FIRST COMBAT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25444, 27 January 1944, Page 4

FIRST COMBAT

DUNEDIN: PILOT’S SUCCESS DESTROYED A ZERO 9 (R.N.Z.A.F. Official News Service) (Rec. 7 p.m.) NEW GEORGIA, Jan. 25. Flying with a New Zealand fighter wing in the Pacific, a former Air Training Corps cadet, who celebrated his twentieth birthday last month, had his first taste of combat recently when he shot down a Japanese Zero and damaged another. He is Sergeant A. S. (“ Dick ”) Mills, son of Mr A. Mills, of Dunedin.

It was in a New Zealand fighter sweep over Rabaul, when six enemy aircraft were shot down, that Sergeant Mills saw his first Zero. “ I felt tense and excited, like the first time I went in to bat when playing senior cricket,” he said, relating the adventure in an unassuming way. “I did not know what was going to happen, but when it started, all I seemed to think of was to shoot down as many Japanese as possible. I was No. 4 in Squadron Leader Arkwright’s section. We flew over Rabaul for 25 minutes before anything came up. Then we could see dust rising from the airfield as the Japanese took off. . 1 Spun to Earth “It was not till they were right up and at our level that I saw my first Zero. Four of them were in line. We attacked them, but by the time the fight developed 30 or 40 were in the sky. The whole of my section broke into the four Zeros and I just looked through the sights—a Zero was in and I pulled the trigger. I guess it was my good luck and his misfortune. After that some of our boys > saw bits flying off the Japanese rudder and he spun to the earth. The pilot baled out. • It was just a melee after that, though it did not compare with the second scrap.” - The second clash took place in a big sweep later, when our War hawks destroyed 12 of the 'enemy for certain and badly damaged six others. Sergeant Mills was flying with another New Zealander when they saw two Zeros on the tail of a lone Warhawk directly below them. They rolled and pulled out on the Zeros’ tails. Sergeant Mills followed the Zeros and the hard-pressed Warhawk down in a dive. He.got a line on the enemy and held the trigger on him for fully eight seconds. He could see his bullets hitting the Zeros, but was unable to see the results as he was travelling too fast and had to pull away. Shortly afterwards his plane was damaged when four Zeros jumped on his tail and he was forced to make for home. k Former A.T.C. Cadet

Sergeant Mills was born in Invercargill. He regards Dunedin as his home town, as he moved there with his parents at a very early age. He was educated at the St. Clair Primary School and the King’s High School. All forms of sport interested him, but cricket is his game. He played for two years in the first eleven at the High School, and later for the Otago High School Old Boys’ seniors. Another game he is keen on, and has mastered pretty well, is American indoor basketball. On leaving school he became a clerk. Reading of the battle of Britain turned Sergeant Mills’s thoughts to flying, and he joined up with the Air Training Corps when it was first formed in Dunedin. He rates highly the.value of that initial training. “It certainly was .a big help for what came later,” he said.