Mills, William: my Royal Canadian Air Force recollections (March 8, 2013)
An interview/narrative of Bill James's experiences whilst serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Interview took place on March 8, 2013.
Rank: Flight Officer. Medals and Honours: Canadian Forces Decoration; NATO Medal
Interviewee: Mills, William James, 1934-
ABSTRACT: 0-3.08 Born on the 20th of November, 1934 in Winnipeg to James Mills from Warsaw England, and Olive Mildred Mills from Manitoba. Had an older brother, Keith, an older sister, Donna, and a younger brother, David; both brothers have since died. Father had a job during the Great Depression, they were not well off, but had a job as a clerk while many people were unemployed. 3.08-5.05 Married 3 times. The first, a woman in Denmark (1957), they had four children together, one died due to heart issues at age 2, the others are still alive. The second marriage was an English woman (1991), and the third was in Victoria, BC; all resulted in divorce. 5.05-8.38 Went to school in Winnipeg until the end of grade 11 when he joined the RCAF (1952). Keith was a navigator for the Air Force; Bill had applied to the military and air force, but got the air force acceptance letter first. Was trained in London, Ontario then officer selection school where recruits were divided into navigators, pilots, and radio officers. He became a flight cadet and went to Calgary to do basic flight training. Was posted in Winnipeg. 8.39-11.21 Went to France in 1955 as they needed people to fly Sabers. There was great comradeship with the other pilots regardless of ethnicity, all working to the same end. Tells about the importance of Sabers, which were Canadian made. Was in France for 3 years, got married for the first time to a nurse from Denmark, had son Cameron (in October) after returning to Canada in September, 1958. 11.22-13.28 Was going to become a doctor, one-up his nurse wife. 1961 he joined the Auxiliary force, sailing beach craft. RAF was in need of pilots, joined that for 5 years as a lieutenant (1961-65). He liked flying, but was not a fighter, did not want to go to war. 13.29-15.12 His son Kevin at age 2 was taken to Hammersmith hospital and died due to a heart defect and had unsuccessful open heart surgery. 15.13-17.34 Family returned to Edmonton, and Bill went to fly in the Antarctic for 20months flying a single engine Otter for the RAF. Base was Deception island, which was volcanic and exploded 5 years after he had left. 17.35-18.28 Returned to Canada flew the Otter commercially during the summer and went to university (1966-67). 18.29-24.44 In 1967 he joined the Reserve in Edmonton, the 418 Squadron (this was the most decorated squadron from the war). He was a member of the Auxiliary until 1975. Bill went on to teach after finishing university for two years, teaching at Alberta College in Edmonton for adults. Wrote the LSAT, took a semester of law and hated it. Got a job as a payroll clerk for the Federal government, promoted to the Department of Supply and Services auditor. Describes going back to the room where all the computers were (the room we were sitting in was approximately 11 feet by 9 feet). Worked in personnel for a few years, internal auditor for other offices. Went back to school and got his MBa to continue auditing and worked there until 1991. He was very involved in his work when changes began to happen to the Reserves (1975) so he left. Reserves had been Wednesday night, weekend day(s), and two weeks of summer camp. These days would be flying practice, catching up with the other Reservists, and practicing routines. 24.45-27.55 Summer camp at Tofino in 1973: the British SAS (Special Air Services), among the best trained guys in the world were to be dropped on the island and capture the air base from the Reservists. However, the SAS was defeated by the terrain. Other Reservists were Regular Military, mostly post-war, few war-time men, but not many. Anecdotal story about Bener, a Turkish Reservist struggling to land his Saber with a fire in the turbine. 27.56-36.39 Photos of his squadrons, fellow Air Force men, and planes, etc. 36.40-40.03 Tells a story about being a young looking lieutenant as he was immediately promoted, met Bill Shakespeare who was of the same rank and much older. Little more discussion on training and the planes he was flying. 40.04-41.28 Did not get a permanent position as he never took the Air Force too seriously. After WWII there were not many pilots needed, beginning of the Cold War meant more demand. 41.29-end Tells of nicknames for some of the other pilots, he never had one. Then about the Reservists duty to be a search and rescue force. George Hickson (also interviewed), and a man, Beedy were flying Otters in the North. American fighters are also going there, one loses an engine and falls, George is right there, having heard about it on the radio. Bailed the man who had only just fallen, returns to the base, Americans were quite impressed with the Canadian Air Force. Another search and rescue mission had them find a man frozen solid outside of his plane, struggled to get him into the rescue aircraft. Final comments and release form signing.
Interviewer: Noon, Cheryl
- In Collection:
- 1 sound recording (MP3)
- 52.16045, -0.70312
- 48.4359, -123.35155
- Original sound recordings (MOV) also available.
- Canadian Military Oral History Collection
- MW_792
- Special Collections Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/military-oral-history-collection
- April 19, 2013
- Digital sound recording in .mp3 format at 56 kbps and 44 kHz. Recorded in digital format by interviewer, technical and cataloguing metadata provided by JF and JP. Interview recorded in digital format for UVic Special Collections in 2013. Migration metadata by KD and MT.
- Rights
- This interview has been posted with the understanding that it may be used for research purposes only. Should the interviewee or their heirs have any objections to this interview being accessible on the Internet, it will be removed promptly. Contact UVic Special Collections for permission if using for other than research purposes: speccoll@uvic.ca
- DOI
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