Second World War aviator, Flying Officer Leonard 'Len' Mills, celebrated his 104th birthday in December last year, with 37 Squadron representatives presenting him an Aussie Hero Quilt detailing his service. 

Flight Lieutenant Lee Maieron, of 37 Squadron, spoke of the esteem in which veterans were held and the honour of having met a RAAF aviator who had served in the hostile skies over Europe. 

Len served as a wireless operator with 15 Squadron Royal Air Force (RAF) – a unit comprising aviators from across the Commonwealth – and survived 34 missions.

He enlisted in December, 1940, with the Australian Army, but soon became acutely aware of the differences in service conditions. 

“The Air Force mess had tablecloths, salt and pepper shakers, condiments and cutlery. In the Army, we ate mush out of tins,” Len said. 

“I decided there and then to transfer.” 

Len trained in Australia until late 1943 and married just weeks before shipping out. He arrived at RAF Mildenhall in early 1944 and trained with Airspeed Oxfords, Vickers Wellingtons and Short Stirlings. However, it would be the venerable Avro Lancaster that he would take to war.

One of his earliest missions was to support the D-Day landings by bombing railway marshalling yards inland from the beaches. 

“The sight of so many boats heading to Normandy is difficult to describe. It looked like you could walk across the top of them,” Len said. 

'The Air Force mess had tablecloths, salt and pepper shakers, condiments and cutlery. In the Army, we ate mush out of tins. I decided there and then to transfer.'

His crew was back in England for tea and cakes by 9am, perhaps rewarding his 1942 decision to change services.

The Lancaster aircraft were equipped with H2S radars, which enabled night bombing through cloud. However, as Allied air superiority increased and the Luftwaffe’s effectiveness declined, the Lancasters began operating in daylight, escorted by P-51 Mustangs and P-47 Thunderbolts. 

“Amid the danger, we occasionally saw beauty,” Len said. 

“Our fighter escorts, much faster than us, performed slow corkscrew rolls ahead of the bombers, their condensation trails glowing in the setting sun.”

Flak damage forced his aircraft down at recently liberated Le Havre, before being repatriated by United States Air Force transport aircraft. By then, aircraft were not in short supply, and when asked what became of his bomber, Len shrugged and said it had probably been bulldozed off the runway.

Len completed his missions in December 1944 and served in the RAAF until late 1946.

He then worked for Sydney Railways as a train driver until he retired in 1982. He was married for 62 years and is a great-grandfather.

Len rarely speaks about the war and admits to still having occasional nightmares, 80 years later. However, the presence of fellow RAAF aviators at his birthday celebration prompted a flood of stories, laughs and enthusiasm about his participation in one of history’s pivotal chapters.