numerous other smaller cannon and flak holes, the result of hits by A.A. guns and an enemy fighter.
The two men from Torres Strait are Flying Officer Harry Wills (26) who used to trade for his father among the islands in civilian days, who pilots "A for Aussie"; and his mid-upper gunner, Flight Sergeant Noel Carseldine (19) whose father, now an inspector at Townsville, Queensland, was a police sergeant on Thursday Island. Until they came to the veteran Australian squadron with which they now fly, Mills and Carseldine had not met for 11 years.
On the run into the target they were coned by searchlights and Mills was just beginning to take evasive action when a burst of flak between the inner port motor and the fuselage and another burst in the tail plane threw the Lancaster upside down and sent it hurtling 10,000 feet toward the ground.
"That," said Wills this afternoon, "probably saved us, because it took us out of the searchlights."
Mills straightened the aircraft, and then, although the rest of the bomber stream was above, and heavy bombs must have been raining down all round "A for Aussie," went in over the target again and dropped his bonds.
Over the Dutch coast, homeward bound, while Mills fought with the sluggish damaged controls, suddenly there was a burst of cannon fire from astern. An enemy fighter had the Lancaster silhouetted against the sky and was pouring cannon fire into the already damaged tail unit.
Wills's gunners replied, and saw their tracer bullets hitting the twin-engined fighter, which looked like a Ju.88.
"The tail gunner yelled, 'Dive!', and I corkscrewed to port. The fighter broke away upwards, and we lost him," said Mills. The man from Thursday Island landed a badly yawing Lancaster at home base, full of praise for his crew's calm and workmanlike behaviour throughout the ordeal.
Mills must be well remembered in Cairns and Townsville, with whose swimming clubs he often competed in championships during holidays from Thursday Island.
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